Jesus Is The Son of Man Who Can Forgive Sins (5:17-26).
We now commence here a series of five incidents which can be paralleled in Mark, from where Luke probably gained most of his knowledge about them (Luke 5:17 to Luke 6:11). Each except the last, which speaks for itself, depicts Jesus as a fulfilment of Old Testament promises. He is the Son of Man, He is the Bridegroom, He is the Great Physician, He is the Greater than David, He is Lord of the Sabbath. It is thus made clear that He is the Coming One.
In these passages also we find the first beginnings of the antagonism towards Jesus which was aroused among certain Pharisees, and the Rabbis (teachers of the Law of Moses) that they called in to assist them. They call His assurance to the paralytic, that his sins are forgiven, blasphemy. They harshly criticise eating with ‘public servants' (tax-collectors) and ‘sinners' (those who do not follow Pharisaic teaching in respect of ritual requirements), an attack on Jesus' position concerning ritual cleanliness. They attack the failure of His disciples to fast. They condemn His attitude to the Sabbath. They criticise His healing on the Sabbath. And as their criticism expands, so does their determination to do away with Him.
Those who openly opposed Jesus were not on the whole the cream of such men, which is why our picture of them is slightly distorted. For those who tailed Jesus tended to be the ones that were more extreme and rigidly minded. The Pharisees followed a strict interpretation of the Law but were very influential, with some being more flexible than others. Even though there were only a few thousand of them they had a strong influence in the synagogues, and were highly respected because of their religious zeal. They believed in the resurrection of the dead, and in angels, and saw both the Law and the Prophets as Scripture. They also held fast to the teachings of the elders, a kind of oral tradition dealing with the detailed interpretation of the Law (and it was very detailed), which they stressed that all men should live by. They were very strict about ritual cleanliness and keeping the Sabbath; were strict and particular on tithing; and in order to ensure cleanness themselves engaged in a multiplicity of ‘washings'. The problem was that in their zeal they became too fastidious and too demanding. And the more particular they became the worse they got. They tended to believe that only they were right, seeing their traditions as being as authoritative as Scripture. They believed that if only they were sufficiently obedient to the covenant God would bless Israel. Thus they took their eyes off God and fixed them on their own laws. That is always the danger with rules.
In this first passage we are introduced for the first time in Luke to Jesus' description of Himself as ‘the Son of Man'. The same title will also occur in Luke 6:5. In both cases it is a title which depicts divine authority. As Son of Man He has authority on earth to forgive sins. As Son of Man He is Lord of the Sabbath.
Later the title bears four distinct emphases, the one is that the Son of Man must suffer and die and rise again (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44; Luke 17:22; Luke 22:22; Luke 24:7), the second is that He is here to live as a true man among men (Luke 7:34; Luke 9:58), the third is that He has come to seek and save the lost (Luke 9:56; Luke 19:10), and the fourth that He will be exalted and that one day He will return to this earth in power and glory (Luke 9:26; Luke 12:8; Luke 12:40; Luke 17:24; Luke 17:26; Luke 17:30; Luke 18:8; Luke 21:27; Luke 21:36; Luke 22:69).
The title Son of Man was Jesus' favourite title for Himself. It was ideal for His purpose. It could depict one who was lowly, a ‘son of man' who lived for God as a man among men, and who would have to face suffering and death, but it could also depict One who would rise again, becoming the glorious figure who had come to God on the clouds of Heaven to receive dominion and glory and a kingdom, in other words to receive authority from God (Daniel 7:13-14), the very essence of Messiahship.
Here then in the current passage we are brought face to face with the authority of the Son of Man, which is here the authority on earth to declare that men's sins have been forgiven.
We may analyse this passage as follows:
a He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with Him to heal (Luke 5:17).
b Men bring on a bed a man who was paralysed, and they sought to bring him in, and to lay him before Him. Not finding by what way they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles, with his couch, into the midst before Jesus (Luke 5:18-19).
c Seeing their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20).
d The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21).
e Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered (Luke 5:22 a).
d And He said to them, “Why do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you', or to say, ‘Arise and walk?' ” (Luke 5:22).
c ‘But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins (He said to him who was paralysed), “I say to you, Arise, and take up your couch, and go to your house.” (Luke 5:24).
b Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that on which he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God (Luke 5:25).
a Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God, and they were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today” (Luke 5:26).
Note that in ‘a' He was teaching (and was being watched by the Pharisees and Rabbis) and the power of the Lord was present to heal, while in the parallel all who gathered to here Him were amazed at what they saw. In ‘b' they bring a man in lying on his litter, and in the parallel the man stands up healed. In ‘c' Jesus declares his sins forgiven, and in the parallel H shows that it is so by telling him to rise and walk. In ‘d' He is faced with the opposition of the Pharisees concerning forgiving sins and in the parallel He replies with a counter argument concerning forgiving sins. Centrally in ‘e' Jesus has an answer for the Pharisees and scribes.