Luke 5:17 On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them. 18 Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus. 19 Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
The Pharisees and teachers from throughout Israel had gathered to observe Jesus, and he did not disappoint. Jesus not only healed a paralyzed man, but he healed the man, in a calculated way, sure to inflame the gathered Pharisees, by saying, your sins are forgiven.
Why did Jesus do that?
Luke 5:21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
22 But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts? 23 Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you;’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’ 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (he said to the paralyzed man), “I tell you, arise, take up your cot, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God. 26 Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
Is there a connection between sin and affliction?
All illness, suffering, and brokenness are either directly or indirectly a result of sin. Sometimes we bring sickness and suffering directly on ourselves, Galatians 6:7, 1 Corinthians 11:29-30 and, as we will see, among other things, sometimes God brings suffering as a warning. Luke 13:1-5
Adam and Eve preferred to act as a law unto themselves rather than abide by God’s Word, and to trust in their own ideas and desires rather than the good and perfect will of their Creator. By their rebellion and lack of faith, they opened a Pandora’s Box of affliction that immediately spread throughout creation.
(T.M.Moore, ailbe.org)
So regardless of the particular cause, our root problem, as Jesus demonstrated here, is sin. And as we have seen, forgiving our sins has as its result, healing our brokenness, and setting those captive to sin free. This was the reason Jesus came as the Lamb of God: the perfect sacrifice making atonement for our sins.
Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifies… by pardoning their sins, and accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone… but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them… Christ by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his Father’s justice in their behalf.
(Westminster Confession of Faith, Of Free Will, Chapter 9)
And while amazement took hold of everyone, seeing Jesus’ miracle, the Pharisees were upset. Though the Pharisees correctly understood that only God can forgive sins, Exodus 34:6, Psalm 103:12 they refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Luke 5:27 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!”
28 He left everything, and rose up and followed him. 29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
Again, Jesus calls a social outcast to follow him. Levi was a tax collector. Tax collectors worked as agents of the government, the occupying Roman government that everyone hated and wanted overthrown. The tax collectors levied a tariff on all goods that passed through the region between Syria and Egypt. Furthermore, because they cheated by lining their pockets from the taxes that they collected, they were viewed as traitors by their countrymen.
Luke 5:30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
33 They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”
34 He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved. 39 No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
The legalistic Pharisees were concerned about ritual purity. In order to keep from associating with the poor and lower classes of society, the Pharisees had developed workarounds to God’s Law. Workarounds allowed them to look and feel good about themselves when, in fact, they were lawless, ignoring God’s Law; but more about that in Luke 11. For now, just understand that they accused Jesus of allowing himself to become contaminated by associating with tax collectors like Levi and sinners like Levi’s friends. They leveled two accusations against Jesus. Why do you associate with sinners? Why don’t your disciples fast? Jesus answered their accusations in three ways.
First, as to why he associated with sinners, Jesus responded that when you are healthy you don’t have to call a physician. However, when you are sick you call for the physician, or, in today’s language, you go to the emergency room so that you can be healed. Similarly, those who think that they are spiritually healthy refuse to see their need. On the other hand, those caught in the futility and desperation of their sin sickness need to be offered the only cure that can save them. Which is why Jesus calls all sinners to repentance. Only the lost, the beggars, the unworthy, and the burdened, can recognize their need and turn from their sin in repentance.
Second, as to why his disciples didn’t fast like John’s disciples or like the Pharisees, Jesus responded, and I’ll paraphrase putting his response in a modern context, would it make sense for a bridegroom’s best man and groomsmen to plan a bachelor party where everyone fasted and walked around with sad faces? Matthew 6:16 Or would the bachelor party be a joyful time of eating, drinking, and celebrating the coming wedding? Christ, the Creator of the Universe, Immanuel, God with us, the one for whom all creation longs, is our joy. Fasting is inappropriate. Christ brings good tidings of great joy, Luke 2:10 so that our joy might be full to the brim and overflowing. John 17:13
Finally, Jesus explains to the Pharisees that their manipulative man-made rules and their insistence that everyone keep their hollow traditions not only missed the point of God’s Law, but because they missed the point of God’s Law, they took the joy out of living. To make his point Jesus used two illustrations that they would have been familiar with.
First, if you patch an old garment with new cloth the new cloth will shrink and ruin the clothes. And second, if you place new wine, which is still fermenting, in an old wine skin that will no longer expand, the old skin will burst as the wine ferments and the gases build up. In other words, Jesus is saying the joy offered to those in his transformative Kingdom through true repentance, complete forgiveness, and eternal salvation cannot be added onto the Pharisees legalistic traditions. Obedience to the law is not the means of salvation rather obedience is the response to the gift of salvation. Paul had much to say about this, years later in his letter to the Galatians. But that is an amazing story for another time.
Luke 6:1 Now on the second Sabbath after the first, he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”
3 Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into God’s house, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?” 5 He said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
I have mentioned that God’s Law is our joy. Why? Think about it this way: God designed and engineered us and knows what is best for us. When we deviate from God’s design we will necessarily experience alienation from God, pain, shame, and brokenness. Our Creator and designer has given us his Revelation in the Bible to best optimize our experience in life. One such law is the 4th Commandment, Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
God had given mankind one day out of seven to rest, recharge, enjoy, count their blessings, give thanks to God, and worship their Creator, however the Pharisees had taken God’s good gift and turned it, instead, into a dreary day hemmed in with joy sapping rules. In another context Jesus said, The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. Mark 2:27
Jesus asks the Pharisees a question that should be asked to all Christians today: Have you not read? Many Christians today do not regularly read or study the Bible, God’s Word. When it comes to making decisions Christians rely on gut feelings, what feels good, the advice of friends, or maybe even prayer, but because they have a lifetime of neglecting the study of God’s revealed Word, (Have you not read?) they have no idea how to live obedient and fulfilling lives that are pleasing to God.
You may frequently hear people justify their actions by saying, “I prayed about it.” But do you really believe that God’s answer to their prayers would directly contradict his Word as he revealed it in the Bible? No. Like legalistic Pharisees, they are simply using something that sounds spiritual, prayer, to ignore God’s Word and justify following the desires of their hearts.
Luke 6:6 It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. 8 But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Rise up, and stand in the middle.” He arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” 10 He looked around at them all, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored as sound as the other. 11 But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus.
Jesus, our Creator, gave us life. Here the Creator heals a broken life bringing joy and completeness, and the only thing that the Pharisees can think about is that Jesus worked by healing a man on the Sabbath, violating their man-made laws. After healing the man, Jesus trapped the Pharisees with a question that filled them with rage because to answer honestly would have exposed the folly of their traditions: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to harm? To save a life or to kill?