Bible Text: Matthew 9:1-8 | Preacher: Pastor Andrew Richard | Series: Trinity 19 | Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world. The Gospel writer Matthew has been showing this in the events before today’s Gospel reading. There was a centurion whose servant was paralyzed, and he asked Jesus to do something. Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus marveled at the man’s faith, and said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. The Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world.
Jesus got into a boat with the disciples to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. When they were on the sea, there was a great storm, and the disciples cried out, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” So Jesus arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The disciples marveled, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” They marveled because they saw that the Word of Jesus was more powerful than the forces of nature. The Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world.
When Jesus reached the other side of the sea, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs. They were so fierce that no one was strong enough to pass that way. But they fell before Jesus and the demons begged him not to torture them. They begged him to send them into a herd of pigs. Jesus said one word – “Go” – and all the power of Satan was scattered. One little word can fell him, because the Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world.
Jesus got back in the boat and returned to the city of Capernaum, where he lived as an adult. Now all these instances of the power of Jesus’ Word culminate in what happens next. “And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed.” Mark and Luke include some more details. For instance, it says in Mark 2, “many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.” In Luke 5 it says of the men bringing the paralytic, “they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.” This is what happened. But Matthew does not include these details. He is eager to get to the Absolution, the Word that Jesus speaks to forgive sins.
It seems the paralytic was eager for the Absolution as well. We assume that he came to be healed of his paralysis, and that was likely part of it. But Jesus doesn’t say, “Take heart” unnecessarily. Jesus said, “Take heart” because the paralytic had a conscience that was troubled by sin. The paralytic was in despair and terrified because of his transgressions. Note well that this account is not primarily about Jesus healing a paralyzed man. This account is about Jesus’ authority to pronounce the Absolution.
So it says, “when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’” Faith looks to and clings to the Word of Jesus, and Jesus speaks that Word which the paralytic longed to hear: “Take heart, have confidence, be terrified no more, but be of good cheer: Your sins are forgiven.”
The Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world. Indeed, the world was created through that Word. The Word of Jesus can command the wind and sea. The Word of Jesus can send the devil running and call dead men out of their tombs. The Word of Jesus can do whatever he says. Therefore, what could be more powerful or precious than the Word of Jesus that forgives sins? Heap up every sin that has ever been committed on the face of the earth – the most outrageous and sickening deeds, the greatest crimes against humanity, the worst acts of idolatry and blasphemy – multiply them a thousand and ten thousand times over, and with a single Word Jesus can make them all disappear. As when a child plucks a dandelion that has gone to seed – it’s easy enough to do – and with a single breath or sneeze, or even a laugh, scatters the fluff to the four winds and lays the stem bare, so Jesus by his Word of Absolution sends all your sins flying far from you, no matter how weighty or grievous those sins may be – it’s light work for him. Praise be to Christ for the Absolution: our hope when we’ve sinned, and comfort for our troubled consciences.
The devil hates the Absolution. He doesn’t want you to receive the forgiveness of sins. He knows all too well the power of Jesus’ Word – how often that Word has sent him running for dear life and given him a licking! He can’t resist the Word or overpower it. But the benefit of the Absolution is received by faith. The devil can’t prevent Jesus from speaking his almighty Word, but he can keep you from receiving it if he can make you doubt the Word or ignore it.
The devil wasn’t content to let the paralytic hold onto the Absolution, but immediately tried to take it away: “And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’” Or in other words, they claim that what Jesus has just said is false: it’s not true, he is not God, and his Word can do nothing. The devil tries to convince you of the same thing: the Absolution is just words, empty breath, sound waves striking your eardrums and nothing more. If you believe that, then you still have the weight of your sins, a troubled conscience, and a sickbed. You can’t get up and do anything about your sins. When it comes to dealing with sin you are the paralytic. Your ears work, and that’s about it. So, dear saints, don’t listen to the devil’s words. His words are the empty ones. His words are impotent. But the Word of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the world.
That’s hard to believe. Well actually, it’s not. We’ve heard what Jesus can do with his Word. It’s not a stretch to think that in addition to healing the sick, calming seas, and casting out demons with a word, Jesus can also forgive sins with a word. Our problem is an inborn and perverse unbelief when it comes to Jesus’ Word. You don’t doubt because it makes sense to doubt. You doubt because your sinful nature is really good at doing so. But Jesus does not give the paralytic nor us over to doubt, but condescends to our weakness and once more proves the power of his Word.
“But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise and walk”?’” You see what he’s doing? He can’t show the forgiveness of sins because we can’t see that. But we can see a paralytic miraculously stand up. If someone has the power to raise a paralytic with a word, then he also has the power to forgive sins with his Word. Which is easier to do? For us they’re both impossible, so if Jesus can show one, then he has effectively demonstrated and proven the other.
So he says, “‘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.’ And he rose and went home.” Do you know what this means? It means that Jesus has authority on earth to forgive sins. It means that when you hear the Absolution, those words do what they say: “I forgive you all your sins,” and your sins are forgiven.
Matthew reminds us of something very comforting when the crowds glorify God for this miracle. He writes, “they glorified God, who has given such authority to men.” Jesus has not kept the authority to forgive sins to himself. It says in John 20, “The Lord Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” What do we believe according to these words? We believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by his divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us himself.
And this Absolution is not limited to pastors. Within your families and among one another as a congregation, when you sin against someone and that person says, “I forgive you,” this is Christ’s Absolution, and your sins are forgiven not only among men, but also before God in heaven.