Matthew 9:1-8

Matthew 9:1-8 NIV

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” 
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” 
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”
Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

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In this account of Jesus healing a paralytic, the issue of His authority is challenged by the religious teachers. After leaving Garasenes and driving demons from the two possessed men, Jesus returns to Capernaum by boat. The people learn Jesus has returned and some men bring a paralytic to Jesus on a mat.

I love what happens next. Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the men carrying the paralytic, and perhaps the paralytic himself. Jesus was pleased, I think, not for His own benefit, but for the blessings their faith will bring. He encourages the paralytic to take heart, to be uplifted in spirit, to be of good cheer. Then Jesus tells the man His sins are forgiven.

When I go to the doctor for health he never mentions my sins or pronounces forgiveness. Why would he? But in Jesus' day the poor had little or no access to physicians. Faith healers, priests and such were involved in health matters. In the Jewish mind, when you faithfully keep the law of Moses, then health, prosperity, and security would be yours by the blessing of God. If you fell ill, then it must mean that you offended God in some way. If you break a law, fail to observe an ordinance, or shirk on your offerings to God, then illness may befall you, for God will remove His blessing from the disobedient.

Deuteronomy 28:15, 21-22 NIV

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation....

The story of Adam and Eve illustrates that sin separates us from the Lord. We become estranged from the fountain of life, our creator. This separation is painful to us for we were made to be in relationship with God.

Hear the psalmist cry for healing.

Psalm 6:1-4 NIV

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

Jesus is reconciling the paralytic to his God by pronouncing forgiveness. Forgiveness was pronounced by priests after a sacrifice of atonement. So it's very understandable why the teachers of the law are offended by Jesus' words. In their eyes He's just a carpenter who thinks Himself a prophet. Who was He to pronounce forgiveness? Only God can do that, and that was achieved through following the prescribed sacrifices for atonement as recorded by Moses. The irony, of course, cannot be missed. God is standing right before their eyes, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, but they do not see it.

In an attempt to open their eyes Jesus heals the paralytic, a gracious miracle no one can denounce. It's one thing to pronounce forgiveness and restoration to God, but quite another to show the immediate benefit... health. The people praised God for the authority given to Jesus, a mere mortal, or so they thought.

This story is about a lot of things. It's about the mystery of the incarnate God. It is about our faith in Jesus and His authority to heal and to reconcile us to God. It's about our sin and our need for forgiveness. It's about our need to have our eyes opened that we might comprehend the mystery that Jesus, a son of a carpenter, is God in the flesh. And finally its about hope in the new creation. For when Jesus told the paralytic to "get up", it's the same Greek word used for resurrection. The powers wielded by Jesus are pointing to our future when, in the new heaven and earth, there will be no more diseases, no more sin separating us from God or one another, and no more tears over suffering and death. The old order of things is passing away and giving way to the new order in Christ.

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!