Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric September
24, 2021
A Need Deeper Than Healing
Matthew 9:1-8, CEB - Boarding a boat, Jesus crossed to the other side of the
lake and went to his own city. People brought to him a man who was paralyzed,
lying on a cot. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man who was
paralyzed, “Be encouraged, my child, your sins are forgiven.”
Some legal experts said among
themselves, “This man is insulting God.”
But Jesus knew what they were
thinking and said, “Why do you fill your minds with evil things? Which is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so you will know that the Human One has
authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was
paralyzed—“Get up, take your cot, and go home.” The man got up and went home. When the crowds saw what had happened, they
were afraid and praised God, who had given such authority to human beings.
Today we
come to another healing by Jesus only this time, Jesus decides to forgive the
paralyzed man’s sins first. The obvious
question here is “why?” Why does Jesus
see a paralyzed man and proclaim his
sins forgiven first? He doesn’t heal the
man until after the religious authorities make a fuss about his proclaiming
forgiveness. What gives Jesus?
To
explain this, we need to remind ourselves about first century attitudes concerning
diseases and physical ailments. The
thinking was if you had a disease or ailment, it was due to your sins and/or
the sins of your family in some way.
Because of this, many people with these conditions were look down upon
by their communities because after all, the “evidence” for their sinfulness was
right there for everyone to see. This
kind of thinking persists even today in some circles. I once had a man in my congregation was
convinced that his grandson’s ailment was a result of the “sins” of his youth.
It was
clear that Jesus on many occasions tried to correct this line of thinking, so that
makes his proclamation of the man’s forgiveness even more perplexing. That is, unless we think about it from the paralyzed
man’s perspective. You see, on several
occasions, including this one, the gospels state that Jesus knew what people
were thinking. So it is possible, even
likely, that Jesus knew the biggest concern of the lame man’s heart was not his
disability, but the burden of being labeled a sinner by everyone. He might even believed in his cursedness
himself. In this light, Jesus’s offer
was one of great compassion and relief. In
the eyes of God, his sins, whatever they were, were gone.
As we
know from above, this sent the authorities into a tizzy. From their perspective, only God can forgive
and God will only forgive after the proper sacrifices and liturgies are
performed. This is why they viewed Jesus’s
proclamation as an affront to God. Jesus
saw all this coming and responds, “But so you will know that the Human One
has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was
paralyzed—“Get up, take your cot, and go home.” Then, the paralyzed man was no longer
paralyzed and walked home. Again,
Matthew’s big issue is Jesus’s authority and so that is the issue front and
center in this exchange. Jesus not only
has authority over diseases, demons, and storms, he has the authority to forgive
sins. And while the paralyzed man was
certainly thankful for his healing, he was probably even more grateful for the
stigma of his “sins” to be erased.
Have you
ever fallen on hard times and had the stubborn feeling that you had brought
them on yourself? I know I have. I am also aware of times when I was right – I
was indeed reaping the consequences of my own actions. In
those times, I knew that I deserved my hardship. To hear the authoritative Son of God proclaim
my forgiveness was a greater need than even for my troubles to go away. I needed to know that Someone had forgiven me
even if everyone else hadn’t. This is
the Good News for me and for any of you in the same boat. “In the name and by
the authority of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”
Question: Are you able to hear Jesus say to you, “your
sins are forgiven?”
Prayer: God, you know the darkness of each heart, the
brokenness we all feel over the mistakes of the past. Help us not only hear but believe in Your
proclamation of forgiveness over each of us. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Spend some time today confessing your brokenness
to God today and listen for his proclamation of forgiveness and healing over
it.
Song:
Forgiven – David Crowder
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