This story is a classic Sunday School favourite and it’s easy to see why. You’ve got friendship, bold faith, and a powerful moment where Jesus not only says He can forgive sins, but proves it.
For anyone listening who hasn’t made the decision to follow Jesus yet, this is such a great moment to introduce them to who He really is— yes, He’s someone who sees and cares about our practical needs, but He also sees our deepest need: the need to be forgiven. Jesus doesn’t just fix what’s broken on the outside. He goes deeper. He has the authority to heal hearts and make lives whole.
And for those of us who already know what Jesus can do, this story is a challenge. It’s a reminder that we’ve got people in our lives who haven’t met Jesus yet—and we’ve got a role to play. The paralyzed man’s friends didn’t just hope for healing—they believed Jesus could do it, and they did whatever it took to get their friend in front of Him. That kind of faith and determination made all the difference. So, the question for us is: who needs us to carry them Jesus so He can heal and forgive them?
As we pick back up in Luke, we’re introduced to some new characters: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John (although only Peter is mentioned by name in Luke’s account). Jesus jumps onto Peter’s boat so He can better teach the crowds, and after finishing His teaching, Peter complies even though he had just gone through a long, hard, frustrating night of work. Once Jesus is done teaching, He does something bolder: He tells a group of tired, worn-out fishermen who are ready to head home to toss the nets they’ve just finished cleaning out into the sea. What fisherman would ever take instruction from the son of a carpenter and an itinerant teacher on how to catch fish? It’s safe to say Peter wasn’t thrilled with Jesus’ request, BUT, thrilled or not, he obeyed! The decision to do what Jesus said didn’t just lead to a once-in-a-lifetime haul of fish; it led to lives and ultimately a world that would be changed because of their willingness to say yes to Jesus. At the end of the day, what changes everything isn’t whether we like what Jesus is calling us to do; it isn’t how enthusiastic about what He asks of us; it’s whether we, like Peter, will respond to His instruction with obedience “because He says so.” At the end of the day, this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to following Jesus.
If we have trusted in Jesus’ death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. If Jesus has paid the price for us, then Paul tells us our promise from God is as follows:
1. We can walk in newness of life (vs.4)
2. We will be resurrected. (vs.8-9)
3. We are no longer slaves to sin (6-7)
4. We are not subject to the law but recipients of grace (vs.14)
On Good Friday, Jesus paid the price to secure all these promises for anyone who believes in him. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate that through the price Jesus paid, we who believe in him, are recipients of these incredible promises.
Paul then tells us that the only reasonable response to receiving the new life Jesus gives us is to live like new people:
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.”
On Easter Sunday, we celebrate all that God has promised us through Christ, and we are reminded that the resurrection life we have been given through Jesus should cause us to live our lives differently here and now.
Luke tells us that as Jesus ministered in Capernaum, people “were astonished because his message had authority.” In this story, Luke gives us a glimpse of the power of Jesus. There is no power or authority greater than Him. As vs.36 tells us, “he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out.” If we are in Christ, his power and authority are available to us today. In John 14:14, Jesus tells His disciples, “if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” To ask in His name is to ask according to His character and will. What confidence it should give us to know that our God and Saviour rules and reigns, that His message and words still have the power today to set people free.
When the gospel is preached, and the Holy Spirit is at work, it causes people to respond. Sometimes that response is positive, as we see in vs. 14 and 15. Sometimes that response is negative, as we see when Jesus returns to Nazareth. This is especially true when it comes to how people respond to who Jesus actually is. It’s one thing to be curious about Jesus, to be attracted to the blessing you think Jesus may be able to offer. It’s another thing to acknowledge Jesus as king and be willing to offer yourself to Him. As the end of this story shows, though, we can boldly declare the reality of who Jesus is without worrying about how people will respond because at the end of the day, God is in control and sovereign over all, and nothing will happen apart from His good plan.
After his baptism, Jesus heads into the wilderness and fasts for 40 days. Upon completion of 40 days of fasting, the devil appears to tempt Him. This passage provides us with an opportunity to show our church both how the devil tempts us and how, like Jesus, we can resist that temptation. Knowing how the devil tempts us is important, so we are prepared when temptation comes our way. First, it may be helpful to note that as human beings, we will be tempted. We should especially expect temptation when God is most active and at work (this story happens right after Jesus’ baptism and the Father’s public pronouncement of Jesus as the Son) and when we are at our weakest (Jesus has been without food for 40 days in the wilderness). It’s also the case that the weapons of the devil in our temptation are lies, which he often disguises in partial truths. Both in the garden of Eden and here in the wilderness, the Devil uses God’s own words taken out of their fulness and context to tempt. In order to resist temptation, we need to follow the example of Jesus by fighting Satan’s lies with God’s truth and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.
As we pick back up in the book of Luke, we are reintroduced to a now-grown-up John the Baptist. Once again, Luke makes it clear that the story he is telling is a real one, rooted in history. The person of John is real, and so is the message he proclaims: “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (vs.3). In doing this, he is preparing the way for Jesus, who has come to bring full and final forgiveness of sins for all who repent and believe in his name. The repentance that John preaches is one which is evidenced through action. John makes clear that real repentance requires not only a change of heart and mind but that it exhibits itself through a change in the way we live. As we preach this passage, we must call people to the same type of repentance. Also, like John, we are not Jesus. Jesus alone can judge, and Jesus alone can offer life.
Our culture often defines freedom as the absence of rules or responsibilities, but the bible teaches us that that type of freedom is no freedom at all, instead it is enslavement to sin. In opposition to the world that holds out license as the essence of freedom and religions that seek to burden us with the law and legalism, Jesus calls us into a new way of living where we find the liberty we long for by living under the Lordship of Christ.
While many of us are tempted to find our value, identity, and meaning in our productivity, it’s also true that we’re also tempted to believe we will find our satisfaction and comfort in consumption. We’re constantly fed the lie that what we’re longing for will be found if we had “just a little more.” The truth is that ultimately true satisfaction is only found in Jesus, the salvation that is found in Him and also the work that He has called us to. The good news is not just that Jesus has saved us from sin and death but also that He has saved us to a life of purpose and meaning.
Acts 2:37-47 – There is no such thing as a solo Christian. Coming to Christ means becoming a part of his church. From the very beginning of the church, we see that, although every individual has to make their own decision about who Jesus is, for those who decide to follow Jesus, they are not only joined with Christ, they are joined with everyone else who has claimed Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Our culture of hyper-individualism breeds loneliness, but one of the calling cards of the church ought to be deep community.