Matthew 9:1 – 7
“For which is easier, to say,
‘Your sins are forgiven you,’
or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?
But that you may know that
the Son of Man
has power on earth to forgive sins”
—then He said to the paralytic,
“Arise, take up your bed,
and go to your house.”
And he arose and departed to his house.”
(Matthew 9:5 – 7)
Which is easier to say…?
I think we struggle to understand
This story because we are Gentiles
Or rather, perhaps I should say,
Because we are NOT Jewish!
We get caught up with our senses
What we can See, Taste, Hear,
Smell and Feel
Saying: “Your sins are forgiven you”
Has little meaning for us
For they are simply WORDS
No-one can SEE anything happen
But to say: “ARISE, take up your bed
And WALK”
Is a BOLD thing to say
Since it will be obvious whether
Or not anything happens
We will be able to SEE the results
But Jesus WAS and IS a Jew
And the people He ministered to
(With the odd exception)
Were Jewish
And for a Jew ONLY God
Could FORGIVE sins
And that is why this scene happened
“And at once some of the scribes
said within themselves,
“This Man blasphemes!”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”
(Matthew 9: 3 – 4)
In a way it was correct what the scribes said
“This Man blasphemes!”
But is difficult for us to understand
Since the Bible translators (NKJV)
Wrote it the way we SEE it
What they probably thought was
“This man blasphemes!”
And if you read it quickly
You will have missed my point
They thought “man”
The translators wrote “Man”
To denote Jesus as GOD
In all of my writings
I try to remember to write
About Jesus using capital letters
When I refer to Him, or He
Because I believe He is God
And it helps to understand who I am talking about
But the scribes, in this story,
Did NOT believe that Jesus was God
They did NOT recognise Him as being the Messiah
Rather, they simply saw Him as a “man”
And for a “man” to forgive sins
WAS, to them, blaspheme
But Jesus answered them from Who He WAS and IS
He didn’t try to explain Himself
He simply ALWAYS spoke the Truth
“Why do you think evil in your hearts?”
(Matthew 9:4)
What they were thinking
WAS evil to Jesus – Who IS God
So to bring this all together
Since Jesus IS God
He CAN and HAS forgiven sin and sins
And so in this story He did what He did
But for us TODAY
How can this change how we look at this?
As we believe that Jesus IS God
He has already FORGIVEN us our sins
He paid for them when He died Upon the cross
He TOOK our sin and sins
Upon the cross
And in EXCHANGE
Gave us His RIGHTEOUSNESS
If I have the righteousness of God
In and through Christ Jesus my Lord
(Which I do)
Then I am healed / healthy
I am prosperous / rich
I am delivered / set FREE
I am saved / eternal life
Because He is God
And ONLY God can do that