Matthew 9:1-8

Matthew 9:1-8

1 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. 2 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 “But 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, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

There is an authority crisis in the world today.  There are two reasons for this crisis.  First, most people don’t recognize the authority of God or anyone for that matter.  The only authority they are willing to recognize is their own.  Everyone lives as if they have the right to do whatever they want because they mistakenly think they are in charge of their own lives.  Second, those who have been entrusted with positions of authority do not lead with integrity and grace.  Instead they abuse their power and don’t even live according to the standards they require of others.  Jesus was not that type of leader.  As He returns to His home town, we see that Jesus had to deal with an authority crisis as well.

JESUS DISCUSSES HIS AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS: As Jesus came into His hometown of Nazareth, some men bring a paralytic to Him on a bed in hopes that Jesus would heal him.  Jesus responds to their faith and decides to heal the man by telling him that his sins are forgiven.  This brought about accusations of blasphemy from the scribes in their thoughts.  Jesus can also see their thoughts so He confronts them by discussing the fact that He had the authority to forgive sin.  Forgiveness was the entire reason Jesus had come to earth.  He came so that men could have forgiveness of sin, so the scribes questioning His authority to forgive was a denial of the reason Jesus had come to earth in the first place.  He makes it clear that the reason He emphasized forgiveness was so that all who were present would know He had this authority.  The paralytic man had two problems, the inability to walk and His sinful heart.  Between the two problems, sin was the most serious and Jesus graciously met that need.  We tend to be must more concerned with our physical needs than our spiritual ones.  We demonstrate this in the fact that our prayers usually center on our health, jobs and relationships instead of our sinfulness.

JESUS DEMONSTRATES HIS ABILITY TO HEAL THE SICK: Jesus also heals the paralytic man and tells him to take his bed and go home.  He found spiritual reconciliation with God through forgiveness and He found physical restoration from God through this healing.  Just because our spiritual needs are more important in light of eternity, does not mean that Jesus does not care for our physical needs.  He cares for us and all of the consequences of sin that inflict our bodies.  As the man walked away, the people were amazed and gave glory to God because He had given the authority to heal to a man.  They did not realize that Jesus was not just a man but was also God.  These people had grown up with Jesus to it was very difficult for them to imagine that Jesus could me the Messiah.  He had given all the evidence and told them plainly who He was but they were still very slow to recognize this truth.

APPLICATION: Recognize the authority Jesus has over our lives and obey Him.  Remember our spiritual needs are greater than our physical ones and strive to reflect that truth in our prayers.  Rest in the fact that Jesus is able to take care of all our needs, both spiritual and physical.