You have probably heard it before.
It is a saying commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who became queen of France after marrying Louis the Sixteenth. Legend says that when she was informed that her subjects, the French peasants, were starving because they had no bread,
she naively answered, “Let them eat cake!” While there is no evidence she ever said those words, she was nonetheless beheaded in the early days of the French Revolution.
But the legend lives on, and has come to symbolize a person who is spoiled and privileged, and out of touch with common people and everyday life—like a queen who would assume that someone who has run out of bread could eat cake instead.
It is a common failing of the rich and powerful.
Someone who has been raised in a wealthy family may have trouble understanding what it is like to work hard and still not be able to make ends meet. Politicians and presidents are sometimes lampooned because they don’t know how to use a grocery store scanner, or because they’re caught without cash in a sandwich shop. And then there’s the rest of us.
We get an overdraft notice or a shutoff notice, and we wonder if there’s anyone who really knows how bad that feels. Someone treats us like dirt, and we sense there’s no one else who truly understands how that feels. We doubt ourselves, disappoint ourselves, and think that no one could possibly identify with us.
If any of that is close to what it feels like to be you, you are not alone today. In fact, you couldn’t be less alone because of what God has to say to you through His Word today.
Today we begin a series of messages and worship experiences called “Who Do You Say I Am?” They are based on a movie called the Son of God, a dramatic portrayal of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as His message and mission. Each week we will be watching the depiction of a Bible passage as the creators of the Son of God movie rendered it, and then we will go to our Bibles to study and apply that part of Jesus’ story to our lives today.
The first incident we’ll see together is one that is found in Luke, chapter five:
PLAY video clip from The Son of God, “The Healing of the Paralytic.”
That incident appears in three of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We are going to study it from Luke, chapter 5, so please turn there now in your Bibles as I ask you: Did you notice in the video how Jesus referred to Himself? What name or title did He call himself?
Son of Man
You see it in verse 24:
“The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” —Luke 5:24, NIV
Jesus called himself the Son of Man. In fact, He is called “Son of Man” eighty-eight times in the New Testament.
He said:
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” —Matthew 8:20, NIV
He said:
“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” —Matthew 12:8, NIV
And so on.
Many would have recognized it as a reference to the prophecy of Daniel, from hundreds of years earlier, who wrote:
I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. —Daniel 7:13–14, NIV
When Jesus called himself “Son of Man,” He was making a clear reference to His identity as the promised Messiah.
But the phrase “Son of Man” also refers to the fact that Jesus shares in our humanity. God called the prophet Ezekiel “son of man” ninety-three times. In doing so, He wasn’t calling Ezekiel the Messiah; He was simply calling him a human being.
Of course, the Jews of Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to be fully human. Jesus did not surprise anyone by being human; He surprised them by being much more than fully human. And so the title, “Son of Man,” means that Jesus is not out of touch.
He knows what it’s like to work hard; He knows what a blister feels like. He knows what it’s like to have bills to pay; He helped support a single-parent family, after all. He knows what it’s like to face disappointment, rejection, betrayal, and grief. He knows what it’s like to be you. He is able to identify with you in your sorrows and sufferings, as well as in your pleasures and successes.
And so for that reason I want to impress on you three simple, but profound, steps to take, things to do, and ways to apply our Scripture today. The first is this:
1. Come to Jesus.
Look at Luke 5 with me. Notice those first three verses:
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. —Luke 5:17–19, NIV
Some people are more determined than others. Have you ever noticed that?
For some people in this room, if you had been one of those carrying a paralyzed friend to Jesus, and when you got there and saw the place was too crowded, would have just shrugged and said, “Oh, well … maybe another time.” Am I right? Some people have no problem taking “no” for an answer.
But not these guys. They hit a traffic jam … and they simply shifted into four-wheel drive. They climbed up on the roof, ripped up the sticks, straw, and mud between the beams and lowered their paralyzed friend into the room where Jesus was teaching.
And that … didn’t … bother … Jesus.
I want you to notice that.
Jesus didn’t say, “Whoa, whoa, I’m in the middle of something!” He didn’t call for security. He apparently stopped what He was doing and gave the paralyzed man His attention. Don’t miss that. Jesus, the Son of Man, is infinitely approachable.
What made those men think they could do this? What made them go to such trouble? What made them keep going?
I believe that’s in the next verse: their faith.
They had faith. They believed Jesus would see them. They believed He would notice their friend. They believed He could do something no one else could do.
And Jesus hasn’t changed. In all these years, Jesus hasn’t changed. The Son of Man is infinitely approachable.
He will not turn you away. He will not laugh in your face. He will not turn up His nose at you. But He also won’t force Himself on you. He will wait for you to come.
So come. Whatever your past, whatever your issues, whatever your excuses or obstacles or objections may be, just come to Jesus. Let nothing stand in your way. Let nothing keep you away. Make today the day …
Come to Jesus.
And with that, I urge you to take a second simple step to apply today’s Scripture:
2. Find forgiveness.
Look again at Luke 5, verse 20:
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” —Luke 5:20, NIV
This is fascinating for a couple reasons. First, did you notice that it doesn’t say, “When Jesus saw His faith …?” It says, “When Jesus saw their faith …”
He saw that the men carrying their friend had faith. We don’t know how much faith the man had. We don’t know if the man said anything to Jesus. We simply know what all three Gospel writers tell us: When Jesus saw the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends, He extended forgiveness to the paralyzed man.
That may tell us something important.
You see, you may have come here today without really knowing why. You may have been dragged kicking and screaming. You may have come expecting nothing. You may have come with the worst attitude possible. You may feel as if you don’t even have a drop of faith, not even a grain of faith in you.
But you know what? There are others around you who do. You have friends in this room who have faith, and maybe they can be to you
as the friends of that paralytic were to him. Maybe they’re praying for you right now. Maybe they’re cheering you on. Maybe they are believing that God is going to do things for you today that you can’t even imagine.
But something else in that verse is significant.
Think about it: A paralytic is brought to Jesus. A paralyzed man.
And Luke already told us, in verse 17,
“The power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick” (Luke 5:17b, NIV).
But when the man appears before Him, Jesus doesn’t say, “Be healed.” That’s what we might expect Him to say, but He doesn’t. He says, “You are forgiven.”
Now, it would be easy to misunderstand—to think the man was paralyzed because of sin. But when Jesus healed the man who was blind from birth, He said the man’s affliction was not the result of sin, but was instead an opportunity for God to bring glory to God. So that’s not why Jesus extended forgiveness. I think it was because Jesus is always eager to forgive. Jesus, the Son of Man, is infinitely gracious. Maybe the man came to experience healing. But first, Jesus wanted him to experience forgiveness, too.
That’s true for you, too. Whatever brought you here today—friends, fellowship, music, my magnetic personality—Jesus waits to extend forgiveness to you, too. Whether it’s forgiveness for the sins of a lifetime, forgiveness for the sins of this past week, or forgiveness for what you said on the drive to church this morning, Jesus is ready to forgive.
So find forgiveness. It is yours for the asking.
One more thing I impress on you today, another way to apply our Scripture, is:
3. Receive healing.
Let’s look one more time at Luke 5. After the paralyzed man’s friends broke through the roof, lowered their friend into the presence of Jesus,
and He told him, “Friend, your sins are forgiven,” notice what happened next.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” —Luke 5:21–26, NIV
It’s often interesting—and rewarding—to note in the Bible not only what is said, but what isn’t said, and not only what is done, but what isn’t done. And this passage provides an example. Wouldn’t you like to know how the paralyzed man responded when Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven?” Did he look confused, as if to say, “I didn’t ask for that … I came to be healed?” Did his eyes well up with tears? Was he speechless with gratitude? Was he about to open his mouth to say, “Thank you … and while you’re at it, there is this matter of my paralysis …?”
We don’t know. None of the Gospel writers tell us, but what they do tell us is what the Pharisees in the crowd started thinking! And they tell us that Jesus read their minds and called them on their wicked, faithless thoughts. They were thinking, “Who does this Jesus guy think He is?”
And Jesus basically answered: “I’ll tell you who I am—I’m the Son of Man. I am the Messiah. I have both the authority to forgive sins, and the power to heal this man’s paralysis.”
And then He did. He told the man, “Stand up. Pick up your mat. And go home.” And the man did.
Jesus revealed Himself as the Son of Man. He demonstrated that He had the authority to forgive sins. And He proved that He also had the ability to heal.
Jesus, the Son of Man, is infinitely powerful. And that hasn’t changed. It is as true here today as it was in Capernaum then. It is as true for you as it was for the paralytic. Whether your need is physical or mental, emotional or spiritual, the Son of Man is as ready and able to heal as He is to forgive. He can heal your broken heart … or a broken relationship. He can heal your weariness … or your worry. He can heal your body … or your spirit.
So come to Him.
Find forgiveness.
Receive healing.
It may begin with a simple prayer, something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I come. I don’t know how much faith I have, but I ask you to meet me here anyway. I confess my sin to you; I bring my need to you. I turn away from my sin, and accept your sacrifice on the cross as payment for all the wrong things I’ve done. I ask you to come into my heart, and take charge of my life from this moment on, amen.”
And for everyone in this room, I invite you to pray:
“Lord Jesus, we come. As we pray in the prayer you taught your disciples, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Heal our sickness and our disease. Heal our waywardness and our weariness. And send us out, walking, leaping, and praising God, so that others might be drawn to the Son of Man, amen.”
