Luke documented Jesus' authority in yet another area of life by showing His power to forgive sins. In this incident the miracle is secondary and the issue of Jesus' authority is primary. Jesus claimed to be God by forgiving the man's sins.
5:17 Again Luke stressed the priority of Jesus' teaching ministry. The Pharisees and scribes had come to hear what He was teaching. These men, first appearing in Luke here, were the guardians of Israel's orthodoxy. The Pharisees were a political party in Israel noted for their strict observance of the Mosaic Law as traditionally interpreted by the rabbis. Some of these doctors of the law (i.e., scribes, lawyers) were probably Pharisees, but probably not all of them were. The figure is a hendiadys indicating that they were religious watchdogs and does not mean that other religious leaders were absent.186
Luke viewed the power of God as extrinsic to Jesus (cf. John 5:1-19). Jesus did not perform miracles out of His divine nature. He laid those powers aside at the Incarnation. Rather He did His miracles in the power of God's Spirit who was on Him and in Him as a prophet.
"Why would Luke say that the power of the Lord was present for him to heal' if Jesus could heal at any time, under any condition, and solely at his own discretion? This statement only makes sense if we view healing as the sovereign prerogative of God the Father, who sometimes dispenses his power to heal and at other times withholds it."187
In Acts, Luke would stress that the same Spirit is on and in every believer today, and He is the source of our power as He was the source of Jesus' power.
5:18-19 This incident happened in Capernaum (Mark 2:1), though that fact was irrelevant for Luke. Other details in his account again add the touch of reality to it.
5:20 The zeal with which the four friends of the paralytic sought to bring him into Jesus' presence demonstrated their faith, namely their belief that Jesus couldheal him. However the sick man also appears to have had faith in Jesus or he would not have permitted his friends to do what they did. Perhaps Luke did not mention the paralytic's faith because to do so might have detracted from his emphasis on Jesus' power. God responds to the faith of others when they bring friends in need to Him in prayer as well as in person.
We should not regard physical healing and spiritual forgiveness as an "either or"proposition. Rather true forgiveness includes full restoration in every area of life. Jesus graciously did "both and"for this man though often God does not restore people to complete physical health, some not until after death.
"Miracle becomes a metaphor for salvation. All Jesus' miracles should be seen in this light."188
5:21 The religious leaders were correct. Only God can forgive sins. However, they were unwilling to draw the conclusion that Jesus was God.
"Whenever Luke reports what someone is thinking, instruction from Jesus usually follows."189
5:22-23 As a prophet, Jesus may have had special insight into what His critics were thinking (cf. Matt. 9:3; Mark 2:6). It was easier to say, "Your sins have been forgiven you,"because no one could disprove that claim. In another sense, of course, both claims were equally difficult because healing and forgiving required supernatural power.
5:24 Jesus did the apparently more difficult thing to prove that He could also do the apparently easier thing. This is the first time Luke recorded Jesus calling Himself the "Son of Man."This was a messianic title with clear implications of deity (Dan. 7:13-14). Since the Son of Man is the divine judge and ruler, it is only natural that He would have the power to forgive. It was only consistent for Jesus to claim deity since He had just demonstrated His deity by forgiving the man's sins. He would demonstrate it by healing him.
5:25-26 The paralyzed man responded in faith immediately (Gr. parachrema) to Jesus' command.
"The ability of the paralyzed man to resume his walk of life is a picture of what Jesus does when he saves. His message is a liberating one."190
Everyone present glorified God because of what Jesus had done. One of Luke's objectives was to glorify God and to encourage his readers to do the same in this Gospel and in Acts (cf. 2:20). The amazed reaction of the crowd recalls the same response of the people on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11-12; cf. Luke 7:16; 13:17; 18:43; Acts 3:9; 8:8). Perhaps Luke meant to draw the reader's attention to "today,"the last word that is also the first word Jesus spoke when He announced the fulfillment of Isaiah 66:1-2a (4:21). The "day"of the Messiah's appearing had arrived, and the witnesses of this miracle testified to it albeit unknowingly.
Luke's emphasis in his account of this incident was on Jesus' authority and the people's acknowledgment of it. He also stressed Jesus' ongoing mission (cf. Acts).
"Three quest stories appear early in the narrative of Jesus' ministry, in Luke 5 and 7. Three reappear toward the end of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, in Luke 17, 18, and 19. Thus they appear early and late in the narrative of Jesus' ministry prior to his arrival in Jerusalem. The tendency to bracket Jesus' ministry with this type of story suggests the importance of these encounters in Jesus' total activity."191
