Matthew 9:1-8
In this passage Jesus heals a paralytic… but it was not quite that simple. When Jesus sees the paralytic, and the faith of his friends to bring this man to Him, He begins by saying, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
The Scribes reacted immediately, murmuring that this was blaspheme because no one can forgive sins but God. Jesus knew their thoughts and He asked them, “why are you thinking this evil in your hearts? What is easier to say, ‘ Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk?'”
Very interesting passage. To answer the question, it is much easier to say, “your sins are forgiven.” There is no way for anyone to prove that Jesus is wrong: how would you take an “invisible truth claim” and prove it wrong? The Scribes are assuming that God alone can forgive sins, and since they were convinced that Jesus was not God, they concluded He was blaspheming (if you are unfamiliar with the word “blaspheme,” it means to speak of something in an irreverent or impious manner). In this case, Jesus was claiming that He had the right and authority to forgive sins – which left the Scribes convinced that He was making an arrogant, self-promoting claim that would lead to punishment or even death.
But then, Jesus makes an amazing statement in verse 6:
“But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
Jesus tells the paralytic to rise up and go home. He did a physical miracle in order to prove that His claim to forgive sins (the invisible truth claim) was valid. In healing the paralytic, He validated the (invisible truth) claim that He had the right to forgive sins.
What is the lesson? Many of us claim to know Christ as our personal Savior. It is an easy thing to say because how do we validate such a claim? How would someone prove it incorrect? I believe what Jesus did in Matthew 9 is the answer: physical action that people can see and observe (or test, if you wish) gives tangible evidence to those realities that they cannot test or see. In this case, healing the paralytic was the physical action or evidence that validated His claim to be able to forgive sins. Of course, the greater issue was that the Scribes were confronted with the reality that Jesus was God and they were unwilling to entertain that truth claim no matter what physical evidence (healing the paralytic) seemed to indicate.
1] God does not need to prove to us that He exists. God is an invisible Spirit that we cannot touch or see, as we would other things. However, one of the best evidences, that there is this invisible God, is the observable life change in those who claim to know Him.
2] The best evidence of our claim that we have received the gospel into our own life, and that God is “real,” is the actual behaviors and habits that manifest the invisible presence and power of God in our lives. This is precisely why the Scriptures place such a strong emphasis on “works”. Our change-of-life, our works, become the best evidence that we have received / believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Anyone can make that claim but the real evidence is in our life-change, our actions.
James 2:18-20 says that same thing:
“But someone may well say, ‘You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”
Our faith must rise higher than the demons or it is not a valid faith in Christ.
Salvation is never acquired by our works, but true faith in Christ is evident by our works (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Pastor Brad Little
