“Your Sins are Forgiven You!”

“And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.'” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” (Luke 5:20-24 ESV)

Remember Luke’s Gospel is fast-paced, with one event quickly leading into another. Many of his Chapters start with "now," "when," or "it came about"-all action words to move his readers along in his presentation of the three-year marvelous ministry of Jesus. Sometimes, I want to say, slow down a bit; I can’t keep up and take it all in, much less understand the implications of all that Jesus is doing. But now we find in Chapter 5 that Jesus calls Andrew, Peter, James, and John, all partners in a fishing business, to give up their way of life and to follow Him and become ‘catchers’ of men.

Then we come to one of my all-time favorite miracles of Jesus. A paralyzed man whom his friends carried was determined that his friends put him before Jesus for healing. Usually, we hear a lot about the faith of the friends, but not about the faith of the paralyzed man. But faith and belief in God are always personal, not something that a friend or relative can do for you. We see in verse 20, “And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” The faith that the man had was his faith, not the faith of his friends. Remember the word in Greek for faith is ‘pistis’ the noun form of ‘peitho’ which means “to be persuaded” that God is right!  I can’t make you have “faith – or be persuaded” to take God at His word, only God can do that.

Now, not to get “Greek Geeky” or anything, but I find it very interesting that when Jesus says “Your sins have been forgiven you”, Jesus uses the Passive voice in Greek. What that means to us is that the forgiveness of sins is not something that can be attributed to the man; that would be in the Active voice when the subject is doing the action. But Jesus uses the Passive voice, which means that the action of being forgiven is being done to the man by an outside force. In other words, the man’s healing was completely from Jesus. This is an important fact that we, as New Covenant believers, must remember.

One of the most despicable lies told to believers is that “if you only had enough faith, you or your loved one could be healed”. NOT TRUE! Healing and forgiveness come from God, period. If you receive healing, it’s because God has decided that healing you here on earth would best be used to bring Him honor and glory. If you do not receive healing here in this life, it’s because God has decided that not healing you here on earth would bring Him honor and glory. It’s not about you, and how much you believe. Just like salvation doesn’t depend on you; it is a gift from God, not something that you earn. Healing is not something that you earn; you can’t be good enough or believe enough so God will ‘owe’ you healing. God does not work that way.

A preacher that I have come to appreciate, Voddie Baucham, stated, "Sometimes God is glorified when sick saints get well. But more often than not, God is glorified when sick saints die well." You see, my friend, trusting in God doesn’t begin or end with you or me, with how we feel, or with the idea that God owes us healing for being so faithful for all these years. Healing is a gift from God, who may or may not choose to give it to us while we are living. He may choose to wait until we see Him face to face, and we need to be good with it being His choice, not ours.

But the main point that Jesus was making by healing this man in front of so many religious leaders was to show them that He was indeed God in the flesh; He was the Messiah. Jesus said something so true: He said it’s easy to say “you are healed”, but Jesus proved that He had the authority to forgive sins by actually healing the paralytic and telling him to rise in front of all present and leave. By showing them the healing, Jesus proved that He was God, as the Pharisees said, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus proved by many signs and miracles that He was God, and Luke wanted us to understand who Jesus was. Not just a sinless man, not just a prophet of God, but God Himself, who came down to this world in flesh so He could save His people from their sins.

If you haven’t received the gift of eternal life from God, why not? What else is needed to persuade you to put your faith in Jesus? You will see, as we continue through the Gospel of Luke, the many proofs that faith in Jesus is the only way to the Father. Those who witnessed Jesus’ miracles saw “remarkable things” which proved that Jesus is Lord, and only He can say, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"