Luke 5:17
And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Jesus was teaching in a house at Capernaum with His disciples close about Him and Pharisees and doctors of the law and scribes sitting by, come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, while beyond them pressed a crowded multitude so dense there was no way through. The power of the Lord present to heal was the Spirit of life brooding over the whole assembly, ready to heal and to make clean and turning none away. The helpless paralytic, wasting from palsy after a sinful life and longing above bodily relief for forgiveness and peace with God, was first assured his sins were forgiven and then healed in body to show that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. That healing did not reach the Pharisees and doctors because they felt no sense of need, so the hungry were filled and the self-satisfied were sent empty away. In forgiving sin and sending the man home well, Christ stands as the great Restorer and Medical Missionary, showing those who would serve others to relieve bodily suffering so that mind and heart can be reached by truth.
Setting and Audience
On a certain day Jesus was teaching in a house at Capernaum, identified as Peter's house, with people gathered both inside and around it to hear Him. His disciples sat close about Him to hear and understand the truths they were to proclaim throughout the world and through all ages. Pharisees and doctors of the law and scribes sat by, come out of every town and village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem.
Many of the religious leaders had come as spies watching anxiously for grounds to accuse Him, some intending to confuse Him, while Christ's serene majesty stood above their authority. Beyond them was a crowded multitude of eager, reverent, curious and unbelieving people of different nationalities and all grades of society, men, women and children flocking from every direction. They were drawn by desire to hear, by curiosity or excitement, and the gathering was so dense that the paralytic's friends could not reach Jesus through the entrance.
Among the Jews leprosy was regarded as a judgment for sin and a symbol of sin, with the leper under ritual law declared unclean and excluded from family and community. Sickness in general was treated by the religious teachers as evidence of God's anger at sin and of suffering His retribution. The leaders had told the paralytic he was incurable, denounced him as a sinner, and declared he would die under God's wrath, treating his distress as God's just punishment while themselves keeping away from the sick and needy though they could be more corrupt than those they condemned.
Power Present to Heal
The power present to heal was the Spirit of life brooding over the whole assembly ready to heal, joining gracious instruction with wonderful miracles that turned none away. It was power both to heal and to make clean, so that even loathsome lepers found access to His presence and were healed. The friends of the helpless palsied man took hope from this, believing he too might be relieved if brought under the notice of Jesus.
The paralytic was helpless and hopeless, his palsy following a sinful life of dissipation, his body wasting away and his suffering embittered by remorse. He had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors for relief, but they pronounced him incurable, denounced him as a sinner, and declared he would die under the wrath of God, leaving him in despair. He feared his wrongdoing made him unfit to approach Jesus, for sickness was treated as evidence of God's anger and his past weakened his hope. When he and his friends heard that Jesus had healed others as sinful and helpless as himself, including lepers and the sick, and was willing to receive the helpless burdened by sin, they were encouraged to believe he too might be cured if carried to the Saviour. His hope was both for relief of bodily suffering and for pardon of sins.
Above bodily relief he longed for forgiveness and peace with God, desiring to see Jesus and receive assurance of peace with heaven, content then to live or die according to God's will. Christ read his heart, his longing, repentance, faith and conviction that Jesus was the sinner's only helper. That repentance and faith had already brought life-giving mercy to his heart before he was brought into Jesus' presence.
Jesus first gave him peace by assuring him his sins were forgiven, rolling the burden of guilt borne for months from his soul. Pallid despair was turned into hope, and distressing doubt and gloom into peace and joy, with his whole being transformed into peaceful, happy silence and his physical pain removed. Then He healed the body to show that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, joining healing to the preaching of truth.
His useless, lifeless, bloodless, long-disobedient limbs were quickened, restored with the strength and vitality of youth. Healthy blood flow returned, with fresh ruddy color in place of shrunken leaden-hued flesh, and arms once lifeless became quick to obey his will with firm, free movement. The healing displayed Christ's compassion for the guilty and afflicted and pointed to salvation and the mercy of the Redeemer. He grasped his bed, walked freely through the crowd, and carried with ease the couch on which he had been slowly borne.
His return home in the full vigor of manhood, with hope written in his face and a firm, free step, took away gloom and the marks of sin and suffering and gave peace and purity. It filled his family with great rejoicing, joy and gratitude, tears of joy and glad thanksgivings, glorifying God through His Son who restores hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken and brings light into the darkened home. He and his family gave perfect faith and fealty and loyalty to Jesus, ready to lay down their lives for Him with no doubt or unbelief. The miracle was the most convincing and unquestioned proof of all that Jesus was the promised Saviour with power on earth to forgive sins as well as to heal the sick, and the people were astonished. The Pharisees recognized He exercised power belonging to God alone, yet would not confess His superiority, but armed themselves with hatred, unbelief, malice and skepticism until left to forge chains binding them in hopeless, hardened darkness with no reserve power left to reach hearts so hardened.
The healing was not for the Pharisees and doctors because they did not discern His presence and felt no sense of need. So the hungry were filled with good things and the rich were sent empty away. This warns against condemning sufferers while exalting oneself as holy.
Example for Service
Luke 5:17 presents Christ at work for both the spiritual and the physical needs of people, as the great Restorer and Medical Missionary. In healing the paralytic, forgiving his sins and sending him home well, He lived out genuine medical missionary work and calls others to learn that work from Him.
That healing gives lessons for all who serve others. When the healing power was present as He taught, friends brought a poor suffering paralytic whose body was already wasting away, so that delay seemed impossible, and, unable to come directly into His presence, they tore open the roof and let down the bed where he lay. He saw and understood the man's condition perfectly, and knew that his sickness of soul was far worse than bodily suffering, with the burden of sins borne for months weighing heaviest upon him. The crowd watched in almost breathless silence over the hopeless case, and were astonished when He first lifted the burden from the soul by forgiveness, turning pallid despair into hope and distressing doubt and gloom into peace and joy, and then reached the body with the command to arise and walk. He quickened the lifeless, bloodless arms, restored healthy flow of blood, color of flesh and strength to limbs long disobedient, so that the healed man grasped his bed and walked through the crowd to his home glorifying God. The case teaches physicians who would succeed to minister to the diseased mind as well as to the body, making God their trust and relieving bodily pain so that conscience and heart can then be reached by truth.
While He was teaching with Pharisees and teachers of the law gathered from Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem, and the Lord's power present to heal, a leper came to Him in faith and was healed. That healing shows His power reaches even those excluded from society and regarded as under God's judgment.