“Who do you think you are?” There’s a kind of person who is so bold in what they say and do that, when you hear them speaking like they’re the king of everything, all you can do is say, “Who does this person think they are?” Like when a student corrects a teacher, or when a stranger seeks to discipline someone else’s child, or when Michael Scott says, “I declare bankruptcy” with no legal authority whatsoever. Who does he think he is? Maybe you’re asking that question about me right now. If you’ve ever witnessed that kind of behavior and asked yourself that question, I have some bad news for you: you, like me, are a lot like the Pharisees described in today’s passage.

In Luke 5:12–32, Jesus gets into an escalating series of situations where he’s doing what he does—healing, cleansing, and the kind of things that have his critics saying again and again, “Who does this guy think he is?” In each section, Jesus ratchets up the temperature and cranks up the contrast between himself and his enemies until his focus becomes crystal clear. The big idea of Luke 5:12–32 is this: Jesus restores sinners to God. 

Jesus restores sinners to God. 

This raises the question: how does Jesus restore sinners to God? 

1) By cleansing what makes us unclean

2) By forgiving what makes us guilty

3) By calling sinners to repentance

Let’s get into the first point: By cleansing what makes us unclean.

BY CLEANSING WHAT MAKES US UNCLEAN (vv.12–16)

On this day, while Jesus is teaching, he is approached by a desperate man. Here’s how Luke records their initial interaction: “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’”

The man was full of leprosy—this wasn’t just a small rash.

Leprosy isn’t something we spend much time thinking about today. Here’s why it’s important in the Bible. Leprosy sometimes refers to a specific skin condition that we now call Hansen’s Disease, but it’s also an umbrella term for a number of skin conditions that would make a person ceremonially unclean. What does that mean?

In the Old Testament, uncleanness is a state of being (not the same thing as being sinful, or even as being sick) that would render a person unfit to enter the presence of God. An unclean person was impure to the point of not being able to enter the temple or participate in worship—not necessarily because of personal sin, but because something about their condition rendered them unclean. It’s important that we distinguish between sin and uncleanness. You could be unclean apart from committing any specific sin.

Quarantine was essentially the only way to prevent leprosy from spreading. So to be a leper not only meant that you were providentially hindered from being in God’s presence; it also meant you weren’t able to have physical contact with anyone who was well. No hugs or handshakes—six feet to stop the spread, that kind of thing. To be unclean was an incredibly isolating experience.

On the topic of uncleanness, Old Testament scholar L. Michael Morales writes: “Various conditions such as skin diseases make Israelites unclean because it brings them into the realm of death. When Miriam became leprous, Aaron prayed, ‘Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed’ (Num 12:12). The leper pronounced unclean, therefore, is required to go into mourning, disheveling his hair, rending his clothes, out the camp of Israel (Lev 13:45–46)—in essence, such a person ‘experienced a living death.’… Because the wilderness represents chaos and death, all that severely smacks of death is driven into the wilderness and away from the Presence of God.”

Basically, uncleanness served as a witness to the widespread pollution of sin and the holiness of God. It was like a living death. And for someone with a chronic condition, there was almost no earthly hope of being restored to God’s presence. Now we’re beginning to understand why this unnamed leper is so desperate.

This desperate, unclean man begs Jesus to heal him. Is there anything more humbling than coming before someone and begging because they are your only hope? And how does Jesus respond? “And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but ‘go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.’ But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

This might not strike us as shocking as it should. In almost every recorded circumstance, touching a leper would make you unclean and subject you to all the effects we just described—the living death. It spreads by touch. But when Jesus touches him—without fear, without hesitation, without pulling back, and, unlike my nature, without reaching for hand sanitizer—it’s Jesus’ cleanliness that gets passed along instead of the leper’s uncleanness.

Who could touch something unclean and overcome it with cleansing? Who does Jesus think he is? Only God can touch what has been defiled and make it pure. In other words, Jesus restores sinners to God.

So let’s approach him the way the leper did—in desperation, with Jesus as our only hope. In a culture like ours, aren’t we far more likely to demand something from God with an upturned nose than to get on our knees and beg him for what we need most? This man is better than us in at least this way: he knows he cannot cleanse himself, and he knows that Jesus can.

Don’t be mistaken—being made clean is about much more than having clear skin. This is a demonstration of Jesus’ divine holiness and power. He has come to usher in a glorious Kingdom, and it’s beginning to break in—making what is unclean and unworthy of God’s presence clean and holy. Jesus honors this man’s desperation by bringing him cleansing. The man can now go worship at the temple, which is why Jesus sends him to the priest to prove his cleanness. Jesus has restored this sinner to God by removing his uncleanness.

Let’s begin to take this passage personally, particularly in the area of suffering. Is there anything in your life that makes you feel unclean—or even untouchable? It could be something that has been done to you, something out of your control, or something you yourself have done.

We aren’t operating under the system of ritual uncleanness today. Jesus ultimately fulfilled every one of those purity laws in our place. But if you are experiencing shame right now—because of something done to you or something out of your control—take heart in this passage. Before you try to clean yourself up, start with Jesus.

Confess your shame openly to him. Maybe you need to do that right now in your seat. Jesus knows a lot about being shamed, particularly in the shameful death he died in our place. Jesus is just as willing and able to remove your shame today as he was willing and able to cleanse this leper. Do you believe that?

In addition, find a trusted friend or leader in this church and share this with them. Don’t walk this path alone. Let a brother or sister walk with you and encourage you with the hope of the gospel.

Jesus restores sinners to God. He takes uncleanness and, with a word, makes us clean.

Let’s move on to the second way Jesus restores sinners to God: by forgiving what makes us guilty.

BY FORGIVING WHAT MAKES US GUILTY (vv.17–26)

Jesus restores sinners to God, and so far we’ve seen that one way he does that is by cleansing without becoming unclean himself. Now we turn to a second demonstration of Jesus’ power.

This next incident illustrates how you act when you believe that Jesus restores sinners to God: you go to great lengths to bring your friends to Jesus and stand amazed when he reveals his power.

Here’s the occasion:

“On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.”

These faithful friends wanted this paralyzed man to be healed. Like the leper above, they believed that Jesus could solve their problem—but there was one obstacle in the way. There was simply no room for them in the house where Jesus was teaching. Presumably, every seat was filled. They knew where Jesus was. They had faith that he could bring healing. But he was just out of reach.

That seems to be how it often works: when the seats get full and there’s no more room, it’s the person who desperately wants—and needs—to encounter Jesus who gets left out. This is one reason we work so hard to usher well, help people find seats on Sunday mornings, and even add services when needed. There are sufferers and sinners who need to be brought in to learn about the one who has authority to forgive sins, and we need to create space for them. We even tore the roof off this building in a major construction project. Why? Because Jesus restores sinners to God, and we need a place where he can be worshiped.

The friends didn’t let a packed house prevent them from bringing their paralyzed companion to Jesus. They tore the roof open to bring their friend near to him because they knew that Jesus could do everything they needed.

What about you? When life knocks you down to the mat, do you have friends who would tear the roof off to bring you to Jesus in your time of need? Do you have four “ride or die” companions who would go to great lengths to take action and bring you to the one who can heal you and forgive your sins? Seriously consider that.

On the flip side, are you the kind of friend who will pick up your brother or sister when life has them knocked down on the mat and bring them to Jesus? Is there someone in your life right now who has been knocked down and needs to be brought to Jesus immediately? If so, don’t delay. This is an emergency—bring them to Jesus. The faith in your heart may be stronger than the faith in theirs right now. That brother or sister walking through a season of pain and suffering may need you to bring them to Jesus. Get proactive. Form a serious prayer plan. Drop by their house with a meal. Send an encouraging text message with Scripture every single day.

The point is that these friends went to great lengths to care for their companion. Obviously, you can’t do this for everyone—but you can do this for someone. There’s a close friend in my wife’s and my life who is undergoing a major surgery in a few months. We’re going to be praying, sending book recommendations, and speaking words of encouragement. In those situations, Jesus may look upon your faith and your prayers and bring healing—and even forgiveness.

There was a time when my wife and I were having a very high-stakes conversation and felt completely helpless. We seemed stuck, as though there was nothing we could do on our end. We needed the Lord to soften hearts. But we had faithful friends who, time and again, brought us to Jesus. They were so consistent that right before we walked into that difficult conversation, the last thing we did—after praying ourselves—was text them and say, “It’s happening. Please pray.”

If you don’t know where to start, a great first step is simply to visit a Citygroup this week. Check the Citygroups box and write down your neighborhood, and we’ll connect you with leaders so you can visit. Life will eventually knock you down to the mat. Make friends—and be the kind of friend who brings others to Jesus.

Now let’s continue the story. We haven’t even reached the forgiveness yet:

“And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Rise and walk”? But 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, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.”

Observe the compassion of Jesus. As in his encounter with the leper, he sees faith—this time in the friends—and, whether they realized it or not, he speaks the greatest news any of them could ever have heard: “Your sins are forgiven.”

This is a significant escalation. The friends bring the paralytic for healing, and Jesus says, in effect, “I’ll do you one better—forgiveness.”

Jesus proves his greatness by arguing from the lesser to the greater. He brings physical healing to demonstrate that he has the authority to forgive sins, cementing the truth that Jesus restores sinners to God.

At that time, the Jewish people were accustomed to hearing about forgiveness once a year on the Day of Atonement. Even then, as Hebrews explains, those sacrifices were more a reminder of sin than a final removal of it, because they had to be offered year after year.

But Jesus came to usher in a new covenant and bring full forgiveness of sins. This covenant was promised hundreds of years earlier. Here’s how the prophet Jeremiah recorded it in Jeremiah 31:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Make no mistake: when Jesus declares the man forgiven, he is speaking with new covenant authority. He will forgive our iniquity, and he will remember our sin no more.

But what do we make of the way Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man? This is one of his favorite self-designations, and we’ll see it again and again in Luke. If you were here during our study of Daniel, you may already recognize it. The Son of Man is the figure in Daniel 7 who is given everlasting dominion by the Ancient of Days.

Here is Daniel 7:13–14:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is revealing himself as the Son of Man who has dominion over a worldwide, eternal kingdom. This echoes the beginning of his ministry in Nazareth when he declared that the year of the Lord’s favor had arrived.

And it was received in a similar way. In Luke 4 they asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Here they ask, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They’re asking, “Who does he think he is?”

On one level, it’s understandable. Telling a paralytic that his sins are forgiven would be easier to fake than healing him. But Jesus doesn’t merely assert authority—he demonstrates it. He heals the paralytic, causing the future Kingdom of God to break into the present and authenticating his ministry in the process.

In dramatic fashion, he shows that Jesus restores sinners to God—and he does it by forgiving what makes us guilty.

It is better to have your sins forgiven than to be able to walk. No matter what sins you’re carrying today, and no matter who in your life has been knocked down on the mat, believe that Jesus can bring complete forgiveness.

BY CALLING SINNERS TO REPENTANCE (vv.27–32)

Third and finally, Jesus restores sinners to God by calling sinners to repentance. This is another story of Jesus’ mercy—and the desire of a forgiven sinner to bring his friends to Jesus.

The narrative picks back up with Jesus encountering another kind of broken person—a sinner.

“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.”

Doesn’t that sound almost too easy? With a word—and in just two verses—a dishonest tax collector becomes a follower of Jesus, leaving everything behind like Simon, James, and John before him. Luke records only two words from Jesus, and Levi’s life is forever turned upside down.

Tax collectors weren’t known as honest, hardworking people in the first century. In fact, in another parable Jesus tells, a tax collector (not unlike Levi) is used as a textbook picture of a sinner—not a seeker, not someone earnestly searching for answers, but someone profiting from dishonesty under the protection of the Roman government. There was nothing inherent in Levi that made him “low-hanging fruit” for Jesus. And yet two words were all it took for him to become a follower.

This teaches us that repentance can happen in a moment—in the blink of an eye. Theologian Wayne Grudem defines repentance this way: “Repentance is heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.” This is something Christians do again and again throughout the Christian life. These verses capture the very first time Levi forsook everything else to follow Jesus.

No one is too dirty, too broken, or too sinful to be redeemed by Jesus. No one is too hardened by sin or too worldly for Christ to save. So today, as you consider Levi’s repentance—and your own—I must ask you: Have you left everything behind? Or are you holding on to some hope in this world? Are you hedging your bets with Jesus, or is he truly your only hope in life and in death?

If you’re hedging your bets, follow Levi’s example. Give your entire life to Jesus, holding nothing back.

Now look at what Levi does next:

*“And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ And Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Levi understood that the appropriate response to being saved was nothing short of a great feast. Later in Luke, Jesus describes a similar scene this way: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” This kind of change in allegiance is an occasion for rejoicing.

Notice that, just like the four friends who knew their paralyzed companion needed to meet Jesus, Levi throws a big party to celebrate becoming a disciple—and he invites all his friends who haven’t yet encountered Christ to come and see. If you’re getting baptized next Sunday, one of the best ways to mark that celebration would be to invite friends from all different walks of life—especially unbelievers—to come and join in. The same is true for child dedications, Easter, holidays, or any occasion you can use to invite someone to church.

As an example, my sister invited me to witness her baptism when I was nowhere near following Jesus. What I saw was so compelling that I had to come back and learn more. Who’s to say that won’t happen through your invitation as well? It’s safe to assume Levi didn’t keep his new allegiance secret. He invited his closest friends to share in his joy.

But not everyone at that party was rejoicing. Some stood off to the side and essentially said, “Who does he think he is, associating with sinners?” And Jesus seizes the moment to say one of the hardest lines in Luke’s Gospel: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Let’s take this to heart soberly. The “righteous” Jesus refers to here are not perfect people. They are self-confident people. They are the ones who say, “I’ve got this. I’m fine. I have it all together.” Or, “I don’t want to think about it. Religion is optional—good for other people, but not for me.” Or especially, like the Pharisee in another parable, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.”

They won’t embrace Jesus because they feel no need. And in doing so, they prove that they don’t believe he came for them.

Could this be more different from everyone else Jesus encountered in this passage? The leper begged for cleansing because he knew only Jesus could make him clean. The four friends tore open a roof because they knew only Jesus could heal—and they discovered he could forgive. Levi left everything behind and threw a banquet at great expense because he knew Jesus had brought him to repentance.

All of them knew they needed something only God could provide.

Those are the people Jesus came for.

They know that Jesus restores sinners to God—and that he is their only hope in life and in death.

So today, if you are trying to clean yourself up, heal yourself from within, defend yourself, or prove that you don’t need anyone else, you are in danger of missing Jesus’ call. Take off the mask. Lay down your pride. It will cost you your pride—but repentance is worth anything you must give up to follow Jesus. He is calling you today.

Admit that you are a sinner deserving of God’s just judgment. Leave everything behind to follow him. Whatever you’re tempted to hold back, lay it down at the foot of the cross. The cross of Christ is where Jesus proved once and for all that he has come to restore sinners to God. On that wonderful cross, he bore the weight of our sins on his shoulders. He died the death we deserved—in our place. And on the third day, as we’ll celebrate especially in just a few weeks, he rose from the grave, conquering sin, death, and every other enemy.

If today you are embracing Jesus, let your repentance bring overflowing joy.

Jesus has made us clean!
Jesus has provided forgiveness!
Jesus has called us to repentance!
Jesus has restored us to God!

Let’s spend the rest of our lives in joyful worship.

Let’s pray.