Intro to "“The Healing, Forgiving Savior” (Luke 5:12-26)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2026 8:45 PM

My Worship Time                                               Focus: Intro to “The Healing, Forgiving Savior”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 5:12-26

            Message of the verses:  “12While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 15But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

A Man Lowered Through a Roof

17 One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. 18And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. 19But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. 20And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21The scribes and the Pharisees began thinking of the implications, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” 22But Jesus,  aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But so 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, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 25And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26And they were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God. They were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

            In this evening’s SD I will quote from the introduction to John MacArthur’s commentary from the 27^th chapter of his first commentary on Luke’s gospel, a commentary that covers the first five chapters of the gospel of Luke.  This will be a short introduction.

            “As we have seen, this section of Luke’s gospel reveals Jesus Christ’s absolute and total power over everyone and everything.  In 4:1-13, He defeated every temptation hurled at Him by the devil, and further demonstrated His power over Satan’s realm by casting out demons (4:33-35, 41).  His healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and many others (4:38-40) displayed Christ’s power over disease, while the miraculous catch of fish (5:1-11) demonstrated His power over the realm of nature.  The miracles He performed are critical testimony in the biblical record of Jesus’ life, since they offer proof of His divine nature.

            “This passage records two more examples of Jesus’ supernatural power over disease.  He healed two conditions, leprosy and paralysis, whose cure was far beyond the limited medical knowledge of that day.  But these healings do more than reveal Jesus’ divine power and compassion.  The story of His healing the leper provides an analogy of the penitent sinner’s approach to Him, and the account of His healing the paralyzed man contains the revelation of His authority to forgive sin.”

            Now as I look ahead into this section that we will be looking at I can see that the outline is a bit different that the ones we have been looking at lately, but have seen this outline form in earlier chapters of MacArthur’s commentaries.  I will go ahead and quote this next section from MacArthur’s commentary in order to not make tomorrow morning’s SD too short.

“JESUS HEALS A LEPER:

THE PENITENT SINNER’S APPROACH TO HIM

“12While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 15But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

            “The exact time and location of the Lord’s encounter with this leper is not known.  It occurred during His Galilean ministry in one of the cities or villages near the Sea of Galilee.  The encounter may be discussed under three headings:  the dreaded disease, the desperate victim, and divine compassion.”  Now these are the three sections that I will begin to look at in tomorrow morning’s SD, Lord willing.

5/26/2026 9:04 PM