Luke 5:17-26
"And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Luke 5:20-21.
Any time Jesus was in public, He would draw a crowd. When people knew He was in the area they would come looking for Him, and word would spread when they found Him. As we saw in Luke 5:16, Christ would withdraw Himself from everyone and spend time in prayer. When others would be seeking sleep after an exhausting day, Christ was seeking time alone in prayer. Jesus Christ, in His fleshly body, was totally reliant on His heavenly Father. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me," John 6:38. "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him," John 8:28-29. Also turn to John 12:44-50.
In our text in Luke 5, Jesus Christ is teaching. His main ministry was to preach and teach the Scriptures. Wherever He went, He taught the people the Scriptures. His teaching was different from the scribes. Christ taught with power and authority. He taught the Scriptures as they are the Scriptures. Christ did not teach as the religious leaders of that day taught. They taught the traditions of men, but Christ taught the Word of God. The teaching of the religious leaders bound the people and made the object of their faith their works, and not the Messiah (Matthew 23:1-7). Those who trusted in Christ's teaching were set free from the bondage of a works for salvation. This also set them free from the bondage of the religious leaders. What Christ did and taught caught the attention of everyone. Wherever Christ was, multitudes would gather to hear and see Him. Who would be in these crowds?
This event in Luke 5 is also recorded in Mark 2 and Matthew 9. By these other accounts we know that Christ was in Capernaum. Again, a multitude of people had gathered together to hear and see Christ. They were not all there for the same reasons. Some where there to hear and to learn. They were feeding on the words of Christ, and in so doing they were falling more in love with Christ. These were grasping what Christ was teaching and their thirst was being quenched while at the same time their thirst for truth was increasing. They wanted more and more. This is why they could sit there all night listening to Christ teach. These loved Christ, they loved what He taught, and this produced praise and worship inside of them. But there were others there who did not have the same motive.
Pharisees and doctors of the law were also there. Though all of them were not there, those who were there came from all over the nation of Israel. Who are the pharisees? They would be laymen who followed the written and oral law. They wanted the Jews to be pure and separate from the rest of the world. They were not priests, as the Sadducees were. They would be at odds doctrinally with the sadducees in many areas, yet they had a great amount of power and influence in Israel during the time of Christ. In Matthew 23 Christ openly and pointedly calls out the pharisees and the scribes. The doctors of the law were those who would expound the Jewish law and were often referred to as a Rabbi. Scribes (grammateus) were those who were skilled in the Jewish law, an interpreter of the Scriptures, a lawyer. If you had a question about a certain teaching you would find a scribe to settle the dispute.
These were amongst the crowd that was in the house in Capernaum. According to what we know about these types of people, we can assume they were sitting up close to Jesus so He could clearly see them, and so all the people could clearly see them. They loved to be praised of men (Matthew 6). These men were not there to enjoy being with Christ or fellowshipping with other believers, no, they were there to intimidate, analyze, and criticize the teachings of Jesus Christ. In their minds they knew best, and nothing you could say or do would change their minds. These are some of the same types of people Jesus encountered at the Temple when He was 12. There have always been people like this in the church, and there will always be people like this in the church. Don't be one of these people. These never enjoy time with the brethren worshipping our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because they are too busy looking for someone and something to criticize. These are those who mumble under their breath during the service. They don't smile. It's almost like they hate being there. Why would they go? They go to keep face, and to feel more spiritual than others by being critical. This person is miserable, and may not realize it. They always say that was a good message for so and so, but never apply the message to themselves (Luke 18:9-14). Don't be like the pharisees.
In spite of the opposition to Jesus, He was there to do the Father's will. Regardless of who was in the crowd, regardless of the hatred and unrepented sin people were harboring in their hearts, Jesus Christ was there to teach, to save, and to heal. No one would stop Him from doing the Father's will.
Four men brought to Jesus a man taken with a palsy. He was sick with the palsy which means he was no longer able to stand or walk. There are certain diseases that can cause this to happen in someone, some of them are transmitted sexually. The bible does not give us the exact reason why this man was taken with a palsy, but we know that regardless why, this man knew that Jesus Christ could not only heal him, but also forgive him. Our text indicates that the men brought the man not to be healed, but to be forgiven (Luke 5:18-20). Our text also indicates that they faced opposition in getting their friend to Jesus. Picture the house being full of the religious leaders. They are there wearing their religious garb. They would look down on others who were not like them, and would not want to be around someone who they considered to be unclean. They viewed everything bad as a consequence of sin. Though this palsy may have been a consequence of sin, they did not view this man or his friends as being worthy to come through them to get to Jesus. Jesus hit the nail on the head when He called the religious crowds hypocrites, blind guides, fools, whited sepulchres, serpents, generation of vipers, and children of satan. They were all these things, and yet they are who the people followed on spiritual matters. They were there to catch Jesus in His words, not to worship Jesus, and certainly not to enjoy fellowshipping with others whom Christ had saved by His grace. Don't be a pharisee. Lord willing, we will pick up here next week.
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