Jesus has the authority to heal and forgive sin
Their faith
1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.
2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
After Jesus delivered the demon possessed men, He came back to the other side of the lake to Galilee, His own city. People brought a paralytic to Jesus. Now, if you read the accounts of the same story in the gospels of Mark and Luke, you will see what they did. Apparently, there were so many people in the house that they couldn’t get the paralytic to Him. But nothing would stop them from getting to Jesus. So, the men opened the roof of the house and lowered the paralytic down on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven”.
And that is one lesson we can learn from this story. If you have genuine faith in Jesus, nothing and no one will stop you getting to Jesus. We see these men had an active faith, a living faith. They heard about Jesus, that He was in town, and seized their opportunity to go to Jesus. What a picture of saving faith! A living faith! Getting to Jesus. That is what saving faith means: Getting all obstacles out of the way to have a clear view of Jesus. Coming to Jesus no matter what.
Is something holding you back from coming to Jesus?
What is obstructing your view of Him? Entertainment? Computer games? Your job? Your pride? Your laziness? Your lust?
Not these men, they had heard of Jesus and decided to get to Jesus, even if they had to go through the roof! What an attitude! Whatever it takes, we will get to Jesus!
The paralytic
Now, we don’t know for how long and why he was in this condition. But the assumption is, when we read the text, that he was in this state because of his sin. In this true story there is a clear correlation made between him being healed and his sin being forgiven. Jesus healed many people in his ministry. We cannot say of all those whom Jesus physically healed that their sins were forgiven. Many people who experienced Jesus’ miracles did not believe in Him and didn’t become his disciples (See John 6). But in this incident, we see a clear relationship.
Verse 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
We do not know why this man was a paralytic. But what is clear is that he was unable to walk, and he was in this state because of his sins.
❖ Christ’s power
In this story we see the power of God in action. Who can forgive sins but God!? Jesus is God.
But because these men and the crowd could not see someone’s sins being forgiven, Jesus gives them a visible token, a sign.
5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home
Jesus, in effect, does three miracles here,
He reads their thoughts
He forgives a man his sins
He heals a paralytic
And by doing all these things he proves that He is the Christ, the Son of Man.
And here, we find that Christ does his greatest work: forgiving sin!
The tense in Greek makes this clear: the act of forgiving sin has happened in the past tense. The paralytic’s sins have been dealt with, not counted against him now. They have been removed from him as far as the east is from the west – they have gone!
By what means?
Faith in the Son of Man! Saving faith! On what grounds?
The Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many, to lay down his life for His sinful people. He came to go to the cross, to die, to save His people. On that basis, sin was forgiven. Nothing else. Christ’s death on the cross alone. This is the power of Christ, to forgive sin. This is His prerogative alone.
❖ The accusation
3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?
Jesus did not hear the scribes saying these things – He knew their thoughts. Why do you think evil in your hearts? In their hearts, they accused Jesus of blasphemy. With their minds they believed that nobody could forgive sin and tell a person that his sins were forgiven except God alone! And they were right! Only God can forgive sins! You see, they failed to realise who it was that was standing before them! It was God. And for them to admit that, would be for them to admit that He was the Christ, the Messiah. This they were unwilling to do.
So here we see again the blindness of the Pharisees and scribes. They knew the Bible, they knew the Scriptures, but they couldn’t comprehend and receive Christ as the Son of Man.
And, here again, we see the omniscience of Christ. He knew their thoughts and He knows our thoughts. We cannot hide anything from Him. Nothing is ever hidden from Him. It would be a great mistake to hide things from Christ and think He doesn’t see them. He sees. He knows. And He will bring all things to judgement. What a great sin to accuse Jesus of blasphemy!
❖ Christ’s identity
5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
6 that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
7 And he rose and went home.
Again, in this passage, Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man. And He unequivocally states that He has the power to forgive sin. He has this authority. And if He has this authority and power to forgive sins, He must be the Son of Man. He must be the Messiah. He must be God. Immanuel, God amongst us, as Scripture reveals (Matthew 1:20-23).
But perhaps people may not believe that He has this authority. How can we determine that He actually did forgive his sins? How can we be sure that Jesus is indeed who He said He is, the Son of Man, the Messiah? Jesus answered these questions Himself: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” He said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he did, he rose and went home! Jesus said, here is the proof, here is a visible sign that I can do the invisible, forgive sins. Look! See for yourself!
The result: everybody should immediately bow down and worship Him! Jesus is the Son of Man! His miracles prove that He is God, who else can forgive sins? There are visible tokens and signs.
❖ Their reaction
8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God who had given such authority to men.
Their reaction was not the immediate worship of Jesus. Reading the text, we conclude that the crowd believed that God had delegated this authority to
heal and forgive sin to Jesus and possibly to other men. They glorified God, not Jesus. We know that Jesus is God, but they may not have accepted this at this point. Our text says they were afraid. In the gospel of Mark, where the same story is related, it records a similar reaction. The crowd did not have the same reaction as the three wise men who came and worshipped Jesus. They did not have the same reaction as the disciples (See Matthew 28:16) who, after His resurrection, worshipped Him. The crowd should have worshipped him. But they probably wanted more proof. They wanted to see more signs, more miracles. Think about your life: How much more revelation do you need before you go on your knees and worship Jesus day by day, hour by hour? How many more books do you need to read, how much more of God’s miracle of creation do you need to see, how much more of God’s providence do you need to experience, before you acknowledge that He is the Son of Man and worship Him?
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