Christmas Day 5 of 24

Today's Reading: Luke 5

Today's Focus: Vs. 17-26

This miracle is such a flex to the deity of Christ. Jesus starts off by telling the paralytic man, "Your sins are forgiven." The scribes and Pharisees reply, "Pffftt. Who can forgive sins, but God alone?!" They are right  in this statement! It is to be applauded! In fact, if some freakshow decides to tell us today in 2020 that he/she can forgive our sins, we ought to be incredibly skeptical because only God can forgive sin!

The ball is in Jesus' court to prove His identity. If He is God, then He has the right to forgive sin. If He is not God, then the Pharisees were right in accusing Jesus of blasphemy. 

Jesus throws them an easy, obvious, and rhetorical question: "Which is easier to say? 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" 

Duh. Obviously it is easier to say "your sins are forgiven" because its effects are not visible. Anyone can say that. But to make the bold command telling someone to get up and walk? That's an immediate result. You can't get away with that. 

That's exactly what Jesus says. "Just so you know that I do have the authority to forgive sins, watch this-- hey paralytic guy, pick up your bed and go home." And the paralytic man rose up and went home. 

He did it. No one else has the authority to heal just by speaking, yet Jesus did. If He can heal just by speaking, then He must be God. In Genesis 1, God spoke Creation into being. Jesus mirrored that in Luke 5:1-11. In Exodus 15, God says, "...I am the LORD, your healer." Jesus healed, therefore, He must be the LORD. 

As you read this account, may it shatter your image of "sweet baby Jesus in a manger." He is more than that. As you read this story of the paralytic man, may you see that Jesus is God Most High. May your response mirror Simon Peter's:

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

It starts with recognizing who we are: a sinful man. Then, it is an acknowledgement of who He is: LORD (all caps to indicate God's personal name, Yahweh, the Name He revealed to Moses). Lastly, rest in the fact that the LORD is able to forgive sinners such as Simon Peter, such as the paralytic man, and is able to forgive you, too.