Power of Authority

The Word is first...

"Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 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, 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." (Luke 5:23-25, NIV)

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

Having just heard Jesus declare to the paralytic that his sins had been forgiven the Pharisees and other religious leaders we in a state of inner turmoil. Afterall, they had just heard with their own ears Jesus making a declaration that is only attributable to God. Knowing their thoughts Jesus seized the opportunity to finish the lesson he was teaching.

You see, this story is not about the paralytic or the four men who brought him to Jesus. True enough there are lessons to be learned by the actions of those people but the core lesson is not of his ability to heal physical malady but rather it is his God-given authority to forgive sin. To this point, there had been nobody able to forgive sin except for God himself. So the concept of Jesus being not just a messenger from God but a manifestation of God was a foreign and perplexing concept.

Nevertheless, Jesus laid his entire mission 'on the line' in this passage. You see, when Jesus fulfilled his mission with respect to the paralytic by forgiving his sins, he had done something that could not be proven. The forgiveness of sin has no outward manifestation. There are no symptoms that could be seen to be different, no conditions have changed. To the human eye, the forgiven appear exactly as they appeared before. Thus, there is no objective way that the Pharisees could test or prove whether Jesus had actually forgiven the sins of the paralytic. Forget for a moment that they considered it to be blasphemy and consider how they might find this preposterous.

So Jesus laid it out for them. He acknowledged the thought in their minds that anyone could 'say' that your sins are forgiven and that as a claim to power, it could be neither proven nor disproven. In order to prove that which could not be proven, Jesus made a declaration that could be immediately verified. It is written '"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, get up, take your mat and go home."' Now this was a bold declaration and would surely grab the rapt attention of the Pharisees and religious leaders.

You see, they all believed in God and they all accepted that God could both forgive sin and heal the afflicted. It came down to this... IF Jesus was who he said he was and IF God approved of Jesus' forgiveness of sin THEN God would heal this man. But IF Jesus had not the authority to forgive sins then God would NOT heal this man. The proof would be immediate, obvious and irrefutable.

The passage continues "Immediately he (the paralytic) stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God." I can imagine that the religious leaders were shocked! The healing had occurred by the speaking of Jesus and if he could do 'that' which was so hard, then he must be able to forgive sins as well.

Tomorrow, we'll examine the response of the people in attendance. But for today, let's ponder our faith. By this passage, we can see that Jesus had the authority that he claimed to have. The logical conclusion is that Jesus was who he said he was. If we are to believe any scripture then we are to believe all scripture. This means that Jesus still lives! It means that Jesus still has the authority to forgive sins. This means that Jesus IS who he says he IS. And by his words and his sacrifice, we know that our faith in him and that by his authority we are forgiven our sins and reconciled to God the Father. We know by his words that The Holy Spirit now dwells within us and that we are all children of the King. Now that's something to think about.

In His Grip,
Carl