New Testament 43

Last updated on: January 19, 2015 at 5:41 pm by Dan Peterson

New Testament 43 2015-01-19T17:41:33-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Jesus heals near Capernaum (James Tissot)
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Matthew 9:1-8

Mark 2:1-12

Luke 5:17-26

Compare John 5:1-9

The Pharisees and teachers of the law are offended, scandalized, when Jesus tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. “Who, apart from God,” they say, “can forgive sins?”

An excellent question. Well worth pondering. Indeed, that, I suspect, is the point.

But Jesus then asks them which is easier — to tell a man to be healed or to tell him that his sins are forgiven.

The implied premise, of course, is that declaring somebody’s sins forgiven is easy because it’s impossible for anybody among us mortals to test whether God has actually forgiven the person’s sins or not. There is no litmus test or chemical analysis or meter reading that will confirm forgiveness. Talk is cheap, and such a declaration might be mere empty words.

By contrast, the efficacy of a command to “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk” is easily tested. Empirical verification or disconfirmation will be quite unambiguous. Either the paralytic gets up, rolls up his bedding, and walks away, or he doesn’t.

If he does, though, that remarkable fact will confirm that Jesus has power to heal — and will very strongly imply that his other statement, about the forgiveness of sins, is also likely to be valid.

Which will suggest that Jesus is, in fact and amazing as it may sound, God.

As John says, the miracles of Jesus are signs, pointing beyond themselves to something even more important.

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