Luke 5:12-26

Luke 5

Jesus Heals a Leper

¹² On another occasion, Jesus was in one of the towns, and there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³ Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be made clean.”

Immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ Jesus ordered him to tell no one, “But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony for them.” ¹⁵ The news about him spread even more, and large crowds gathered to listen and be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

Jesus Forgives Sins

¹⁷ On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸ Just then, men who were carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher tried to bring him in and lay him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹ Since they did not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him down through the tiles on his stretcher into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰ When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins have been forgiven.”

²¹ The experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins except God alone?”

²² But Jesus knew their thoughts and answered them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . .” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

²⁵ Immediately, he stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ²⁶ They were all astonished and glorified God. They were also filled with reverence and said, “We have seen wonderful things today.”