Seeing their faith - Which is easier?

Matthew 9:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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.

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

¹⁰ Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

One of the most basic tenets of the Christian faith is that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of man, that he died so that we could be forgiven. In today’s text it says:  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.” And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 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.” And he got up and went home.   For Jesus, there was no difference between His ability and His authority to forgive or to heal. The scribes could not deny the evidence of the healing, yet they would not accept that He had authority to forgive. What about us? The text says: Seeing their faith…  What does Jesus see that we have faith for? Do we truly believe that we and others are forgiven? Do we truly believe that Jesus has the same authority to heal as He does to forgive?  Remember, at the beginning of Jesus ministry in Luke 4:14-21, it says:  Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”    Jesus came for that purpose. When He was on the cross, He did say: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34) He also said:  “It is finished!” (John 19:30)   Finally, after the resurrection, He said:  “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18)  The finished work of the cross accomplished all that Jesus came to do. Jesus didn’t receive the authority through the cross. He already had all authority. Through the finished work of the cross, we receive all that Jesus did, if we have faith to believe. Do we fail at times to see the miraculous healing power of the cross, because we neglect, or doubt its power to forgive? Is it too hard for us to believe?

In today’s text it also says:  Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Many today have mischaracterized what Jesus says here. They have come to believe and teach that Jesus preferred the company of sinners over those who were righteous. They have drawn the conclusion that if Jesus were here today, He would avoid the church and hang out with sinners. They miss the truth. Throughout the gospel accounts we are told that Jesus taught at the synagogues and the temple. He didn’t avoid the church. What is important about Jesus association with sinners in His day, just as with sinners today, is that He came to call them. Jesus came to call them not His friends or companions, but as it says in Luke 5:32, Jesus says:   "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." From the beginning of His ministry Jesus said:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Jesus associated with sinners so that they would see the light.

Jesus said:  “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  This is what was fulfilled:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”     The gospel is the good news. Jesus came to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord; that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He came to set free all who are captive to both sickness and sin. Neither sickness nor sin is too hard for Him. All that He came for was finished in the cross. When Jesus saw those who brought the paralytic, He saw their faith. What faith will Jesus see in us?  Today’s text ends with Jesus saying:  “No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”   To receive the fullness of what Jesus has done for us, we need to repent. To repent means more than to change only what we do, it means to change the way we think. We need to believe differently if we want to receive differently. We need to believe in the finished work of the cross. To walk fully in the in the favor of the kingdom of heaven we need to have faith in all the authority of Jesus. To have and hold all that Jesus has done we must be new.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit I repent. I want to fully change the way I think so that I might have and hold all the goodness that You have for me. May I never doubt or neglect that You have forgiven sin for all who believe and may I truly understand that for You it is no more difficult to heal than to forgive. Make me new, that I might walk in the fullness of the favor of the kingdom of heaven. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. May this truly be the favorable year of the Lord.    Amen.