What is the meaning of Luke 5:26? Everyone was taken with amazement The moment Jesus told the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home” (Luke 5:24), every eye in the packed house watched the man stand, roll up his bed, and walk out. • Luke often notes how crowds reacted to Jesus’ miracles—see Luke 4:36 and 7:16. • Mark’s parallel account adds, “they were all amazed and glorified God” (Mark 2:12). • The amazement is universal—“everyone.” Christ’s power leaves no neutral bystanders (Acts 3:9-10). and glorified God Amazement that stops at wonder is incomplete; true amazement turns upward in worship. • The shepherds did the same after seeing the newborn Messiah (Luke 2:20). • The woman bent double for eighteen years “began glorifying God” when Jesus straightened her (Luke 13:13). • Matthew records that when the crowd saw the paralytic walk, “they were afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (Matthew 9:8). God receives the glory because the miracle unmistakably displays His hand at work through His Son (John 11:40). They were filled with awe This awe is a holy fear—a recognition that God has invaded ordinary space. • After Jesus raised the widow’s son, “fear swept over all of them” (Luke 7:16). • When signs accompanied the early church, “fear came upon every soul” (Acts 2:43). • Encountering divine power leads to reverence, not mere excitement; it humbles observers before God’s majesty (Psalm 89:7). We have seen remarkable things today The crowd’s confession sums up the entire scene: the visible proof of the invisible claim that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Luke 5:24). • Nicodemus later echoes this: “No one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). • The disciples will shout similar praise on Palm Sunday for “all the miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). • The phrase “remarkable things” points not only to the healing but to the forgiveness granted—a marvel even greater than restored legs (Psalm 98:1). summary Luke 5:26 shows the proper response to Christ’s saving work: collective amazement, heartfelt worship, reverent awe, and open testimony to God’s extraordinary deeds. The physical healing verifies the greater miracle of forgiveness, driving the crowd—and us—to glorify the One who alone wields authority over both body and soul. |
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