What Jesus’ Authority Means for Our Bodies, Souls, and Ministry

Have you ever watched someone approach Jesus with nothing but desperation? Imagine a man rushing toward Jesus’ feet. The skin on his face, hands, and legs are flaking away, like dust from an old wall. This man had leprosy. In first-century Israel, leprosy didn’t just ravage the body; it erased a person’s place in the community. People backed away, fearful of becoming ceremonially unclean. You recognize the man in the crowd, even though you can’t recall. Once he was a familiar face in your town, but as his disease progressed, you, like everyone else, forgot him.

And then the man speaks from the dust:
“Lord, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.” (Luke 5:12)

Jesus does the unthinkable. He looks at the main, not with disgust, but with love, and He says, “I am willing.” He stretches out His hand and touches a man whom the Law had labeled untouchable. Immediately, the man is healed. The flaking skin disappears. He is restored.

The crowd gasped. Everyone knew the Law. No one was supposed to get that close to a leper. But Jesus touched him—had healed him! Then He instructed the man to go to the temple, to follow the Law’s process for declaring a healed leper clean (see Leviticus 14). And yet, He told him not to broadcast what had just happened. You couldn’t help but wonder if that was even possible. How could this be contained when a man who was declared untouchable had been made whole?

Before long, crowds were gathering everywhere Jesus went.

A few weeks later, Jesus was teaching from a home. When the room was filled beyond capacity one day, people pressed in to hear Jesus teach. At one point, four men destroyed the homes roof and lowered a paralytic to the ground just so he could be in Jesus’ presence. When Jesus saw their faith, instead of healing the man’s body first, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20)

At first, that seems odd. The man was lame. Walking was his most obvious need. And yet, Jesus addressed something invisible before He addressed the visible. And then to prove His authority over both, He commanded the man to get up, pick up his mat, and go home. And the man did just that (Luke 5:25).

Two Realms of Jesus’ Authority

What these stories reveal is that Jesus does not merely have authority over physical illness. He has authority over the soul. He can heal bodies, and He can forgive sin.

Authority in the Visible Realm

Luke describes leprosy in a way that communicates total affliction. Scholars note that the term covers a range of skin conditions in the Old Testament, from what we now call Hansen’s disease to severe dermatological issues. Whatever the specific diagnosis, this man was “full of leprosy.” Jesus healed him with a touch. Just like He healed the paralytic.

This is not a neat, sanitized miracle story. It is raw. Bodies were healed. Lives were changed. Jesus’ power over sickness shows us that He cares about our physical suffering.

And I believe the instructions in James 5 about praying for the sick with oil still matter. The oil is not what heals. Pastors and people do not heal. God heals. But prayer matters because God uses prayer as a means of extending His grace into our world.

Authority in the Invisible Realm

But the greater work Jesus did was spiritual. When He told the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven,” Jesus addressed the greatest need the man had. Forgiveness of sins is invisible. It cannot be seen by the human eye. Yet it is more fundamental than a healed body.

The religious leaders grumbled. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” they questioned (Luke 5:21–22). Jesus’ response revealed His divine authority. If He could command the lame to walk and they did in fact walk, then He certainly had authority to forgive sins.

The empty tomb, later in Jesus’ story, will demonstrate that authority all over again. But even here, in these early moments, we see Jesus not merely as a healer. He is the one who has authority over sin and death.

Two Responses to Jesus

So how do people respond to Jesus when He claims and demonstrates so much authority?

1. Some Question His Authority

The Pharisees and scribes chose skepticism. They judged Jesus, calling His claims blasphemy. They refused to acknowledge His authority. They tried to dismiss Him. C.S. Lewis famously outlined that Jesus must be either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. The Pharisees chose the path of rejecting Jesus and labeling Him a liar. They accused Jesus of blasphemy because they could not accept that He was God.

2. Some Glorify Him

Others glorified Him. The leper came in faith. The friends of the paralytic brought their friend with bold determination. Faith is not primarily intellectual assent or a warm feeling. It is the resolve to bring your need to Jesus and trust Him to act.

And when Jesus healed and forgave, crowds spread the word. People talked. They processed their amazement out loud. They glorified God.

We have the same two options today. We can try to ignore Jesus (though He is ultimately unignorable), or we can choose to spend our lives for his glory. Which choice are you making?

Two Traits of Jesus’ Ministry

As I reflect on these accounts, two traits of Jesus’ ministry stand out.

He Responded to Faith, Not Messiness

One of the most searching questions this passage asks us is not, “Do we believe Jesus can heal?” but, “What do we see when people show up messy?”

Leprosy was not merely a medical condition; it was a social death sentence. It stripped a person of health, dignity, community, worship, and even their name. This man was not simply sick. He was forgotten. When he came running toward Jesus, people recoiled instinctively.

Jesus did the opposite. He moved toward the man. He touched him. And in doing so, Jesus reversed everyone’s expectations. Instead of uncleanness spreading to Jesus, cleanness spread to the man. Jesus was not overwhelmed by the mess; He overcame it.

The same pattern shows up in the story of the paralytic. The scene is chaotic. There is a packed house, a damaged roof, falling debris, and a man lowered awkwardly into the center of the room. Jesus does not comment on the inconvenience or the disorder. He sees faith. He responds to desperation. He addresses the deepest need first. That should unsettle us a bit.

It is far easier to focus on people’s mess than on their faith. We notice awkwardness, habits that grate on us, complicated histories, emotional neediness, and lifestyles that do not fit neatly into our expectations. We say things like, “People are messy,” and we mean it. But sometimes, without realizing it, we stop seeing people and start seeing problems. Jesus never does that.

He ministers in the middle of decaying flesh, shattered lives, moral failure, and social stigma, and yet His compassion never cools. He does not reduce people to their diagnosis, their sin, or their baggage. He sees image bearers who have lost their way, and He moves toward them with grace.

If we want to minister like Jesus, we must learn to look past the mess without minimizing it. Compassion does not deny reality, but it refuses to let brokenness define a person’s worth. Faith, even desperate and imperfect faith, draws Jesus near.

He Fueled Ministry Through Prayer

Despite the crowds, Jesus regularly withdrew to pray (Luke 5:16). He did not let the attention of the masses override His communion with the Father. Prayer was not an afterthought. It was the source of His ministry.

As J.C. Ryle once said, many devote themselves to activity—hearing, reading, talking, teaching, giving—but far fewer commit themselves to private prayer. If we want to minister like Jesus, we must pray like Jesus. Not just occasionally, but consistently and dependently.

What This Means for Us

So what do we do with all of this?

First, it means we bring our needs to Jesus without pretense. The leper did not clean himself up before approaching Christ. The paralytic did not wait until he could walk. Faith is not presenting yourself as strong; it is admitting that you are not. To bring something to Jesus is to confess His authority over it, and that act alone glorifies Him.

Second, it means we embrace obedience in ordinary life. After healing the leper, Jesus instructed him to follow the process laid out in the Law (Luke 5:14). That feels anticlimactic. Miracles tend to stir excitement, not paperwork. And yet, obedience after blessing matters. God often follows extraordinary grace with very ordinary faithfulness. When Jesus changes us, the next step is rarely glamorous. It is simply obedience where we are.

Third, it means our amazement should not stay private. Throughout Luke 5, people glorify God by talking about what they have seen. Praise is not performance. It is thinking out loud about the greatness of God. When Jesus reshapes your life, gratitude naturally spills into conversation, and worship becomes contagious.

Finally, it means we commit ourselves to prayer. Jesus withdrew from crowds, popularity, and momentum in order to pray. His ministry was not fueled by attention or activity but by communion with the Father. If Jesus needed prayer to sustain His mission, we certainly do. Prayer recalibrates our loves, renews compassion for people, and reminds us whose power we rely on.

Jesus has authority over bodies and souls. He meets people in their mess. He responds to faith. And He invites us to live lives marked by dependence, obedience, compassion, and praise.

That is what following Jesus looks like when Luke 5 moves from the pages of Scripture into real life.

2026.01.28 / The Healer of Body and Soul / Pastor Daniel Steeves