Thursday, 5 June, 2014

Thursday, 5 June, 2014

Matthew 9:1-8

There must have been quite a hubbub when (as Mark and Luke report) a paralyzed man was lowered through the roof right to Jesus in the crowded house where he was teaching – a house too crowded to squeeze a man through on a stretcher.  Matthew doesn’t report this but goes right to the essence of the encounter.  Seeing the faith of the people who brought the paralyzed man, Jesus speaks to him, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”  With this one sentence, Jesus throws off the expectations of everyone there.

First, the big crowds were there because, early in his ministry, Jesus was attracting fame for the miracles of healing he was doing, and the crowds were hoping to see such miracles and perhaps be healed themselves.  This time, instead of mentioning the great faith of the person being healed, the account says that the people who brought him had faith.  Perhaps we are to infer that the paralyzed man himself may not have had very much faith, if any.  We can’t even be sure he wanted to be there, a spectacle in front of the big crowd, since, being paralyzed, he couldn’t control where his friends might take him.

It would be no surprise if someone in that man’s position were totally disillusioned, hopeless, and resentful against everyone, especially against God for abandoning him to his paralysis.  In his culture, it was commonplace to think that physical disabilities were the consequences of sin, so he may even have thought of himself as somehow guilty and already condemned, rejected by people and by God.  What a shock it must have been when Jesus addressed him endearingly as “Son”, telling him to take heart because his sins were forgiven!  Probably, nobody had ever said anything like that to him before.  How his thoughts must now have been in turmoil, even as he still lay there, paralyzed.  Could it really be that this great wonder-worker, Jesus, actually saw him as a worthy person to be loved and honored as “Son”?  Could it be that his sins (in his mind perhaps responsible for his disability) were now actually forgiven?  What a wonder that would be – but how could he know?

As usual, where Jesus went, there were sceptics.  This time, it was scribes, experts in theology and the law, who cared about their own knowledge and authority but not about other people’s troubles.  This time, they concluded to themselves, they had really caught Jesus:  He was blaspheming, since God alone can forgive sins.  Jesus discerned their thoughts and called their attitude what it was: evil.  Jesus used logic against them, pointing out that it’s not convincing just to tell someone their sins are forgiven, since there’s no obvious way to know if that’s true or not.  It’s a lot harder to say “Rise and walk” to a paralytic, since that’s easy to verify.  So that is just what Jesus now told the paralyzed man, who promptly stood up, picked up his cot, and walked out through the amazed crowd.  Indeed, as he demonstrated, Jesus did and still does have the authority on earth to forgive sins.  The crowd understood this, were convinced, and they glorified God.

What about us?  Some of us too are disabled, perhaps physically, perhaps in other ways that distress us, disillusion us, rob us of hope and ability, and leave us feeling abandoned both by people and by God.  Perhaps we sometimes think we are responsible ourselves for our disability, that it is our fault, our sin, that has caused it.  Let us then come to Jesus in prayer, turn to him, and listen to hear him say with grace and love, “Take heart, my child, your sins are forgiven.”  May we, in his presence, experience the forgiveness, healing, and restoration that only he can provide.

And we, who are followers of Jesus, often have friends and neighbors with disabilities and challenges, perhaps physical, often in many other ways.  Let us learn what it is to love and care, like Jesus.  Let us be like the friends of the paralyzed man, working through all the obstacles to bring our disabled friend to Jesus, demonstrating our own faith in Jesus as we do so.  May we, with patience and understanding love, enable our friend to hear the gracious words of Jesus, “Take heart, my child, your sins are forgiven,” words which bring hope, healing, and restoration in the power of Christ.

May we be encouraged in the Lord.

-- Robert Kruse