This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today, we read about an amazing event where Jesus heals a paralytic, a man who is paralysed, and unable to walk. And we read at the beginning of Matthew, chapter 9: And getting into a boat [Jesus] crossed over and came to his own city. 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.”
Now, in the Gospel of Mark, we read a bit more detail about the magnitude of this event. We read: And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
It’s quite amazing! We have this man who was a paralysed, and he has heard about Jesus and his reputation, and he thinks to himself that he should go and present himself and his problem to Jesus too. But then, he can’t get there by himself. So he gets four of his friends to carry him on his bed. But then, when they get to the place where Jesus is, to the particular house, they realise that they can’t get to Jesus because there are so many people there. So, they take him up to the room, and start to pull apart the roof above Jesus and lower him down through the hole in the roof.
We read in our Gospel reading: When Jesus saw their faith… What is this faith that Jesus saw? Well, normally, faith isn’t something that we can actually see. It’s something that Jesus only can see, but we might see the fruit of people’s faith, we might see the actions that spring from a person’s faith. You see, when we say that we are saved by faith, and not by works, that is true. However, faith is always doing something: it doesn’t stay still, but it always produces something. So, for example, when faith has to wait for God’s blessings which are to come in the future, then faith produces hope. When a Christian person sees his neighbours in need, and shares with them the things that he himself has received from God, then faith produces love. When a Christian goes through a difficult time, and has to bear the cross, then faith gives birth to patience. When Christians start to sigh to God in their trouble, or thank God for blessings that God has given to them, then faith pours itself out into prayer.
And so, we see how faith is always producing new things, and pouring itself out into new Christian virtues, and actions, and characteristics and qualities and good works. However, these things in our life are only begun, and they are never finished. We are always learning what it means to hope, we are always learning to love, to bear the cross and to be patient, we are always learning prayer, humility, we are always learning the fear of God, and other things like that. In this life, these things are only begun and never finished.
But when it comes to faith, there is something about it that is unique, which is why it saves us. Because when we talk about faith, we are not talking about how strong or weak a person’s faith is. Rather, we are talking about the object of our faith, the thing which we put our faith in, the person whom we trust. And this person is Jesus himself. And with Jesus, his work is always finished. His work is never simply begun like our work, but it is always finished, complete, and perfect. Remember the wonderful words of Jesus on the cross, when he said, It is finished. And so, faith saves, not because of our strong or weak our faith is, but because of how strong Jesus is.
And so, we see here in our reading that there are these people who are busy, even tearing apart the roof. But the thing that Jesus sees is their faith. And we can see it too in our reading, because all of this travelling, all of this carrying the paralytic on his bed, all of this pulling the roof apart is directed to one thing and one person: Jesus. Jesus is the one they trust, Jesus is their only hope, the only one who can help them, and so they will do anything they can to come and see him. This is the faith that Jesus sees here.
We should also notice in our reading that it says, not just that Jesus saw this one man’s faith, but that Jesus saw their faith. It was not just the paralytic who was involved here, but also his friends. This also gives us a wonderful example in our own faith. Sometimes, we have a problem in our life, whatever it may be, and we often keep the matter to ourselves. We might talk to Jesus about it and pray about it, but deep down, it is almost as if we want Jesus to answer our own prayer, without anyone else’s help. Of course, there are many things that could tell Jesus that we don’t tell anyone else about. But when Jesus answers our prayer, and we have kept the matter to ourselves, then the whole thing is of no benefit to anyone else. In our reading, it is not just the paralytic who is encouraged and healed, but everyone who is involved in the whole business is strengthened and is encouraged by it all.
Also, we read in many places in the Gospels that Jesus sends out his disciples two by two. Or he says: If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. This is also part of the reason why we present the names of sick people in our own midst in the prayers each week in church. We come to Jesus, carrying our paralytic friends on their stretchers to Jesus, we pull apart the roof to lower them into Jesus’ presence! So when our burdens and our needs are shared between Christians, also the encouragements and the joys are also shared, because we see and witness the work of Jesus together.
Also, in our reading, Jesus says to the paralytic: Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven. Jesus first of all says to him: Take heart. Jesus is our wonderful Good Shepherd, and he constantly leads us, sharing with us his encouragement. He is always wanting to share his victory with us, his joy, his encouragement. Jesus does this because he is our true friend, our ever-present help in trouble.
And so, Jesus is the answer to every problem. Sometimes, we Christians are tempted to think that it is arrogant of us to think that Jesus is only the solution to spiritual things, but has nothing to do with anything else. No – Jesus knows every problem, and he knows the solution to them all. Even we might think of someone we know, and we know they have a problem, and also we know that almost no-one in our country knows how to fix it, or how to solve it. Don’t be ashamed to ask Jesus to solve the problem. We should never be ashamed to pray in such a way that we can’t possibly imagine what the answer could be.
But also, Jesus is not a solution, he is not a fix. He is a living person, our living and resurrected master, our Lord, our Good Shepherd, our doctor, our counsellor, our friend, our God. There is always a temptation among us to think of Jesus and Christianity as a kind of system, an equation, a piece of mathematics, a piece of engineering, a machine. No—when we meet Jesus, we meet a living person, who comes to people and he says: Take heart, my son, my daughter, my child.
Now, the thing that Jesus then says to this paralytic man might strike us as a bit unusual. He says: Your sins are forgiven. The man comes to Jesus with his paralysis, he comes to Jesus with his disability, and Jesus forgives his sins. Now, why is this? We might scratch our head and think: had the paralysed man done something wrong, or committed a particular sin in his life, which then caused him to be paralysed? No, that’s not the case at all.
Even this topic comes up in John’s Gospel where it says: As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Sometimes, people ask this question, but it is not for us to speculate why this person or why that person has this problem, or sickness, or need, or disability. However, we are all conceived and born in sin, in such a way that in this life, we are always living with many problems. And these problems simply wouldn’t be there if it hadn’t been for the fact that Adam and Eve had eaten that fruit. Even we can see when we cut our finger or something, the wonderful way in which our body works and directs itself in such a way that the blood congeals and then it all dries up, and then over the next few days it heals up. It’s as if we were built to live forever. The reason why we will die, and that one day our time will be up, is because of sin.
And so, when we have some sickness, or injury, or some problem in our life, that hinders us from doing what we want to do, and being who we want to be, or whatever, it should always be for us a call to repentance. I don’t mean that we should go digging for dirt in such a way that we think, “What specific sin did I commit which caused me to have this problem?” We can never really know that. But at that same time, when we come to Jesus with our needs, we must always come to him with our sin, and with the recognition and acknowledgement on our part that we are first of all not paralytics in need of the ability to walk, but sinners in need of grace, in need of atonement, in need of forgiveness. We must always come to Jesus as people who need to be washed in his blood, and who need to be clothed with his righteousness.
And so, when Jesus says to this man, Your sins are forgiven, he shows us two things. First of all, that when we come to him, we should always come to him in repentance, confessing our sins to him. But also, it shows to us that all of his blessings come from the forgiveness of sins.
So, for example, in our reading, the man is healed of his paralysis, and this shows us something wonderful for our own life. We get older, we get sicker, we get weaker, we become more deaf, more blind, we get injured, and all that kind of thing. But one day, when the world comes to an end, Jesus promises us that there will be a resurrection of the body, and that he will raise all people from the dead, and that our bodies will be transformed in such a way that our bodies will be strong, and healthy, and we will hear and see Jesus with our own eyes, and leap and dance for joy. All of this comes from the forgiveness of sins. In the Creed, we say that we believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. The forgiveness of sins, and the wonderful washing with the blood of Jesus, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism, in this life, means that in the future, there will be a complete and total healing of our bodies and souls.
So, as people who have received the forgiveness of sins, and look for the wonderful promise of the resurrection and eternal life—it’s on this basis that we commend our weaknesses and disabilities into the hands of Jesus, and pray for ourselves, or for others. Even in the early days of the church, the apostles were sent out by Jesus in such a way that performed similar works to Jesus, and healed the sick, and laid their hands on them. We read at the end of Mark’s Gospel where it says: And Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. Notice the wonderful way in which Jesus worked with his apostles in encouraging his people in this way. Also, at the end of the letter of James, we read: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the son who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Here we see in both these passages, the forgiveness of sins, faith, and the healing of the sick altogether. Now, in those days, the Holy Spirit worked in a wonderful way to confirm and establish the ministry of the apostles. Today, we still go and visit the sick, lay our hands on them, pray for them, even anoint them with oil, as it says in the reading, and also we should pray for people’s healing, even in a miraculous way, and for the coming of the Holy Spirit with his power and with his gifts to do wonderful things. After all, the God we worship is a living God, and nothing is impossible with him. Even in the Lord’s Supper, we come there to present ourselves with all our sin, but also to receive from him the wonderful medicine of body and soul.
However, if we are miraculously healed or not is completely up to the will of our heavenly Father, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus also teaches us about bearing the cross, and sometimes, it is good for our souls to live with some physical trouble. We should always commend our weak bodies to Jesus, that he may use us in his service. As long as we have troubles in this life, we should use these troubles to be an impetus for us to pray and commend ourselves to Jesus. And so, we say, “If it is your will, that I should be healed of my disease, or my disability, or my problem or trouble, then let your good and gracious will be done, to your glory. But if it would glorify your name that I should still live longer with it, then I pray that you would glorify your name in such a way that I can bear the cross to your glory.”
Often our troubles can arouse and make us sin, and be angry with God. But we shouldn’t do this. It is sin to be angry with God – we pray and we don’t get what we want, so we go and sulk like Jonah sitting under his fig tree, saying, “Yes, I’m angry, angry enough to die.” No, let the troubles we have in this life push us in all of our desperation into the presence and the arms of Jesus, even it means calling upon our friends to tear apart the roof for us. Jesus says: Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.
In our reading, we see that it says: And behold, the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
There are some grumblers who are present on this occasion. Once again, we see that these words, “Your sins are forgiven”, do not just strike some people as a bit strange, but even wrong, sinful, blasphemous, sacrilegious. After all, they think, only God can forgive sins!
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 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.” And he rose and went home.
Now, here we see a number of things which reveal to us the true divinity of Jesus, the fact that he is truly God.
First of all, he knows their thoughts. He knows that they are thinking evil in their hearts. Just as Jesus saw the faith at the beginning of the passage, he also sees the evil. His eyes pierce into our hearts with a sharpness and clarity and a precision which belongs to him as true God. This is why when we come to Jesus, in our lives as Christians, in our prayers, in our worship, there is no messing around. He knows our sin much better than we know ourselves, and so we should come to him in repentance, confessing our sins to him.
But also, he demonstrates the fact that he really does have the power to forgive sins. His forgiveness is confirmed by the miracle which is bestowed on the paralytic man. He says: 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. And so, at this event, in this situation, the healing confirms the forgiveness. This is a very powerful thing for us, because when it comes to our forgiveness, it is not just that Jesus simply says it, but he also acts and does something. So, many people often think: Why did Jesus need to die on the cross? Why doesn’t God just forgive people? Well, yes, he forgives people, but he wants us not just to rely on his mind, but to look at his mighty works, and to say: Jesus died for me, he suffered for me, he offered his life in my place, he has shed his blood, he has poured out his life, he is my sacrifice, my offering, my atonement, he is my righteousness, he is my Saviour. The forgiveness of sins is revealed in real, visible, physical demonstrations of God’s power in history. Even Baptism and the Lord’s Supper also have the forgiveness of sins attached to them in the Word of God, because God wants not just to put the forgiveness of sins into your ears, but he wants you to see it come down on your head, he wants you to see it go into your mouth.
But also, in our reading, there is something which we could easily miss. In all of this, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, and demonstrates in this miracle, and through the forgiveness of sins, that he is the Son of Man. He says: That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins… This title, The Son of Man, comes from the book of Daniel, and shows to us the fact that Jesus existed even before he was in his mother’s womb. This is just what John says in his Gospel. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Daniel writes: I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. This is what Jesus is talking about when he calls himself the Son of Man, when he forgives the man’s sin, and sends him home healed of his disability.
So, we read at the end of the reading: When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Yes, even today, this whole event should awaken in us and arouse in us such a great fear and reverence and awe when we are in the presence of Jesus. But also, it should open our lips and hearts to glorify God, and to thank him for the wonderful gift of the forgiveness of sins which he still gives to us on earth. And we look forward to that wonderful time, when we shall see him with our own eyes, completely transfigured and transformed and healed, having received from him, our Good Shepherd, the Son of Man, his grace, his blood, and the forgiveness of all our sins. Glory to God in the highest! Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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