Luke 5: 17 – 26
Two For the Price Of One
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
Today we are going to take a look at another miracle in which our Lord did amazing things. You will note that the title is ‘Two for the price of one’. For all you bargain hunters your ears perk up on that promise. You mean if I buy one thing, you will give me another free. Yes, that is the deal. However, in this case you do not have to buy anything. We will not only witness one special gift given to a needy person, but in fact we will discover that everyone who was there will go away with an awesome gift.
Now, as you know there were two other documents in circulation and they were the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. As you know, Matthew was an apostle who was with our Lord Jesus Christ for over three years and was an eye witness to all that our Lord said and did. Mark, on the other hand, was probably the young man whom we read about in his gospel who ran away naked during our Lord’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He heard all the information that he recorded from the apostle Peter.
So, to get a full picture let us take a quick look at both Gospels and see if there is any other information that would bless us.
Matthew 9, “ 1 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 7 And he arose and departed to his house. 8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.”
Mark 2, “1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
It is nice when you put all the different Gospel versions together. You wind up digesting more information relative to this special event.
We see that our Lord was again in Capernaum. The Scripture does not reveal the owner of the house, but I think I would be pretty right to say that it was Peter’s house. Remember, when our Lord performed the miracle in the Synagogue in Capernaum? Then He went to Peter’s house when He healed Peter’s mother-in-law. I have had the blessing to actually see the ruins of both the Synagogue and Peter’s house. They are right next to each other. So, I am going to say that this was Peter’s house. You may think that knowing this fact isn’t such a big deal. Tell that to the owner of the house whose roof is going to be taken apart by the four good friends of the paralytic.
Our Lord had gained tremendous popularity. People were coming from all over Israel to see and listen to Him. Unfortunately, so were the evil religious leaders. In fact, as you can see from verse 17 the Pharisees sent a representative from each town.
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
You can imagine that as a doctor who had worked his whole life trying to get people well, Luke was intrigued to investigate all the Lord’s healings of people. Our Lord could heal at any time He wanted yet Luke was excited to describe a miracle. So he gets pumped up and describes the upcoming situation as our Lord being ready to heal again.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
As we put together the other two versions of this event we come to understand that a crowd totally surrounded the house where our Lord Jesus was. No one could get near the house.
We read that there were four friends of this paralytic who by faith wanted their friend healed. Perhaps this paralytic was a one time a healthy man. Through some type of reckless incident he became paralyzed. The neat part is that his friends did not abandon him. They remained his friends. When they heard about the miracles our Lord Jesus was doing these 4 guys grabbed up their friend and was going to get Him to One Who could heal him. Nothing would stop them from accomplishing their objective.
If you visit Israel you will see that the homes have steps on the side of the house that leads up to the roof. The roofs are flat. Many Jews on the Feast of Tabernacles build their palm tree shelters and stay up there.
So, since the guys couldn’t get directly to our Lord Jesus they decided to take measures into their own hands.
18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
The men put their ears to the roof and could hear below the Lord Jesus’ voice. They dug through the roof just over this spot and lowered their friend to the Lord.
Put yourself in the position of the paralytic. Were his friends making sport of him? He couldn’t do anything to stop them. And now here he is being lowered to this crowd as all eyes are focused on him.
Now, here is a key point to remember. Our Lord Jesus knows every thought of every person. As we will see in a moment, He knows what the religious men were thinking. Are you not also aware that He knew the thoughts going through this paralytic’s mind?
Are you aware that He knows every thought that you think? By the way, it says in the bible that we are to give account one day of all that we say and do. We should give special thought to this point.
Our Lord Is aware that it was sin that caused this man this situation so look at what He says to the man.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
Remember when our Lord faced the Rich Young Ruler, He zeroed in on that man’s principal problem. That man had built all his life on his wealth. Our Lord told him to give it away and come and follow Him. As you know the story, the Rich man went away sad because he wouldn’t give up his security blanket.
Our Lord here goes right to the paralytic man’s mental torture. He told him that his sins are forgiven. He brought great peace and comfort to this embarrassed man.
Of course when something great is going on you have your skeptics ready to get into the act. They were taken about by our Lord’s words.
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
They were right in their beliefs. No one can forgive sins but God. The Pharisees could not come to grips that they were in fact looking upon the Son of God. No please note again how our Lord knew what these guys were thinking.
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?
Not only did our Lord Jesus know what they were thinking He proceeds into their reasoning by asking them to consider more of what was happening. We can reason this through just like our Lord pressed the Pharisees to do. What is easier to do, tell someone that their sins are forgiven or to heal someone of a physical condition. The one act is invisible and the other visible.
So, to prove that He Is God our Lord Jesus does two things;
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
Can you figure out what they are?
For one our Lord Jesus tells them that He Is God Who was described by Daniel the prophet. We read this in the book of Daniel chapter 7, “13 “ I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.’
If the Pharisees were bothered by hearing our Lord Jesus forgiving the paralytic man of his sins, they should have been blown away by hearing our Lord Jesus declare that He Is the One spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
The second part was by our Lord’s command. He told the man that he was healed and instructed him to pick up his mat and go home.
The man stood up. How many years was he bed ridden. He didn’t say a word but obey the word of His Jehovah Rapha – The Lord Our Healer.
We kind of forget about the four friends. Remember them? They have been looking down all along at everything that has transpired. They have seen the personal smile of our Lord as He looked into to their eyes and acknowledged their faithfulness. They along with everyone now with jaws dropped as they tried to take in everything that just transpired.
26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
Yet, there was one in the crowd who just realized something else. I believe it was Peter, when he thought, ‘hey, whose gonna fix my roof?’
