The Son of Man Sees Our Need
Matthew 9:1–8
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.”
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? 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. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (ESV)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, grant us faith to trust in the Son of Man’s power to forgive. He sees our need; may we see our Savior. We come to you burdened by our sin and bow in faith at Your feet. Speak to us Your word of absolution; say to our souls, “Your sins be forgiven You”; that with good courage we may rise up and go forth to serve You, now and all our days, to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
The only person who speaks in our lesson is Jesus. Nobody else says a word. Yet, Jesus has an interactive dialogue with everyone involved—the paralytic, his friends, and the scribes. How is this possible? Jesus is true man and true God. He is the eternally begotten Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By Whom all things were made and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus is true God who knows all things and he knows everything about us.
It is an amazing thing to think that someone knows everything about you—every step you’ve taken, every meal you’ve eaten, every conversation you’ve had, every trial you’ve been through, and even every single thought you’ve had. He even knows the number of the hairs on your head. Now the question is—does that bring you comfort or fear? How we answer that depends on really one thing. Who is the person who knows all your thoughts?
If God did not reveal himself to us in the Bible, we would wonder and have to guess what type of God we have—we would not know the one who is privy to all our thoughts, words, and actions. Yet, even with the word of God, our faith is under constant attack. The father of lies tries everything he can to discourage us from trusting in God’s word. He tries to falsify it, replace it with bogus promises, distract us from it, or lead us to think that we know better than what God says to us in his word. That’s why this account of Jesus forgiving the sins and healing the paralytic is a truly wonderful lesson for us to consider. It teaches us who our Savior is and shows us the proper response to our all-knowing Lord.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum, Luke tells us that “they were all waiting for him.” When the people saw Jesus and his disciples return safely, they received him gladly. In such great numbers they gathered to see Jesus, that in the home where Jesus was there wasn’t even room to get in through the front door (Mark 2:2). In the Gospel of Mark, we learn of the extreme measures the friends of the paralytic had to take so that they could bring their friend to Jesus. Since the front door was blocked, they climbed to the top of the house and uncovered the roof where Jesus was speaking. They didn’t have shingles like we do today, but a simple covering that protected the opening in the flat roof during the rainy season. They removed this part of the roof, so that they could lower their friend on a bench of some sort through the roof. They were determined to come to Jesus no matter the cost. They so longed to see the Savior that they wouldn’t be discouraged despite their obstacles.
When Jesus saw the faith of these four men and the paralyzed man, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” Be of good cheer! Dear child, your sins are forgiven. What wonderful words! Yet, on a purely human level, this seems like a strange greeting and response to a person being lowered in from the ceiling. Perhaps, we would expect some words of surprise and questions like, “What are you doing?” Or knowing Jesus and the other miracles he performed, we might expect him to heal this man of his great trouble before anything else. That’s what we all see as the man’s greatest need. But Jesus knows the heart and knows what the man needs most. Though his bodily suffering had been great, his spiritual affliction must have been greater still.
God knows what we need better than we do. The man was paralyzed. He couldn’t walk. How could this man provide for himself? There weren’t the social programs like we have today. He could marry, I suppose, but how could he ever provide for his family? It’s extremely difficult for those who are paralyzed today, but it would have been even more difficult in the first century. According to all human metrics, this man’s greatest problem was his paralysis. But we don’t hear the paralytic complaining that Jesus forgave his sins. We don’t hear him say, “I just wanted to be healed!”
God knows what you need, but do you? This lesson causes us to think—if this paralyzed man’s greatest need wasn’t physical healing, what does that say about ours? It’s easy for us to think that we know what we need—a better job, a more patient spouse, more respectful children, more understanding parents, more money, more time, more athleticism, more importance, better health, you name it. But none of these things will ever fully satisfy us. Our endless pursuit for more is like drinking salt water. It won’t quench our thirst. In fact, it will only make it worse. It only leads us more quickly to death.
Jesus, the Son of Man, knows exactly what we need. It’s not just physical healing. It’s not just money or time. We need the forgiveness of all our sins. And unlike the things of this world, this is something neither you nor I can attain. We are by nature sinful and dead in our sins. The reason the scribes said that Jesus was blaspheming was because they knew that an ordinary man can’t forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. They were right about this part. However, their conclusion was wrong, because Jesus is God and can forgive.
Jesus forgave the man’s sins. But there was no visible change. He looked the same. Even though the doors of heaven were opened to this man, no one could tell by looking. So, Jesus says, “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.”
Jesus does what no man can do. He heals by simply speaking. He made the lame walk! Why? So that we may know that Jesus is the Son of Man who has the authority on earth to forgive sins.
God knew what we needed. We needed saving from sin. But we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t go to God covered in sin because sin separates us from God. So, God came to us. The Son of God became the Son of Man. Jesus knew everything about us beforehand, but that did not stop him. He knew that his innocent life would end with him being beaten, mocked, and hung on the cross. But he did it willingly and obediently according to the Father’s will. Jesus came down from heaven to earth to remove the sin that kept us out of heaven.
Jesus speaks words of forgiveness. When Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven” that man’s sins were forgiven. How? Jesus has authority as the Son of Man. He has the authority to forgive sins. He healed the man to prove it. He died on the cross and rose from the dead to secure it. He speaks and it is done.
Jesus earned our salvation on the cross and he gives it to us. We call it the Office of the Keys. Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). The pastor forgives sins in Jesus’ name because God called him to do so as his minister. But it is not only the pastor who has this authority. Jesus has given this authority to the Church and the Church is made up of all Christians. All Christians may and should forgive in Jesus’ name. Jesus has given us the authority to forgive sins here on earth.
Everyone needs the forgiveness that Christ alone can give. However, people do everything they can to ignore their sin. People try to deny or hide their sin. Instead of seeking forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit, people remain trapped in their sin. It hurts them. It embitters them. It destroys them. But we need to be forgiven if we are to be able to arise and walk.
That’s why we come to church Sunday after Sunday to hear the words of absolution as we listen to the voice of Jesus forgiving all our sins. We believe Christ’s words. They give life. They heal. They forgive you!
But there can be that thought in the back of your mind that says, if you really knew my sin, my deep and dark sins, you would not say that, Pastor. I know God forgives sins, but I can’t forgive myself for that sin in my past. Or maybe it is a sin that you have continued to struggle against.
At the beginning of this sermon, I mentioned that Christ knows everything about us—our actions, our words, and even our thoughts. And I asked whether that brings you comfort or fear. For many, this is terrifying. It’s terrifying because they know they are guilty. If you try to cover your own sin, this is rightly troubling. But if you come to Christ, there is no reason to fear! Jesus died on the cross fully knowing the very sins we’d commit. He came to save sinners.
Before the paralytic even had time to ask or explain himself, Jesus forgave him of his sins. “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” When you come to Jesus, he does the same for you—you don’t need to explain it or excuse it. Jesus knows why you have come, and he sees what you need—forgiveness!
Many people, even lifelong Lutherans can end up carrying around sin. But covering or ignoring your sins is like carrying around a bag of rotten potatoes. It only feels heavier the longer you carry it and smellier with time. But when you come to Jesus, he unloads you of all your burdens and washes you clean. He removes all the weight and all the embarrassment. He forgives you so that you can rise, renewed and refreshed from all guilt and sin. We come to church week after week to be lifted up. This is what you really need, and Jesus freely gives it. He gives us his word, he gives us his body and blood, to confirm unto us that our sins are forgiven.
Jesus might not perform a miracle of healing like he did with the paralytic, but he gives us the greatest miracle of forgiveness and eternal life to all who come to him. Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven! Amen.