12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
Introduction
The greatest curse of man is not war, crime, disease, or death. The greatest curse of man is sin. It is from sin that all of these other vices flow. Our text tonight speaks of the forgiveness of sin. First, Jesus was approached by a leper. Leprosy was a loathsome disease. In its advanced stages it disfigured a person. It was considered incurable. So the only treatment known was isolation. The lepers were the social outcasts of their day. They receive little compassion and were compelled by the law to lift their arms and shout, “Unclean, unclean, unclean” three times if someone approached them.
In addition to the physical affliction, there were strong psychological consequences. Think of the humiliation of being an outcast from all of society and it being unlawful for you even to be touched by another person. The Bible says that this man was “full of leprosy.” That means that his disease was in the advanced stages. He said to Jesus, “If thou wilt.” He doesn’t doubt Christ’s ability, but he does doubt his willingness. Remember, these people received little compassion. He is not sure about the compassion of Christ.
The Lord reached out and touched him and said, “I will.” Mark Rutherford said that he wished to add a new beatitude, “Blessed are those who heal us of self-despising.” That’s what Jesus did for this leper. He not only healed him physically, but he healed him of self-despising. He treated him as a person of value.
He then told the leper to tell no man. If word spread of this healing it would create trouble for him. There would be great crowds and curiosity seekers. He rather told the man to show himself to the priest. The law required that a healed leper must be inspected by a priest who acted as a board of health and issued a health certificate. This was necessary before he could go back into society.
Next, in verse 16, we are told that Jesus withdrew and prayed. He never forgot the source of his power. He drew strength for the battle from his time of prayer and meditation. Then came the time of conflict with the Pharisees. In verse 17 we begin a series of five conflicts with the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were separatists. They were not bad men. In fact they were good men, but they were bent on preserving the traditions that had grown up around the law of God. The traditions of man became more important than the law of God to them.
Our story tells of Jesus’ teaching in a house. It was probably a little one-room home typical of that day and age. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were in the room, sitting in the back coldly, critically watching Jesus. Some men—the other gospels tell us there were four—brought a paralyzed friend to the house. They could not get through the crowd so they decided to burst through the roof and let their friend down at the feet of Jesus. That was not such a difficult task since the homes were made of mud. The roof usually was made of poles that crossed from one wall to another. These poles were covered with sticks and then the sticks covered with straw or mud. It would be easy to rake aside the mud and lower their friend down between the rafters. That’s what they did.
Verse 20 says that when Jesus “saw their faith” he said to the paralyzed person, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” The Pharisees immediately thought that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy. Jesus read their minds and responded, “Whether is easier?” He then demonstrates his authority and power from God to forgive sins by healing the man. It would take the power of God to forgive sins. It would take the power of God to heal. If a man had the power to do one, he could do the other. He demonstrated his power and authority to forgive by healing. Everyone was amazed.
This teaches us three things about forgiveness.
1. Forgiveness is the greatest need of man.
If the man had been brought to me I probably would have thought that his greatest need was physical healing. Here is a paralyzed man who cannot walk and perhaps cannot talk. To be made whole again physically would appear to be his greatest need. Jesus saw otherwise. His greatest need was to have the paralysis of his soul and spirit healed.
Jesus taught us that we should not fear the one who is able to destroy the body and not the soul, but rather to fear him who is able to destroy both the body and the soul.
Jesus in the context of lust said that if your eye offends you, then pluck it out for it is better to enter into heaven with one eye than into hell with 20/20 vision. He said that if your hand offends you, then cut it off, for it is better to go into heaven maimed then to go into hell with both hands.
Ever and always the greatest need of man is that his soul be healed and be made whole. That he be right with God.
2. Only God can forgive sins.
The judgment of the Pharisees was right—forgiving sins is the prerogative of God alone. What they did not know was that they were dealing with the son of God, the Savior. The scriptures speak to us again and again of the forgiveness of sins. Acts 3:19 and 1 John 1:9 both tell us how our sins can be forgiven.
3. We ought to expend every effort to bring our friends to Christ.
If the first two points are true, that forgiveness is the greatest need of man and God alone can forgive sins, then we ought to expend every effort necessary to bring our friends to Christ.
It was their faith that caused them to bring their friend to Jesus. It was their faith that moved Jesus to heal the man. It was not a simple matter to get their friend to Jesus. They tried and the crowd kept them out. They decided if we can’t get him in the door we will carry him over the crowd and down through the roof. It was only with great effort that they were able to get their friend to Jesus.
Is there anyone you have brought to Christ? Are you willing to spend great effort, time, patience, to get your friend to Jesus? There are many people who have been saved by the faith of those who loved them. When Augustine lived a reckless, immoral life his devout mother came to ask the help of a Christian bishop. “It is impossible,” he said, “that the child of such prayers and tears should perish.” May we come to Jesus who alone can forgive sins and may we