Monsterlizard - Born Again

1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” 
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” 
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew 9:1-8)

I remember this story from RE (Religious Education) when I was growing up.  I remember hearing about this man’s friends lowering him from a hole in the roof.  This had to have been a rather difficult task.  First, they had to get him to the roof.  Then, I assume there wasn’t a crane or pulley system already in place, so I picture in my mind several men holding a rope on the roof and lowering the weight of a fully grown man to the ground.  They were so sure in their faith of Jesus and his ability to heal, they were willing to endure that hardship to see that the man met Jesus. 

However, Jesus does not simply heal the man and move on.  He says, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven”.  In Jesus’ eyes, the problem of sin trumped that of any physical ailments.  It isn’t until this that teachers of the law call Jesus out (without realizing that he hears them).  Then, in order to prove to men his authority, he physically heals the man.  This is because we cannot as men see the forgiveness of sin.

I think this passage is less about Jesus healing a paralyzed man, and more about leading people to Jesus so that their sins can be forgiven.  We as Christians are always trying to get people to Jesus, even through great difficulty that can be paralleled to the men lowering someone from a rooftop.  However, we have to remember that in doing so we shouldn’t be so focused on the fact that they have earthly problems that we know Jesus can heal.  We should be focused on the fact that Jesus will forgive their sins, which is a much greater concern than those short term problems people have on Earth.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Footprints, Matthew, New Testament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.