The Forgiveness of God—Matthew 9:2-8

In Matthew 8:18-22, we saw that followers of Jesus lose comforts and connections. But in 8:23-27, we saw that his followers gain true safety, and in 8:28-9:1, we saw that they gain real forgiveness. Now we see another thing that followers of Jesus gain: the forgiveness of God.

Imagine that you have a weight on your back, so heavy that you can never stand up straight. In fact, you can't even sit or kneel or crouch. You can only lie face down and crawl, inch by inch, across the ground. But you have had this weight on your back for so long, you don't even know that it's there. You don't know what it's like to be free of it.

Guilt is like that weight. When you're guilty before God, it affects -- and ruins -- everything in your life. But many people don't really think about their guilt. They don't know it's there, because they've never lived without it.

Follow Jesus, and your guilt will be taken away.

I want to offer three main takeaways from this passage. First, Jesus forgives those who put their faith in him. Second, Jesus has the authority to forgive for God. And third, the forgiveness Jesus grants by his word, he secured with his blood.

First, Jesus forgives those who put their faith in him. Matthew tells us about these men who bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. This was no easy task. They didn't have an ambulance. They didn't have a car. Think of the nearest hospital, and imagine carrying your friend there on foot, on a stretcher. You wouldn't do this unless you believed that the people at the hospital could do your friend some good. And your friend on the stretcher probably wouldn't submit to it unless he believed it too. Now imagine that instead of taking him to the hospital, you're taking him to a man who has no medical degree, no medicine, no surgical tools. But you're taking your friend to this man, because you believe that he is the one who can really help.

Jesus sees this, and he says that these men have faith -- not faith in themselves, not some vague sort of general faith that things will turn out OK, but faith in Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven."

And if you put your faith in Jesus, your sins will be forgiven too. That terrible weight of guilt will be taken off your shoulders, and you will be able to stand up in the presence of God.

The second takeaway is that Jesus has the authority to forgive for God. That's what the scribes get all hot under the collar about. They notice something fishy about this forgiveness that Jesus hands out here. Sure, the paralytic is a sinner like the rest of us, but he hasn't done anything to Jesus. Jesus isn't forgiving him for one or another personal wrong. He's just forgiving him -- for everything he has done. And no one has the right to do this except for God. The scribes are right about this.

So they conclude that Jesus is blaspheming. This Jesus guy. Not only is he terrifyingly powerful, as we saw when he calmed the storm, and a huge financial liability, as we saw when he cast the demons into the pigs, but on top of it all he's completely irreverent. Unless he actually has the authority to grant the forgiveness of God.

And that's what Jesus goes on to prove. He asks a question: "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to saw, 'Rise and walk.'" Now, the scribes don't answer him, maybe because he doesn't give them a chance, or maybe because they are a little puzzled by the question, like I am every time I read it. Good question: which is easier? Well, it's just about as easy to say the one thing as to say the other. It isn't hard at all. As for doing the things -- forgiving sins or speaking a paralytic into a healthy man -- they're both impossible, except for God. So I'm not sure how to answer the question -- except to say this, that if a man can make a paralyzed man walk just by telling him to rise, who am I to say what he cannot do?

And so Jesus turns to the paralytic, and he says, "Rise, pick up your bed and go home." And the man does it. Double bonus for this guy. He's forgiven, and he can walk again.

Matthew doesn't tell us what the scribes thought about all this. But the crowds know that Jesus has proved his point: "and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men."

Matthew, by the way, has already told us more than these crowds know -- that Jesus is the Son of God. But's still filling out the picture of what exactly that implies. So here's another piece of the puzzle: Jesus has the authority to forgive for God.

There's a third thing I want to mention. Ask this question: how can God forgive this paralytic? Will God sweep his sin under the rug? You don't know what this man has done. He may have murdered someone. He may have raped someone. Will God just leave his sin unpunished? Jesus doesn't even scold the man.

No, Jesus does something else to deal with this man's sin, and with ours too. The forgiveness Jesus grants with his word, he secured with his blood. Jesus died on the cross in the place of everyone who puts their faith in him. Guilt is real, and Jesus took it on himself. The paralytic and the scribes and the crowds and Jesus all knew that God's word said that there has to be sacrifice to take away sin. But Jesus didn't sin this man to make a sacrifice at the temple. He became the sacrifice himself.

But what if the paralytic just goes on sinning the same old way? Well, if he trusts in Jesus, he won't. And this is because Jesus didn't just die for sinners. He also rose from the dead, victorious over Satan, and he sent his Spirit to live in the hearts of his people. And the Spirit is a sin-killer. Jesus' authority includes forgiveness, but it extends beyond that, to the authority to break the dominion of sin in his people's hearts. That paralytic had his weight of guilt taken away, but he also had the chains of sin broken, so that he could serve the one who forgave him.

Put your faith in Jesus. When you started reading this, you may not have been looking for forgiveness. Maybe you were just looking for a way to pass the time. But in Jesus, forgiveness is what you have found. Be like the paralytic. Walk away forgiven by God.

Pastor Nate Jeffries