A. An unsought blessing

2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

Don’t you imagine that Jesus made everybody mad with that statement? We know the scribes were mad, but think about the man and his friends. His friends have worked hard to get him here, they tore a hole in the roof, a hole they will have to repair. They have done all this work for him to be healed, not forgiven. And the man, do you think he came wanting to be forgiven? I can hear him say, “who said anything about forgiveness, I’m not worse than anybody else, why do you have to bring that into it?” I came here to be healed.

And I can hear Jesus reply, “I know what you wanted, but I will give you what you needed.”

Life with Christ is filled with plenty of those moments. We ask for what we want, and he gives us what we need.

Jesus is known to make these kinds of switches on his people. We come to him with a broken heart and want him to give us our girlfriend back, and he gives us peace with our singleness. We want him to give us a good grade on a test, and he gives us humility and the freedom from performance idols – by giving us a c. We come angry because someone has rejected us, and he gives us a new perspective on ourselves that makes us wonder why they were ever with us in the first place. He replaces power with humility, strength with gentleness, and fear with joy.

I don’t know the specifics of what he will switch out on you, but I guarantee he will include this one. He will give you forgiveness. And he will make you see that forgiveness is exactly what you need.

B. What gives him the right?

The paralytic and his friends weren’t the only ones angry:

3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home.

We are tempted to vilify the scribes, but they ask a great question. Who are you, a stranger, to forgive this man’s sins?

If Tom hits Dick in the nose, then Dick can forgive him. But it makes no sense for Tom to hit Dick and then have Harry jump in and say, it’s okay, I forgive you.

Jesus says I have authority to forgive sins, because I have authority over everything. He healed the man by speaking something into existence, only God does that. Because he is God, all sins are ultimately against him.

All sins are transgressions of his laws.

All sins hurt his children.

If you sin and hurt someone’s baby. That child might or might not forgive you, but you had better worry about mama. Momma Grizzly out there doesn’t want her cub hurt. God feels the same way about his children.

What does Jesus say as he pronounces forgiveness? Take heart my son. Because I am God you are my son. Because I am God, I can forgive sins. Because I am God, I can speak strength back into your legs. Because I am God, follow me.

Jesus call is powerful because he is the Lord, and it is personal because the Lord has come to us.