June 28, 2026 - The Gospel of Luke - Week 9 - Total Authority

Highland Christian Church - Asheville, NC

Communicator - Jason Garris

Luke 5:17-26 - "So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Jesus doesn’t just heal bodies or help people – He restores what’s broken at our core.

Transcript

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And here you have some creative friends desperate to get their friend to Jesus, and those crowds are posing a problem. Their way is blocked. Now, I do wonder if the friends ever were like, you know what? Mine's gonna be so long. Let's just take them back, right? Or we're gonna have to wait for a long time. Let's just. Let's just, you know, I don't know if it's worth it. I mean, that might be us. We're impatient people. I mean, when we carry people to Jesus, how long do we tarry in carrying people? Do we get bored real fast? Do we see an inconvenience? Do we go up wait the lines along? I'm not gonna find something else to do. It's an amazing thought process that these guys went through to get this man to Jesus. Welcome in everyone. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the pastors at Highland Christian Church. On behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture. Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about what Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day. And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr. Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center. Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today. Luke actually uses one of my favorite words in this verse, but in verse 26, where we end, it says, Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, We have seen amazing things today. Luke ends the story with, We have seen amazing things. Now, the word that Luke uses is not like the amazing way we use, oh, that taco was amazing, or um, that sunset is amazing. Uh the word he actually uses is the word paradoxa, just it's not just amazing, but a paradox. It's strange, it's unexpected, and it's beyond what makes sense. It's the kind of thing that makes you stop and say, I did not see that coming. A paradox is one of those statements, uh, you know, it's uh, you know, a paradox would be um this uh the only thing guaranteed is change, or a statement like um this statement is false, right? These are statements that are paradoxes where you look at it and you go, this statement is false, but that it's true. If it's true, how is it it could be false? You look at it and you just like you start looking at things, or the only constant is change, right? And you're like, but wait, that doesn't seem like it works, right? But you dig deeper and you're like, oh, that makes total sense. That's a description of life, right? A paradox in this word that they're using is we have seen some things that do not make sense, but as you dig deeper, they end up actually making perfect sense. If I could describe Jesus, that's how I would describe him. I did not see that coming. There are a lot of you that probably have that thought about Christ. In this story, Jesus is flipping everything upside down. Who gets forgiven, how the kingdom's coming, what authority looks like, and what faith looks like. Luke, Luke is about to give us three firsts for his gospel, and it's a good thing to pay attention to. Verse 17. One day, while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem, and the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus. This is the first appearances of the Pharisees that we've had in Luke's gospel. Last week, Jesus sends a man to the priest to be investigated and to be looked at so that the priest can dub him clean and re uh assimilate him back into society. This week, the religious elite are sent to inspect Jesus. Now I want to paint a picture of the Pharisees that will help us, and I think they will, it will help you understand them in the Gospels. The Pharisees are not random enemies of Jesus. They're not dummies, they're not idiots. They're, I mean, there's they're all they like. I think we've done a really good job of painting the Pharisees in this terrible light. And yes, does Jesus go after them? Yes, but there's some reasons he does say things that are hard to them. They ultimately had one job. The Pharisees' job was to make sure everyone knew the ways of the Torah and to teach how to stay in alignment with God's law. They were the Jew, it was the Jewish laws that separated them from the nations. This was their goal was to go, are we doing these things? They're the old G the OG Testament, like um keepers of the law, rule keepers, rule followers, and for good reasons. If you remember in the Old Testament, why did Israel go into exile? They forgot God's ways, they refused God's laws. That for that reason, they were sent into exile. And God and the Pharisees had a motivation to never go into exile again. Right? Like, we better obey these laws, we better keep with these ways, because I do not want to go into exile ever again. So the Pharisees also had a primary concern, and this primary concern may surprise you. Their primary concern was the kingdom of God. Wait, that sounds familiar. Like Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. The Pharisees' primary concern was the kingdom of God. Yes. The kingdom of God was everything to the Old Testament believer, to the Torah keeper. It was, if we keep these things, everybody in Israel had a kingdom strategy. Some people withdrew, right? You had the Qumran society, those who basically said, Well, we're just going to pray and be silent and withdraw from society. Then you had someone like Herod the Great, who was a compromiser, who said, I'm going to build the kingdom the way I want to build the kingdom. And then you had the zealots who they prayed really hard and then killed everybody that was an enemy. They all had their views of what it would be to see God's kingdom come on the earth. And the Pharisees believed that if we keep the law and we live by this law and we behave, then God will actually come in, conquer our enemies, and liberate Israel once and for all, and we will sit on top. The Pharisees thought if Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God and he's getting it wrong, according to the Pharisees, we could all go back into exile if people start believing him. So you see, the Pharisees are in a spot where they have to be responsible with the way they see Jesus. The Pharisee question could have been Is Jesus talking about the kingdom the way we think he should? Luke shows us that Jesus doesn't fit into the box they want him to, and this is why Jesus' first message to Israel is repent, the kingdom of God is here. Repent, the kingdom of God is here. Every view on how the kingdom comes about that does not line up with what Jesus says needs to be surrendered, and Jesus' kingdom needs to be received. That's what he's saying. While Jesus is teaching, and because he's God, I'm assuming he knows that a very real, visible illustration is on its way. Verse 18. Some men carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat, they tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. Luke makes it clear by his point. Jesus has tried to keep his influence quiet. Okay. The last couple passages we've seen. But here's the problem: healed people talk. They just do, right? Not with just their words, but like you have blind people now seeing, right? You have sick people that have been made healthy. You have people who were out of their minds, now in their right minds, and people are like, How is that happening? What is going on? And the person's like, mm-mm, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. And they're like, I'm gonna find out. I don't care. You're healed. I'm gonna go find out what you what's happened to you. I'm gonna go do this, right? So the crowds begin to find Jesus. And here you have some creative friends desperate to get their friend to Jesus, and those crowds are posing a problem. Their way is blocked. Now, I do wonder if the friends ever were like, you know what? The line's gonna be so long. Let's just take them back, right? Or we're gonna have to wait for a long time. Let's just, let's just, you know, I don't know if it's worth it. I mean, that might be us. We're impatient people. I mean, when we carry people to Jesus, how long do we tarry in carrying people? Do we get bored real fast? Do we see an inconvenience? Do we go, oh wait, the line's long? I'm not gonna I'll find something else to do. It's an amazing thought process that these guys went through to get this man to Jesus. You might like to get to Jesus, right? But are you tearing a roof off this place trying to get to Jesus? You might, not only that, are you tearing a roof off this place trying to get your people to Jesus? Like it's a fascinating mindset. Like, and again, we live in an American, Western, individualistic, materialistic. We want it now, society, and I just don't know that we would tear a roof off. I just don't know that we would try and find a way to get around the crowds because of how impatient we are, how entitled we are, how how deserving we think we are to not have to wait for anything, to work for anything. And here you have these guys ripping tiles off of a ceiling, lowering a friend down in front of Jesus. Tearing a roof up to lower a friend down might seem extreme. It may cost you later, right? Maybe they do settle up with the house owner. I don't know. Maybe they do. We don't know the details. But does that matter that it costs you? According to Jesus, it does. It does matter. Verse 20. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, Young man, your sins are forgiven. Remember, the Pharisees want to make sure Jesus isn't messing anything up for them. And then they hear this Young man, your sins are forgiven. The miracles they could deal with, but this, verse 21. The Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, Who does this guy think he is? It's blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. Everyone in that room knew that that man on that mat had not wronged Jesus. This was not like Jesus was saying, Hey buddy, I forgive you for saying that wrong thing to me one time. I forgive you for cussing at me that one time. I forgive you for making me feel bad one time. That's not what's happening here. This isn't the kind of forgiveness that we extend to each other when we wrong one another. The Pharisees and any practicing Jewish person knew that all sin was ultimately against God. Even if you've wronged a person, here's the deal: when you wrong a person, you are telling God, I don't care about your ways on how we're supposed to treat people. I don't care that you say, love God, love neighbor. I am going to handle this the way I want to. So even when we wrong a neighbor or a person, all sin is firstly against God. All sin. There is no sin that is not ultimately against God. And that's why the psalmist in Psalm 51, have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love, because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins, wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin, for I recognize my rebellion, it haunts me day and night. Against you and you alone have I sinned. Now, David did not just sin against God, but he knew that firstly sin was against God, and he sinned against people. I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. Because all sin is ultimately against God. That is why only God can truly forgive sins. So you have this issue. Luke has helped us see that Jesus has power over sickness, he has power over demons. Eventually we'll see it's over nature, but now we're venturing into new territory. Not just sickness, not just demonic powers, but authority to forgive sin. Jesus telling this man his sins are forgiven makes it the primary need. Clearly, the man needed a physical healing, but Jesus prioritized something else that mattered more, and that is right relationship with God. Telling this man his sins are forgiven breaks the Pharisees' brains. Jesus was bypassing all their temple rituals, all their sacrificial systems, the day of atonement, the high priest's responsibility, and forgiving this man of his sin. Jesus cuts through it all and by himself says, Your sins are forgiven. Here you have the Pharisees and the reason they are going to plan Jesus' death. But Jesus doesn't back down from this statement. He doesn't go, Oh, well, you heard me wrong. He actually doubles down and says in verse 22, Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven, or stand up and walk? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, Stand up, pick up your mat and go home. Not only do we see Jesus forgiving sin, which is something only God can do, we also see he knows their thoughts and hearts, which is also something only God can do. Are you picking up what Luke is putting down here? He is not just saying Jesus is a good teacher, Jesus is a good prophet, Jesus is in the line of all the other good rabbis. He's making a bigger claim, the paradox of the God man. At first it seems completely ridiculous, but when you further inspect, it's the only thing that makes sense. Not only is Jesus trying to show them the forgiveness that he can offer is by healing this man, but the greater statement is in the title, Son of Man. The Gospel of Luke uses this title. Jesus uses this title of himself 25 times in the Gospels, in the Gospel of Luke. And many people have tried to say, well, Jesus loved that title because it identifies with his humanity. Like he just really loves identifying with human beings. Now, yes, that's true, but in Aramaic, it literally means human being. Son of man literally means human being. But it means much more than that. Because in the Old Testament, Daniel, yes, famous from the lion's den, has all kinds of visions and dreams that have to be waded through. And in the middle of his visions, verse 13 of Daniel 7 says this. So it's a human figure, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient one and was led into his presence. Only possible if you are sinless, can you come into the presence of God? He was given authority, honor, sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that the people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal. It will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. This is not simply human relating to human. This is divine authority in human form. Son of man is not just Jesus going, Well, I really like relating to people. Son of man is the title of God man, the sinless one who is Yahweh, who has authority, all authority. Later, towards Jesus' death, the Pharisees are pressing Jesus, and Jesus directly connects himself to Daniel in Matthew 26. Jesus remains silent. Then the high priest said to him, I demand in the name of the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus replied, You've said it, and in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus is connecting the dots, coming in the clouds, seated in God's presence. And if you listen to Matthew 28, the great commission, which we're very familiar with, through the lens of the Son of Man and the descriptor, here you see Jesus coming to his disciples. I have been given what? All authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to what? Obey all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. It's almost a short recap of the Son of Man description and what it takes for the world to understand that Jesus is who he says he is. All authority, all the nations, teaching so people will obey his words. Jesus never says the sentence, I am God, sure. But he does what only God can do. And the reader and you and I are left to consider, is God really with us? Is he really with us? Is Jesus the God man dwelling among us, forgiving sin, healing people to prove it? He can read minds and hearts. I am the Son of Man. And now you know why the Pharisees want to end Jesus' life. Jesus knows that anyone can just go around willy-nilly forgiving sins. I've actually had my sins forgiven by a homeless person downtown. I have. Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, We have seen amazing things today. We've seen things flipped on their head today. This is the first time we see Jesus exercising authority over all sin. It's the first time we see Jesus able to tell what's in a heart and a mind, and it's the first time we see Jesus use the name Son of Man. You and I are to respond to this. As we get further and further into Luke's gospel, we're going to transition from seeing Jesus, he can do all these things, to people's responses to healing and teaching. And Luke will begin to focus on people's responding to Jesus. If Jesus is preaching the kingdom, revealing a kingdom, how does one come into this kingdom? If it's not the rules, if it's not separation, if it's not blend in, if it's not violence, then how do I inherit the kingdom Jesus is talking about? Even the disciples struggled with this, and in Matthew 18, about that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins, become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus isn't saying you must become immature or foolish. Children are marked by dependency. They're marked by trust. They trust that mom or dad is going to take care of everything and it's going to be all good. To receive the kingdom that Jesus is revealing is to receive it by faith or belief in Jesus. Verse 20. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, Young man, your sins are forgiven. Previous verses we've seen Peter, James, and John believe in Jesus and leave everything to Father. We've seen a man with a skin disease believe in Jesus and break all the social barriers and fall at his feet. And now we see some guys believe in Jesus, rip a roof off for their friend. Jesus was not confused, he saw their faith. This goes so much against the idea that faith is this personal, private, individual, hidden little thing in me. Jesus saw their faith. He was not confused. Jesus' first century audience would have heard believing in Jesus, and the key word for them would not be the word believing. Like we love, we're like, believe, I just believe, I just believe, I just believe. Yeah, I go to church, I believe, I believe. That's not what they would have focused on in this passage. They would have actually focused on the word in. For a first century listener, in carries the idea of movement, like entering into a building or walking into new spaces. I believe in Christ. I am entering into something new. Oftentimes, when uh my GPS tries to give me directions, I think I know better. I argue with Waze all the time. I'm like, that's the dumbest way to go. And then I end up at a roadblock or construction or a wreck. And I was like, dang it. This is why Waze said to go another way. Shoot, right? But that's what I do. I like, I love to go, I can do this, I can handle this, instead of using ways that has access to all the data that Google has, that has access to all the users who are uploading information about access to roads being blocked and all the things, rather than trust all those. I trust myself and I learn that my way is not enough. Repentance in Jesus' world didn't mean I feel sorry for my sin. Some of you in this room, your idea of repentance is, well, I just need to feel sorry for my sin. I just need to ask God for forgiveness of my sin, and then we're good. And I'll just keep doing that every day. I'll keep doing what I'm doing, but as long as I just tell God that I'm sorry for my sin, then I'm good. That's not repentance. In Jesus' day, repentance did not just mean, oh, it's what's in my heart. It's this personal private revelation, and then I just say, I'm sorry, and I move on. That is not what repentance is in the scripture. What Jesus invites us to is to take his words over all the other words. It means surrendering one way of life to another. This is what Jesus invites us into. Luke's gospel paints a picture of Jesus for us to respond to. And you may have prayed a prayer and walked 30 aisles in your life, and you may have rededicated your life a thousand times because you're saying, Oh, I just believe, I just believe, I just believe. Believing in Jesus is to step in to a new from an old. That is what repentance is. It is to surrender. If your kingdom mindset is, well, I'm gonna be separate, I'm gonna be perfect, I'm gonna avoid the world, I'm gonna hate the world, I'm gonna do it this way, and that's how the kingdom's gonna come about. And Jesus is like, no. Kingdom of God, you receive by faith, humility, surrender. And all the other ways that you think you get the kingdom, you need to put down so that you can take mine. And as Jacob said during communion, it's a light burden to receive by faith. So as the band comes and we close our time this morning, the story begins with a blocked door. The crowds are too thick, the way seems shut. But faith finds another way, rips through a roof as it moves towards Jesus. Faith always moves towards Jesus. Always. And so my prayer this morning for you is that you will stop believing. Repentance is just, I'm gonna say sorry for the same thing I did yesterday, and I'm gonna keep doing it, but I'm just gonna keep saying sorry. That's not repentance, and that's not life-giving. Repentance is truly beginning to go today. Jesus, I'm surrendering my thoughts, my attitudes, my perceptions, my belief in the world, and I'm trading it for belief in Christ. In Christ, stepping into a new way from an old way. Luke's gospel will evoke this kind of response as he paints these pictures of Jesus for us. So if you'll stand for a moment before we go into worship, I'd love for you to just take a second. You know, obviously, I think a journal and a pen are a great tool for questions like this, but you may not have it right now. But what ways of Jesus are in conflict with your ways? Where do you just keep thinking your ways are better than Jesus'? We all have them. How do you handle being treated? How you handle being mistreated? Is your way better than Jesus' way? How do you handle having much? Are you blending in with the rest of the world and going, yeah, I'm building my own kingdoms and castles? Or did Jesus say, hey, if you ga if you you know choose to hold on to your life in this world, you'll lose it, but if you give it up, you'll find it. Is your way better? Or is Jesus' way better? Where in your life are Jesus' ways in conflict with your own? And will you surrender them? Sometimes the beginning is just saying, Yes, I will. And I I just I'm gonna need help every day doing that, but to acknowledge that your ways are in conflict with his. How do you handle rage and anger in your life? Do you just throw it up on everybody? Or is the fruit of the spirit self-control, love, joy, peace, patience? The way of Jesus, is it better than yours? How's your way working out for you today? Jesus invites us into a new way. Will you surrender your ways and receive Jesus' this morning? Father, I ask that as we continue to look at this picture in Luke of a Jesus who just flips things on their head. God, we're all building certain elements of kingdoms, and the only one that's gonna last is yours. And may that be the only one that matters to us. God, if this is the truest story there is, and surrender is the way forward. Humility is the way forward. Surrendering our ways to receive your ways is the way forward. Help us to do that. Would you bring freedom as we learn to let go? And then we pray. We just wanted to say thank you for listening to the Highland Christian Church podcast today. And if you ever want to connect with us, send prayer requests, ask questions, or for any other reason, you can visit our website, www.highlandchristian.com, or you can send us an email at info at highlychristian.com. God bless you guys.