The Gospel of Luke 5:12-26 The leper & the paralytic
Luke 5:12-26 · Vern Peterman · Feb 1, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 18
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926454565451

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to go step-by-step through this passage here, starting with Luke 5.12.

While he, that is Jesus, was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Leprosy is a really horrible disease. It is disfiguring, and in the worst case, people lose fingers and limbs and that sort of thing. So this man was covered with leprosy.

He did not have a slight case, and being covered typically means he's had it for some time. So Dr. Luke records Jesus was in one of the cities, certainly of Israel, but not out in the countryside. Doesn't say in this case which one. This particular city was a man covered with leprosy.

Typically, the lepers would be put out in some leper colony, separated from the rest of the people, and under the Law of Moses, once a person had been declared by the priest to be unclean, they were to go about, whenever there were people around, and call out unclean, and just let everybody know that they're unclean. Today we know that leprosy is a bacterial infection, a combination of antibiotics depending on which kind of leprosy is used to cure it. But that's only been in recent times and it's not universally dealt with around the globe.

My aunt and uncle were missionaries down in Bolivia working with a leper colony down there. Dr. Luke knew well that with the technology of his day, nothing could be done. Nothing. You just, you know, get the people away and get them isolated, and that was it.

Now, leprosy, because of the inability to distinguish One disease from another also probably included people with psoriasis, which is not contagious, lupus, eczema, ringworm, and a few other skin diseases. So anybody who had anything that looked like leprosy would be included in this same treatment. So Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 actually gives quite a bit of detail as to here's how you deal with it. The priest is essentially the one who declares a person to be unclean or clean of leprosy. Again, anything that looked like leprosy would probably get lumped up in that same category and they'd be treated the same.

So the priests were the ones to observe all this. Very interesting. I'd be interested to know if there was a pattern of priests also getting this disease because of their position of observing it. In addition to the law, there were also traditions about leprosy, because the Jews had traditions about everything, right? Now, they weren't just socially cut off. It wasn't just simply a matter of that kind of isolation. If a Jew got leprosy, as this man had, they were also cut off from the religious life, the spiritual life of the people in the nation of Israel.

So it's like, yeah, you're a Jew, but right now, from here on out, it's not going to matter, because you're going to be isolated. You're going to be cut off. You couldn't enter into the temple area, and you couldn't participate in anything. They didn't want you hanging around the synagogue, right? So you're going to be isolated. And then because of passages like Exodus 15-26, Deuteronomy 28-60, and that's the short list. There are others you could add to it.

It was assumed that a man or a woman with leprosy had sinned and this was God's judgment on them. This was a curse, right? So not only were you socially isolated because of the disease and nobody else wanted to get it, but it was assumed that you had done something seriously wrong. in order to get that disease, because it must be a judgment from God. So since the leper was cut off from Israel's sacrificial system, the leper had no way to deal with the sins. So it was a horrible, horrible thing for a Jew to fall into. So this leper, being in a desperate situation, not just physically, but socially, spiritually, in every way, He fell on his face before the Lord, not as some sort of an accident, but rather just to humble himself before the Lord and to plead, to beg, to implore Him.

But it was, however, the beginning of an act of faith, wasn't it? Lord, you can deal with this desperate problem that I have. The leper implored Jesus, begging Him. So here's the expanded and explained version of what the leper said. Lord, if you are willing, and the form he used was, and you probably are, you have the power and ability to make me clean, so that the priest can pronounce me clean. Lord, if you're willing, and you probably are, you have the ability and the power. So he expressed faith in the Lord's ability and power to do this. Nobody else could. Nobody else had been able to. But he believed that Jesus could.

So here's Luke 5.13. And he stretched out his hand and touched him, Jesus, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately, the leprosy left him. Immediately, the leprosy left him. That's rather amazing because this guy had had it covered with it all over and just gone.

Can you imagine the relief that this guy felt? Not just physical relief, but now you mean I can be connected up with my family and friends again? Do you mean I can be a part of the nation and people of Israel again? I can go back to actually earning a living? This is amazing. This is amazing stuff. It was all gone, all resolved instantly. Now, this is kind of amazing.

What's the usual manner in which people would deal with a leper? Unclean, back up, get away, walk around. They were typically to stay away from the cities and stay in a leper colony, just where everybody else had the same problem. When the leper did go to other people, he was, and this is the law of Moses, Leviticus 13 and 14, is to call out loudly, Unclean! Unclean! You can imagine just going around saying that all the time if you're around people. Others, hearing and seeing the leper, would stay far away from him. Get way far away, back up, take another route. Jesus does the exact opposite.

Here's a man, I'm sure nobody had touched him in quite a while, and Jesus reaches out and touches him. You see, with Christ there are no untouchables, right? There are no untouchables. So Jesus reaches out and touches the man. If you think about it, we were spiritually and morally disgusting too, but Jesus touched us. God's holiness and righteousness and justice would not tolerate or accept our ungodliness, unrighteousness, and injustice in the days when we were in Adam. Out of His great mercy, His love, and His grace, God reached out through Jesus to touch us and make us whole in Him.

We were cleansed of that spiritually fatal disease called sin. In Christ, we were given a new spiritual history. Just like this guy is getting a new future, this leopard is getting a new future. Once we were made to be in Christ, we have a new history altogether, a new spiritual history.

So Luke 5.14, and he says, Jesus ordered him to tell no one.

This is very interesting. Don't tell anybody. But go and show yourself to the priest, make an offering for the cleansing, as prescribed, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. Who's them? Let's take a look at that. Tell no one. So Jesus didn't need a public relations campaign. There's already crowds of people coming. Already crowds of people coming. So he told this now former leper not to tell anyone about being healed. Boy, I imagine that was tough.

But go to the priest, and I can see at least three purposes in going to the priest here. One, going to the priest would certainly fulfill the law of Moses, and Jesus made reference to that. Allow this man to be restored to the temple services, even coming to the synagogue, etc. And number two, it would allow this man back among the people of Israel. removing also the implication that he had sinned in order to be judged and cursed in such a way. And third, it was, as Jesus implied, a testimony to the priests. So it had at least those three purposes evident here. Don't tell anybody, but go to the priests with these purposes in mind.

Luke 5.15 reads this way, but the news about him was spreading even farther and large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Now you can imagine in an era when the level of medical technology is not that great, things that for us would be, you know, I just got to go have a visit to the doctor or something and then you're done with it. Those same things would oftentimes be debilitating or fatal. And leprosy is one of them. So, even if the leper told no one, the news about what Jesus said and did went far and wide. There are other people who witnessed this. Jesus quickly solved health problems and demonic possession that were otherwise beyond all hope.

And unlike the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus taught with authority and certainty and clarity. Jesus would say things that no rabbi would ever say. So, without being egotistical, he would make claims no other rabbi would ever ever claim, either. You see, among the Jews, for example, you would never ever say, and no rabbi would ever say, my father, referring to God as my father.

Our father, that's okay. My father, implying I have a special relationship That was not acceptable, but that's what Jesus did repeatedly recorded in all four Gospels several dozen times Jesus made claims that no rabbi ever said and People were responding to that Now we see the crowds.

The Gospel of Luke will see this word crowd or crowds. It generally has a positive sense. That is, people are coming to him to hear what he had to say and for healing and for casting out demons. And so as you go through the Gospel of Luke, as we'll continue to do, crowds will have a positive sense.

But towards the end of the book, we're going to see the word crowd or crowds right at the very end, crucifixion week, suddenly have a negative implication. Having a crowd around Jesus is going to be a bad thing just in the last week before the crucifixion.

So here's Luke 5.16, but Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Now, Dr. Luke has recorded this Occasionally, but what he implies here is there's a more this slipping away Jesus slipping away and into the wilderness and to get away He would often do it so more than what's reported Jesus slipped away from the crowds and actually even away from his disciples at times and That was done in order to have fellowship with his father.

He wasn't just, I've got to have some me time. He did it in order to have fellowship with his father. That's what these slipping away times were about. And that's why he would do it often. We'd seen him do it in the previous chapter. This is chapter 4, 442. When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place. They sought him out and found out where he was.

But this was this kind of thing, where he went to spend time fellowshipping with the Father. This pattern will continue all the way up to the time of the crucifixion. Even as recorded in John 17, where Jesus spent time fellowshipping with the Father, up to the hours before his crucifixion, his crucifixion, when fellowship with the Father, would be broken for a time.

Luke 5.17, 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. Here's the parallel passage which gives us some additional insights. Mark 2, 1-12, and I'll just quote the first couple of verses there.

When he had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that he was at home. Oh, at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no longer room, not even near the door, single door, and he was speaking the word to them. Mark 2 1 through 12 and then this passage here in Luke and also Matthew 9 1 through 7 those are three passages that describe the same event so we have the the Indication here. He's speaking in Capernaum. Okay, that's the place where he had moved to Matthew 4 13 says that's where he changed his home address from Nazareth to Capernaum so that he was at home and It appears to have taken place in his house In his house. So he's he's home. He apparently kind of, you know snuck in that, you know, just spend some some time catching up on things I imagine and Then people started gathering, you know caught word. Oh, he's home, right? So most likely at his house.

So here at Capernaum at the north Shores of Galilee And we had this artist's reconstruction of Capernaum. The one correction I would have to it, it's pretty well done except that the actual stone is a dark basalt. So that would be one adjustment I would make to that. A home, and we're going to see this pretty soon, a home would end up being a flat top structure in most cases.

The law of Moses required a parapet around the outside so that people wouldn't just walk off. Typically, going up on the roof was a place where you'd have everything from fruit and other things drying up there. Peter went up the top to pray, so using the top of the house was something more commonly done. Typically, a roof was flat and they would have structural members going across and you could take a part of the roof off in many cases. fairly easily. One door was typical, and small high windows. Small high windows, that was typical. So what you see here in this, except for the white stone, would be the likely situation with the house here.

So Jesus was teaching. The indications we have from all four Gospels at this point is that he was still focusing on the gospel of the kingdom. That would have been his likely focus. The focal point at this instance, however, would be the healing of the paralyzed man, not so much the content of what he was teaching. This paralyzed man would not be brought through the one door. Not be brought through the one door.

The other note that we have from 517 is that you have these Pharisees and teachers of the law. The Pharisees were the cultural heroes of the day. The Orthodox Jews of our day actually generally credit the Pharisees with their founding. I spoke to a local Orthodox rabbi here a little over a decade back, and first thing he said, and we talked for about two hours, first thing he said is, we are the Pharisees. He claimed them as the ones that his group came from.

The teachers of the law were usually scribes. These were ones who would certainly copy scripture, but also make all kinds of records, genealogical records and records of different things, including records of the priest decided that this guy is a leper and we're going to record that and put that down. So all the record keeping related to the law, not just copying the law, but keeping records about everything regarding the law. Most of these teachers of law were in alignment with the Pharisees, and these particular ones probably were, especially if they were with Pharisees.

There were some, however, who are part of the Sadducee group, so it isn't uniform. Likely, however, these guys were aligned with the Pharisees, and that's why they were there together. Now, there were several reasons for these Pharisees and teachers of the law to be there. Because Jesus' teaching was different from the Pharisees' and teachers' of the law, and because Jesus did and said things different from them, they had to see and hear, is this guy okay?

Is this guy okay? The ability to command demons to be silent, to heal instantly any disease with something, of course, to watch and to see. So we have that. These guys are here, they're seeing it, and are they going to go, yay, Jesus! Now, let's find out. One thing we've got to look at, these guys weren't Bereans. What do we mean by that? Dr. Luke recorded later in Acts 1711 that the Bereans were more noble because they examined the Scriptures daily, even checking to see, is this Paul guy telling us the right thing?

These guys, however, corrupted the Law of Moses. They had all kinds of additional things they added to it in special loopholes. Ways you could get around the Law of Moses. They came up with all sorts of little things like that. They failed to realize that Jesus' claims to deity were valid and being validated by what he said and did right in front of them. They didn't realize that.

So here's Luke 5.18, And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him in and to set him in front of him.

But you can imagine, these houses are not big, and they have one door, and small high windows, and there's no other way to get in. And if the house is small, and you've got Jesus would gather crowds, the room is full, and the doorway is crammed. In fact, you've probably got people all the way around it, right? And people trying to listen and gather on the door. There's no way to get anybody in. And you try to ask somebody to move, and they don't want to move, right?

So, here's Luke 5.19, "...but not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof," just like you saw in that house, "...and led him down through the tiles with his stretcher into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus." reveals in the same parallel passage that they had to actually dig into the roof structure in order to make a hole to lower this guy down. They had to take the roof apart.

Mark 2, 1 through 12 has this parallel count indicates, and it says four men, they're in the mark account, carrying this pallet. They remove a piece of the roof, and it had to be a fairly significant piece because you have to drop this guy down some kind of level, right? You can't just kind of dump him, right? So you have to have some kind of level here and lower this guy down.

So a lot of the pictures and a lot of movies I noticed have this scene taking place in the synagogue. But that doesn't appear to be what really is the case. More likely this is in the home and very likely Jesus' own home is where this is happening here. And having a flat roof. And so they lower him down there.

He's at the floor level and what's happening is people are kind of backing up and wants to see this guy coming through the ceiling. Okay, so you have this house structure, small house, flat roof, these guys have gone up the stairways onto the flat roof, you know, so far so good, you know, dug a hole, dropped him in front of Jesus in order to get it there.

Now, think about it, who had the faith here? The men who were carrying the paralyzed man, four of them, Mark indicates, and the paralyzed man himself, likely saying, can you guys take me, you know, They're all exercising faith in Jesus' ability to heal, and they were demonstrating that faith by bringing Jesus, demonstrating the faith by, when they couldn't get him through the door, lowering him through a hole in the roof. In addition, these men were showing a lot of determination and resourcefulness and ingenuity, I'd have to say. I probably wouldn't have thought of that. We could even say that they made an opening in the roof by faith. by faith in Jesus' ability to heal. Now, let's ask a question.

Did Jesus have to see the man to heal him? In truth, Jesus did not have to be right there in the same room. Jesus did not have to see the man in order to heal him. We're going to read about Jesus healing someone from a distance. We're going to get into Luke chapter 7 in our investigation here. But these four men, the paralyzed men, apparently thought that they need to see this paralyzed man get in the same room with Jesus and get right in front of him. And so that was how they showed faith. That was how they showed faith.

So here's Luke 5.20. Seeing their faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven you. Now, let's kind of scratch our heads.

Seeing their faith? You ever see some faith? The four men who brought the paralyzed man and the paralyzed man himself all exercised faith, and it was visibly demonstrated when they brought this man to Jesus by making a hole in the roof and lowering him down in front of Jesus. But in addition to that demonstration of faith, which all of us would say, yeah, okay, that was a demonstration of faith, could Jesus actually see their faith directly?

And the answer, I think, is yes. Since Jesus knew all the hearts and thoughts of the people, and He could see their spiritual conditions, and He knew all their thoughts, then the answer is yes. He could actually see their faith and see it demonstrated.

Here is also one other thing. In John 9, 1 and 2, we have the indication of kind of the Jewish mindset connecting illness or disease or Defect was sin as he passed by that is Jesus He saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him so this reveals the Jewish mindset Who sinned so that the the Jewish mindset is somebody's got a problem somebody must have sinned, right? Somebody's got a problem. Somebody must have sinned And so they ask this question.

Jesus, in this case, ends up answering, no, it wasn't because either one sinned, but for the glory of God that it might be demonstrated here. But it at least reveals the Jewish mindset. So though Jesus answered by saying the man was born blind for the glory of God, these verses reveal the connection, the mental connection, that Jews would typically make between a person sinning and disease, injury, or defect. So friend, your sins are forgiven you. to heal was to forgive sins in the Jewish mindset to heal was to forgive sins so you notice in some instances we saw here earlier Jesus would directly heal someone and say be healed or something of that sort without mentioning sins in other instances and we'll see some more of this in other instances he would say your sins are forgiven you and not mention the healing so healing and forgiving sins were essentially looked upon as the same thing in the Jewish mindset here Jesus could have just directly healed the man without mentioning forgiving sins but there was a reason that Jesus forgave sins here and mentioned it that way for the benefit of the Pharisees and the scribes that were with him Jesus would make a claim to deity that they would reject Forgiving sins, even the Pharisees and the scribes saw it. Forgiving sins was a claim to deity.

So Luke 5.21, the scribes and the Pharisees begin to reason. Now, notice, they're reasoning, not talking.

Reason saying, who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? So we title this slide, Who Does He Think He Is? So these Pharisees and teachers of law see Jesus as a quirky outspoken rabbi who was not trained in the usual way and who used to be a carpenter in a nearby town. While these men have their logic right, no one can forgive sins but God alone see we've been going through logical fallacies in our elective here just right before our main service and but they had an improper presupposition okay improper presupposition Jesus is just a man and he's not a deity therefore for him to forgive sins is blasphemy that was their thinking was it a good presupposition Answer, no. Therefore, they had their logic right, but they presupposed something false at the outset. So, with this being the case, who is really committing blasphemy? It's the Pharisees and the scribes, the teachers of the law. They are the ones committing blasphemy, because they're not recognizing the deity right in front of them.

So here's Luke 5, 22 and 23, but Jesus, aware of their reasonings, now notice, they hadn't said anything, they were just thinking. Aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, why are you reasoning in your hearts? In the same way that Jesus could see the faith in the hearts of those who had brought the paralyzed man in, and the paralyzed man, He can also see the lack of faith in these other men before they said anything. Which is easier to say, your sins have been forgiven you, or get up and walk?

They're equivalent. They're equivalent. So these Pharisees and teachers of the law had not said anything yet. Doesn't matter. Jesus knew what they were thinking. They don't have to. Jesus is deity. He really is deity. And He knows all of what they're thinking before any of them says a word. He's healing and will heal because of who He is as fully man and fully deity. All these guys are seeing is, I see a man. That's all they're seeing. I see a man. Jesus can forgive sins Which will heal people because he is deity It's what they don't see and don't believe that's the problem So Luke 5 24, 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 Okay, did he tell the paralytic? Your sins are forgiven He said, I say to you, get up and pick up your stretcher and go home. That's this equivalent of your sins are forgiven. That's the basis on which he would heal. So what do you think this paralytic is thinking? He says, no, I'm just going to lay here a while. Are you sure?

He had faith that Jesus could do this before he came in and so did the other four guys right and so He gets up now Jesus used the term first time he does so he refers to himself repeatedly in the gospel of Luke as The Son of Man here is where that term comes from Daniel 7 13 and 14. I Kept looking in the night visions. That's Daniel. I And behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Now, is this the gospel of substitution or the gospel of the kingdom? this gospel of the kingdom, right? So when Jesus uses that term son of man he is giving them that term because he's talking about the gospel of the kingdom this passage right here. So Jesus could have told the man that his sins were forgiven as he did at other times and he could tell him that he was healed and get up and pick up and walk either one But the point is that Jesus has the authority as the Son of Man to do these things. And that authority is given to Him by God Himself to forgive sins and to heal, validating that He's the Messiah, whether they believe it or not. The Son of Man is the Messiah. Gospel of the Kingdom.

Luke 5.25, immediately he got up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying God. So then verse 26, And they were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God. They were filled with fear, saying, We have seen remarkable things today.

So the paralyzed man isn't. The paralyzed man, the man was paralyzed, but isn't paralyzed any longer. He was paralyzed. Now no longer paralyzed. He was carried and lowered down through the roof by four men. Now he picks up his bed and walks home while the four men who had been carrying him spent the rest of the day fixing the hole in the roof.

Right? Probably. Maybe. Alright. They were struck with astonishment and filled with fear. Now notice, he's using very graphic language. He didn't just say they're astonished, he said they're struck with it. It's like, this is jarring, right? And filled with fear. It's not like, you know, I'm half empty or half full, you know, but all the way up to the top with fear. So they're maxed out. maxed out on fear. So they were suddenly astonished in a shocking kind of way, and they were fearful to the max. They glorified God and said, we have seen remarkable things today.

It would be interesting to find out, because where is this? This is Capernaum. What's the long-term outcome? from having seen miracles like this and having Jesus speak the words that he does, what's the long-term outcome in Capernaum? And we're going to find that out as we go through the Gospel of Luke. Very interesting. Now, you may have had discussions. I know I have. Someone will say, well, you know, I kind of like to believe, but I need something a little more graphic.

If God could just do a miracle right in front of me, that'd help. But one of the things we've got to ask here, does witnessing miracles guarantee that a person will believe? Or maybe having a great deal of solid, consistent testimony, right? If someone actually witnesses a miracle personally, or multiple sane and sober people say they saw one, and their stories are consistent, does that guarantee that a person will believe? Suppose that dozens of people, or maybe even hundreds of people, witness a bodily resurrection, and then testify of that resurrection. Will the one who listens to them believe? Not necessarily. Not necessarily.

In the end, what did the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees say, was the cause of Jesus being able to heal. You heal by the power of the devil. They attributed it to the devil. Kind of the devil allowed you to do it, right? When Lazarus was raised, less than a week before Jesus was crucified, Lazarus was raised, a great many people saw it, and so did then The scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, then they say, Oh, he must be the Messiah! No! Instead, what did they do? They said, let's kill Lazarus! Right?

So, even people witnessing miracles, having great testimony about miracles, doesn't change where they're at. Doesn't change where they're at. Even a great number of miracles doesn't necessarily move people. If people wish to be skeptical, they'll find some way to talk around it.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. As we look at these things, we see examples of faith. We learn lessons about faith. We also see that even with the extraordinary things that took place, it didn't necessarily impress people. And Lord, we would ask in our own hearts and minds and lives that we examine your word and believe you about it. And don't demand further signs and wonders, but instead trust you and walk in that. And we just give you thanks for what you've revealed here because you love us and care for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.