17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
Luke has a few more details and comments than Mark, like this introductory remark: And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. People knew it was by the power of God that Jesus was performing miracles. But, as we saw yesterday, Jesus first pronounces the forgiveness of his sins; that was Jesus' priority. Notice that it was the scribes and Pharisees who pounced on that statement; the people did not seem shocked by it at all. It makes perfect sense that one who spoke as Jesus did and healed as He did, could also well have the authority to forgive sins. But these religious leaders found it a stumbling block. Why? Because they felt that they had more authority to forgive sins than anyone else. We know we do not have the power to heal or calm storms, but we want to have control over something, so what we often try to do is withhold to ourselves the power to forgive sins. We want to be able to hold out and hold over people what they have done until we decide to forgive them. But there is only one powerful enough and holy enough to do so, and that is Christ alone. We see here the ultimate test of whether or not Jesus was doing God's work by His authority: the man went home, glorifying God and the people glorified God and were filled with awe. It was all about the Glory of God, while for the scribes and Pharisees, it was all about their own glory. Is what we do about our power and glory, or the Glory of God?
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