Commentary - Luke 5:17-26

Bird's-eye view

This remarkable account in Luke's Gospel is a tightly packed drama of faith, authority, and the nature of true healing. On one level, it is a straightforward miracle story: a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus and is physically restored. But that is only the surface. The real conflict, the central point of the narrative, is not between Jesus and a man's infirmity, but between Jesus and the unbelieving religious establishment. The healing of the paralytic serves as a visible, undeniable demonstration of an invisible, spiritual reality: that Jesus, the Son of Man, possesses the divine authority to forgive sins. The faith of the man's friends breaks through physical barriers to get him to Jesus, and Jesus uses their audacious faith as the occasion to break through spiritual barriers, confronting the scribes and Pharisees with a truth they cannot stomach. The story is a compressed gospel presentation, showing that man's greatest problem is not his physical condition but his sin, and that Jesus Christ is the only one with the power to solve that ultimate problem.

The structure of the event is a public showdown. Jesus is teaching, surrounded by a formidable audience of religious experts from all over Israel. The stage is set. The interruption by the paralytic's friends is dramatic and disruptive, a picture of desperate faith. Jesus' first move is to address the man's deepest need, his sin, which immediately triggers the internal, unspoken accusations of the Pharisees. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, then forces the issue into the open. He poses a question that links the authority to forgive with the authority to heal, and then provides the irrefutable proof by healing the man. The result is twofold: the common people are filled with astonished awe and glorify God, while the seeds of murderous opposition in the hearts of the leaders are watered.

Outline

Context In Luke

This event occurs early in Jesus' Galilean ministry. Luke has already established Jesus' authority through His teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), His exorcism of a demon (Luke 4:31-37), His healing of Peter's mother-in-law and many others (Luke 4:38-41), and His miraculous catch of fish leading to the calling of the first disciples (Luke 5:1-11). Most recently, Jesus cleansed a leper (Luke 5:12-16), an act that touched on the Levitical laws of clean and unclean and which further spread His fame. This healing of the paralytic elevates the conflict significantly. While the previous miracles demonstrated power over demons, disease, and nature, this one makes a direct claim to a uniquely divine prerogative: the authority to forgive sins. This is the first major, explicit clash with the scribes and Pharisees recorded by Luke, setting the stage for the escalating hostility that will ultimately lead to the cross.

Key Issues

Authority on Display

The central theme of this passage is authority. The Greek word is exousia, which means the right to rule, the power to command, the prerogative to act. The scribes and Pharisees, the religious authorities, have gathered to take the measure of this new teacher. They represent the established human authority in Israel. But Jesus is about to demonstrate a different kind of authority altogether. The power of the Lord is present for Him to heal, a divine power. But the ultimate display of authority is not in the physical healing, but in the declaration of forgiveness.

The Pharisees correctly understand the implications of what Jesus says. "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Their theology on this point was absolutely correct. Forgiveness is a divine prerogative. To cancel a debt requires the one to whom the debt is owed. Since all sin is ultimately against God, only God can forgive it. Their premise was right, but their conclusion was tragically wrong. They concluded that Jesus, being a man, was therefore a blasphemer. They failed to consider the other possibility: that this man was God. Jesus forces this issue by linking the invisible act of forgiveness to the visible act of healing. He essentially says, "You accuse me of claiming a divine authority you cannot see. I will now perform a divine act that you can see, in order to prove that I have the authority you question." The miracle is the evidence, the sign that validates the claim. The healing of the man's legs was for the sake of the souls of everyone watching.

Verse by Verse Commentary

17 And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

The scene is set for a significant confrontation. This is not a small, local gathering. The religious establishment has sent a high-level delegation. Pharisees and scribes have come from all over, from the northern region of Galilee to the southern region of Judea, and even from the capital, Jerusalem. They are there to investigate, to scrutinize, to find fault. They are the official guardians of orthodoxy, and they are sitting in judgment. At the same time, Luke tells us that the "power of the Lord" was present. This is not some impersonal force, but the active, dynamic power of God the Father working in and through the Son. Two kingdoms, two authorities, are present in this crowded room: the established religious authority of Israel and the absolute authority of the Kingdom of God.

18-19 And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

Into this tense theological standoff comes a rude interruption. Here we see faith in action. These friends are not deterred by obstacles. A crowd is in the way? They will not be stopped. The door is blocked? They will find another way. Their solution is radical, disruptive, and probably messy. They climb onto the flat roof of the house, tear up the tiles and the underlying lathe and plaster, and lower their friend right into the center of the proceedings. This is not polite faith. This is desperate, determined, obstacle-ignoring faith. They believe that if they can just get their friend into the presence of Jesus, he can be healed. Their actions preach a sermon before Jesus even opens His mouth. They are demonstrating that access to Jesus is worth any cost and any effort.

20 And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

Jesus' response is striking. Luke says He saw "their faith," meaning the faith of the friends who did the work. It is a wonderful example of corporate, intercessory faith. And what does this faith receive? Not what they expected. They came for healed legs, but Jesus gives something infinitely greater: a healed soul. He addresses the man's root problem, not his surface symptom. While there is not a one-to-one correspondence between every sickness and a specific sin, the Bible is clear that all sickness and death are ultimately the result of the fall. We live in a broken world because of sin. Jesus goes straight to the ultimate source of all human misery. By saying "your sins are forgiven," Jesus is not just offering comfort; He is exercising a divine prerogative and declaring the man's legal standing before God to be fundamentally altered.

21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

The theological tripwires have been hit. The scribes and Pharisees don't voice their objection, but they reason "in their hearts." They immediately and correctly identify the monumental claim Jesus is making. To forgive sin is to do something only God can do. From their perspective, since they have already concluded that Jesus is merely a man, His words constitute blasphemy, the sin of claiming the rights or attributes of God. Their theological premise is rock solid. Their application of it is fatally flawed because they are blind to the identity of the one standing before them.

22-23 But Jesus, knowing their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

Jesus demonstrates another divine attribute: omniscience. He knows their thoughts. He brings their silent accusation out into the open air. Then He poses a brilliant, unanswerable question. From a human perspective, which is easier to say? Obviously, it is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven." Why? Because it is an invisible, spiritual declaration. There is no way to empirically verify it. Anyone can mouth those words. But to say, "Get up and walk" to a paralytic is to make a claim that will be immediately and publicly tested. If the man does not get up, the speaker is exposed as a fraud. Jesus is setting up the public test.

24 “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”, He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”

Here is the heart of the matter. Jesus explicitly states the purpose of the miracle He is about to perform. It is a sign, a proof. "So that you may know." The healing is the evidence for the claim. He is going to perform the harder, verifiable miracle to prove He has the authority to grant the greater, invisible one. He uses the title "Son of Man," a title from Daniel 7 that refers to a divine figure who is given everlasting dominion and authority. Then He turns from His accusers to the paralytic and issues three sharp commands: get up, pick up your bed, go home. This is the voice of one speaking with absolute authority.

25 And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

The result is instantaneous and complete. There is no slow recovery, no physical therapy. The man who was carried in on a stretcher now carries his own stretcher. The authority in Jesus' word is creative power. The man's response is exactly what it should be: he obeys the commands, and he goes home "glorifying God." He understands where this healing has come from. His restored legs become instruments of praise. He is a walking, talking testament to the power and grace of God at work in Jesus Christ.

26 And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

The crowd's reaction is a mixture of amazement, worship, and fear. The Greek word for astonishment is ekstasis, from which we get "ecstasy." They were beside themselves. They glorified God, rightly attributing the miracle to Him. And they were "filled with fear." This is not a servile terror, but a holy awe. They have been in the presence of the supernatural. They have seen the power of God break into their ordinary world in an undeniable way. They have seen "remarkable things," or paradoxes, things beyond their normal experience. They have seen a man forgive sins, and then prove he had the right to do so. They have seen God at work.

Application

This passage confronts us with the same central question it posed to the Pharisees: who is Jesus? We cannot be neutral. He claims the authority of God. He either is who He says He is, or He is a blasphemer. There is no middle ground. The miracle of the paralytic stands as a permanent sign that His claims are true. He has authority on earth to forgive sins.

This means our greatest need, just like the paralytic's, is not a change in our circumstances but a change in our legal standing before God. We are all paralyzed by our sin, helpless to save ourselves. We need friends in the faith to bring us to Jesus, and we need to be that kind of friend to others, tearing up roofs if we have to. We need to hear the same words Jesus spoke: "Your sins are forgiven." This is the heart of the gospel. This forgiveness is not earned; it is a gift, received by faith.

And when we receive that forgiveness, the result should be the same as it was for the paralytic. We should get up. We should take up our mat, meaning we leave our old life of helplessness behind. And we should go on our way glorifying God. The Christian life is a life of walking obedience, fueled by gratitude for the forgiveness of our sins, all to the glory of God. We have seen remarkable things, the most remarkable of which is that the holy God, in Christ, forgives sinners like us.