1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of Luke, The Healing of the Paralytic, Part I - Lesson 56

Luke 5:17-26,   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 Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. ¹⁸And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. ¹⁹And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. ²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? ²²But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? ²³Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? ²⁴But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. ²⁵And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. ²⁶And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

The fame of Jesus Christ continued to spread thoughout Israel and we are told by Luke that a gathering of important religious leaders took place at a particular house that was filled with people.

Luke alone tells us who most of these people were.

They were the “Pharisees and teachers of the law.”

Jesus had become a major threat to the teachers of the law, as Scripture in Mark shows:

Mark 1:22,  And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:27, Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”).

Jesus’ teaching was immediately recognized as newer than, different from, and better than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

He taught them as one having authorship which is what having authority means. 

Jesus Christ not only taught about the scriptures, he is the scriptures. 

The Pharisees and the scribes were guardians of the teaching of the law and anyone who threatened their leadership in that area were suspect and they had gathered together to hear this man Jesus whose fame had spread throughout Israel.

The Pharisees were a group of about six thousand pious, influential teachers in the synagogues.

They were a group who meticulously followed the Law, adhering to the traditional rules that kept a person from inadvertently breaking it.

The teachers of the law were officials trained in the Law of Moses.

Also known as scribes, these men were in effect the religious lawyers of the Pharisees.

In the Judaism in the first century there was a wide range of factions, including the Sadducees and the Essenes.

The Pharisees, despite their relatively low numbers, were very influential.

So these groups of men had gathered to hear Jesus Christ because

his popularity was a threat to them and their standing with the people and the Roman occupiers.

The word about this new preacher and healer had no doubt been circulated among the teachers of Israel and this gathering at Capernaum was one of the summit conferences they called to decide what to do about the teaching of Jesus who was an interloper into their domain.

What credentials did he have, from what school had he graduated.

Luke informs us that it was no small gathering of teachers, but a representation of all the teachers in Israel:

Luke 5:17a,   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 Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

The teachers of the law had gathered to hear Jesus, to pass judgment on Him, and then, undoubtedly, to decide what course of action to take concerning the threat which He posed to them and their standing.

They were there to see if his teaching was in line with their teaching? 

It was not a question of truth, but it was a question of conformity for they were partisans and as such they would think such thoughts about this newcomer on the scene. 

I suppose the thoughts and questions were in this vein: 

Could he be controlled? 

Would he join our denomination or group? 

Will he get in line with us and be a part of our organization?  How can we keep him from changing the status quo?

In Jesus day He was surrounded by partisans and we also live under that same cloud. 

Partisans are those who have a position to defend regardless of what truth tells them. 

It is always a danger to be a joiner to causes for once we join something we are obligated to defend that something regardless of the truth.

Christians are not to be partisan, we are not to be conservative or liberal for Christians are not to lean to the right or to the left but we are to judge righteous judgement. 

But these Pharisees and teachers were partisans to the religious system of Israel and were interested in promoting the status quo.

John in his Gospel tells us of what these same teachers said as they were planning the death of Christ.

John 11:47-49,  Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. ⁴⁸If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

They were not interested in the truth for if they had been interested in the truth they would have heard Jesus Christ and received him as Lord.

But they were there in this house to hear him and to trap him and to look for convicting utterances and blasphemies from this man Jesus.

Pharisees and doctors of the law out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea and Jerusalem would have been a large delegation.

This large of a delegation probably took up most of the inside of the house.

It is interesting to note that Luke tells us that these teachers were sitting in the room (Luke 5:17).

Remember the sitting position was the position of authority for the teacher and the students normally stood round about the teacher but these choose to sit before Jesus Christ.

Was this an indication that they came to teach Jesus and did not concede Jesus’ authority as a teacher?

In any case the picture that we are given by Luke is one of teachers who get in the way of men coming to Jesus to hear the truth. 

What a current event that is!

How we hear of so many obstacles that are given to men by religious men that hinder the free grace of God that is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Woe unto the man who hinders the Gospel and weighs it down with loads unable to be borne by men.

And these hindrances are demonstated by this large group of hostile hearers who take up all the room inside this house, and who by their very presence attempt to keep the paralytic man from being brought before Jesus.

But we see in this passage that Jesus had returned to Capernaum, and word had already gotten out as reported in the Gospel of Mark that He was back at His headquarters.

News of Jesus’ return resulted in a response of some to bring their loved ones to Capernaum because they knew that Jesus was able to heal the sick.

There were four men who had a friend who was paralyzed, whom they wanted to bring to Jesus for healing.

It seems to have taken some time to get the man from where he was staying to the house where Jesus was teaching.

By the time they arrived, the house was filled. And there was apparently a large crowd gathered outside.

Mark (Mark 2:2) informs us that there was not even room outside the door.

Imagine the scene which these men must have met as they came to the house with their friend.

The house is crowded and Jesus is teaching.

At the same time, Luke notes that Jesus was endued with power to perform a healing.

Verse 17, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

But there were none in the house who wished for healing so God did a wonderful thing and brought the man to Jesus to use the power that was he was endued with.

But the house was packed.

If this house had windows, there would have been people filling them.

Perhaps the Lord could see the commotion going on outside, caused by the four who were determined to get the paralytic to Jesus.

They may have tried one window and then another, all around the house.

But unstopped by the difficulties they faced, these men decided to try “from the top down.”

They were men of great character and not about to be stopped for they took the paralytic, to the roof.  

Remember that great saying that says: The test of your character is what it takes to stop you.