GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 5:20-26
In English, it’s sometimes called an ellipsis, and it’s expressed either with a dash (—) or with three dots (or four, if it comes at the end of a sentence). In more formal Greek grammar, when there’s a gap in speech caused by strong emotions, it’s also called an aposiopesis, “a conscious suppression of part of a sentence under the influence of a strong emotion like anger, fear, pity” (Robertson, p. 1203). There are many of them in the Bible: Mark 11:32, Luke 13:9 (cf. KJV), Luke 19:42. Here in Luke 5:24, we have the most famous one in all of Scripture, and perhaps in all of literature.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Before we continue, let’s notice that Jesus uses the perfect tense when he says “are forgiven.” The perfect tense is just one of Greek’s past tenses, but what makes it different is that something stated in the perfect tense continues on into the present and beyond—it has no end, grammatically. So when Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven,” he means that this man’s sins have already been set aside by God, and that this erasure will never end. Jesus uses the same perfect tense from the cross when he says, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The payment for all our sins is complete and will endure into eternity. This wiping away of our guilt cannot be undone by anything the Devil has in his pocket or in his armament. As Jesus said, “The gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).
21 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
22 Jesus knew their thoughts and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
The accusation of blasphemy shows that the Pharisees understood the full importance of Jesus’ words. He was forgiving sins as God forgives. Jesus wanted them to understand who he was. So his example came from the intense emotions of a full heart. Matthew and Mark record the same incident with the same ellipsis (or aposiopesis): “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins….” The comparison was straightforward: Can you tell a paralyzed man to get up and walk? Can you tell a man his sins are forgiven? Jesus does both, in the same moment. The proof of the spiritual miracle–the forgiveness–was in the physical miracle–the healing.
25 Immediately, the man stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home praising God. 26 They were all amazed and praised God. They were also filled with awe and said, “We have seen wonderful things today.”
The proof of the forgiveness and of Jesus’ divinity was in the final act in the house, which in my mind plays out like a scene from Gilligan’s Island. The stretcher, perhaps six feet long, was constructed at least well enough that the man could have been lowered down from the roof in it without causing him injury. It was probably a couple of poles with a mat or two tied together, much like an old army stretcher. Now, this man who had not been able to get in on his stretcher, had to get out of the room. How many people, cheering, laughing, “filled with awe” and praising God, also got bonked on their heads as this man tried to work his way out of the crowded living room, even more packed because of the miracle that had just taken place?
Did the Pharisees join the rest in praising God? Were they also filled with awe? Did they say, “We have seen wonderful things today?” None of the Gospel accounts tell us. We the readers know what a miracle like this does in our hearts. Either it strengthens someone’s faith in Jesus, or else it hardens hearts and confuses people. But to ask, “How could anyone heal a paralyzed man?” one will quickly ask, “Who can possibly forgive sins?” Or worse, “Do sins need to be forgiven?” It’s better to trust in the forgiveness and to believe the miracle. No less a miracle has been worked in your heart. Remember that Jesus laid the proof of his atoning sacrifice on his own resurrection from the dead. He is saying to you, “My Easter morning means your own! Which would be more spectacular, to be raised from a stretcher, or raised from a tomb? And so that you will believe that the Son of Man has forgiven your sins, too….”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota