Jesus Forgives and Heals the Paralytic
Now we find Jesus teaching in someone’s home and people come with a man who is paralyzed. What they do to get to Jesus is amazing…But what Jesus does is even more amazing!
Read the story – Luke 5:17-26
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.
Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Jesus heals a man who cannot walk and shows the religious leaders that he has the power to forgive sins!
Questions
Once you have watched the video, we recommend you spend some time to think about the story in greater detail. Here are three questions that you can use to think about this story:
Question 1: Jesus shows that he has the power to forgive sins. How is this possible?
Click to see our answer
Jesus shows that he not only has authority over nature and authority over evil. He also has the authority and power to forgive sins.
The Pharisees ask the right question:
“Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
We can see that Jesus is showing himself to actually be God through this act of forgiving the man’s sins.
Question 2: Why did Jesus forgive the man’s sins?
Click to see our answer
Jesus saw the faith of the man’s friends and decided to have mercy upon him. At the same time, he also wanted the religious leaders to be caught in a difficult situation because they were rejecting both him and his teaching. They would accuse him of blasphemy, but they couldn’t deny the proof that he could forgive sins because the man who was paralyzed was now walking!
Question 3: Could Jesus also forgive your sins? Do you need to have your sins forgiven?
Click to see our answer
If Jesus could forgive this one man’s sins, he can forgive mine as well!