Lk.5:20-24 – Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.”
I wonder if anyone present at this home in Capernaum actually knew who was in the house that day. God Himself was present in this fishing village in a fisherman’s home and most no one really knew who He was. That’s how it often is with the Lord, just give me a miracle, who you are is not important to most. The Lord clearly displayed who He was that day right there in front of the religious officials. Here is how Adam Clarke described this moment.
“Who can forgive sins, but God alone?. If Jesus were not God, he could not forgive sins; and his arrogating this authority would have been blasphemy against God, in the most proper sense of the word. That these scribes and Pharisees might have the fullest proof of his Godhead, he works in their presence three miracles, which from their nature could only be effected by an omniscient and omnipotent Being. The miracles are: 1. The remission of the poor man’s sins. 2. The discernment of the secret thoughts of the scribes. 3. The restoration of the paralytic in an instant to perfect soundness.”
Clarke described three ways Jesus proclaimed His deity that day. First, it was through the forgiveness of sin. Only God can forgive sin because it is He alone who is offended by our sin. Secondly, Jesus knew what was in the hearts of the spiritual leaders present that day. He knew their hearts, He knows our hearts as well. Third, He healed this poor paralyzed man. Only the Lord can heal paralyzed legs, after all he invented and created legs in the first place. So, Jesus is in our house today, look closely at Him. Let Him search your heart, forgive your sin, and heal your body.
