Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? Mathew 9:5 NABRE
Jesus arrives in His home town and a paralytic man is brought to Him on a stretcher for healing. Jesus has been curing many but in this case He uses the healing opportunity to look deeper at the man and the state of the community. Jesus wants to cure sin. In the scriptures sickness is sometimes a punishment for sin but not always. Many righteous people suffer from sickness as well. Yet, in this event Jesus sees a paralyzed man with more than a health issue, somehow Jesus recognizes an internal spiritual issue that Jesus seeks to heal. So He tells the man his sins are forgiven. This causes the local religious leadership to take umbrage with Jesus in their thinking. Knowing their thoughts Jesus responds by asking them a question; is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk. Jesus has already forgiven his sins and now tells the man to rise and walk, the healed man gets up, takes his mat and goes home. It is an interesting passage because Jesus puts priority on forgiving sin over physical healing. For Jesus physical maladies are temporary in the sense that they are worldly issues. In the Kingdom of God all are healed. But to get into the Kingdom of God the sinner must be healed of their sin. Jesus sees this as the most important priority. He forgives this man and makes forgiveness an example for all to repeat.
We must forgive, and we must seek forgiveness. For me this is why the death penalty is societies most cruel form of punishment. Ending the life of a person prematurely, particularly one who is accused of a sin, may condemn them to eternal damnation. We must let people live their full life so they have the opportunity to repent and seek forgiveness.
Do you forgive? Do you know your sins and seek forgiveness?
We must forgive, and we must seek forgiveness. We must let people live their full life so they have the opportunity to repent and seek forgiveness. Click To Tweet#bible’#godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #forgive #sin #Matthew #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways