OUR FATHER WHOSE SON HAS THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS

Mathew chapter 9 begins with Jesus' departure from Gergesenes and His return to His home base in Capernaum.

1 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 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.”

7 And he arose and departed to his house.

8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Upon arrival, a paralysed man lying on a bed was brought to Him and the Lord, seeing the faith of those who brought him, spoke to the paralyzed man and told him to be encouraged because his sins had been forgiven.

Among the witnesses of the event were some scribes who responded within their hearts with an accusation of blaspheme against Jesus because He was dispensing forgiveness as though He were God.

Detecting their inner thoughts, Jesus addressed the scribes with an incisive revelation of what was in their hearts. He then asked them a question that inverted the accusation of blaspheme into a challenge on their presupposition of Jesus' identity.

He asked them the question, "What was easier  to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or to say 'Arise and walk?'"

If Jesus was a blasphemer, the answer to the question is that neither is harder because saying phrases like these is easy if nothing of substance was going to happen.

However, Jesus was not a blasphemer because He had the ligitimate right to forgive people of their sins being God Himself.

To demonstrate that this was true, Jesus told the paralyzed man to arise and grab his bed and go home.

The man, paralyzed from a neck injury or a nerve disease or a brain disorder, was immediately able to get up and pick up his bed and go home.

Jesus' ability to speak a phrase and cause a miraculous healing validated his ability to forgive sins.

The observers of these things glorified God for showing such power through men but they did not know that God himself was doing these things right there with them in person.

Amen.

2