Jesus has healed the leper, and now He’s gaining some popularity and notoriety. The healed leper has told everyone about what Jesus did for him. Look at the next story about Him.

Luke 5:17

17 One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

At this time, Jesus is in Capernaum. As He starts teaching this day, there are Pharisees and scribes from all over Galilee and Judea, and even from as far away as Jerusalem. (That’s about 75 miles from Capernaum!) They were there to listen, and maybe to trap Jesus. They were willing to listen, but not willing to change in light of what they heard! We must be willing to change when the Lord shows us something in His word.

Look at the parallel passage describing this event.

Mark 2:1-12

1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.

Make a mental picture of what’s going on. Jesus is sitting down in a very crowded house teaching the Word of God, the Pharisees are sitting and listening, and these four men are bringing someone who needed to be healed. God is working all these circumstances together. He always takes care of the details!

4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

In Luke, we see that they had tried every way to get their friend in:

Luke 5:19

19 But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

They had tried and tried, but were unable to approach Jesus. So they headed up to the roof. In ancient times, people would build their roof as something they could go up on. So there was probably a ladder by the house. They would build the roof with large beams (joists) that were about 3 feet apart, then place smaller branches across them to cover the roof. Then they would pack it with mud or something like cement, and then they would lay tiles of hardened clay on top of the whole thing. So for these friends to lower the paralytic through the roof was quite an ordeal! They had to overcome some obstacles to hear what Jesus had to say. How hard do you try when life puts obstacles in your path?

Back to Mark:

5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Faith, trust or dependence in the Lord results in actions that can be seen by others. This can be real encouragement to others as well!

The Pharisees believed that people suffered because of their sins. The concept of grace was foreign to them! They actually looked down on people who were ill or paralyzed as those who were paying for their sins! Don’t make that same mistake! You don’t ever know the reason for someone’s suffering. They also believed that only God had the prerogative to forgive sins, and that forgiveness of sins was required before there could be any healing or recovery. Now Jesus claims the right to forgive sins – and without a sacrifice! This starts a fire with these legalistic Pharisees and scribes:

6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

7 "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"

8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit (this means He fully knew exactly what they were thinking) that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

9 "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, "Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'?

That’s an easy question! It’s much easier to say “your sins are forgiven” because “get up” requires a demonstration of that authority, or some proof!

10 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic,

11 "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."

12 And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

So Jesus Christ, to prove He has the authority to forgive sins (and is therefore God), proves it to them by exercising another authority that only belongs to God – the ability to heal.