Matthew 9:1-8

He had a dream

Are we watching the wrong scoreboard?

We are in Matthew 9 this evening. To remind you where we are, last week we saw Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee with the disciples. When they got out of the boat they were met by two demon possessed men. When Jesus cast the demons from the men the people in the community asked him to leave. So Jesus got back into the boat with his disciples and crossed back over the sea to his own town which is Capernaum. You’ll remember he moved there after his neighbors in Nazareth tried to throw him off a cliff. That brings us to chapter 9 where Jesus meets a man lying on a mat.

Matthew 9:1-8 VIDEO

If you could ask Jesus for anything what would you ask? God is not like a genie granting you your every wish, but if God gave you one wish, if he promised to do this one thing that you ask, what would it be? What would you want? I want you to seriously think about it. You don’t have to answer out loud, but I want you to come up with an answer. If God would give you this one thing what would it be?

In case you think that is a far out proposal, that’s exactly what God did for Solomon not long after he’d become king.

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” (1 Kings 3:5)

Some of you might have a hard time answering that question. You might be like a kid with a dollar in the candy store. The kid can buy anything he wants, but can’t make up his mind because he wants to make sure he doesn’t make a mistake. Too many options can sometimes be paralyzing. It’s hard to make a decision with so many choices and we want to make the right choice.

However, I’m sure there are some who don’t even have to think about it. They instantly know what they would want. Their lives have been dominated for so long with a desire for this one thing that it is easy to make a decision.

So what is your decision? What if, like God said Solomon, he said he would give you whatever you want, what would you want?

The man we meet in our story would probably fall into the second category. He knew exactly what he wanted. That’s why he’s come to Jesus. He has a need that has been an irritant for some time. We’re not told how long he’d been paralyzed or how he came to be paralyzed, but there was nothing any of the doctors could do to help him. This condition consumes his every thought. There’s nothing he can do without being reminded of his condition. And without the help of Jesus he would spend the rest of his remaining days on a mat.

What Matthew doesn’t tell us but Mark and Luke tells us is that the man is brought to Jesus by his friends. These men take time from their work to carry their friend to Jesus. The other gospels also tell us about how when they were unable to get the man to Jesus because Jesus was in a house teaching, that the men lifted their friend onto the roof, took apart the roof to make a hole, and then lowered the man down into the room in front of Jesus. It’s a picture of true friendship.

This man and his friends had heard about the miracles Jesus had performed and so they came genuinely believing that Jesus would be able to help. This was their one request. The man wanted to walk again.

Matthew skips all these details. Instead, he immediately turns our attention to what Jesus does next because what Jesus says is nothing short of blasphemous. Jesus takes one look at the man and declares that his sins have been forgiven. In the miracles Matthew has recorded so far we’ve seen Jesus heal a leper and the centurion’s servant. He’s calmed the storm and cast out demons. But what Matthew now wants is to see is that Jesus also has authority to forgive sins. If Jesus is going to be a Savior he must be able to forgive our sins. Remember, that’s what the angel had told Joseph.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

Jesus could obviously see what the man’s problem was. Jesus knew the man was paralyzed. Jesus knew about the problems people face because he knows we live in a fallen world plagued by sickness and disease. He understood the man’s physical problem. But Jesus wanted to show that he came to deal not just with physical wholeness but with the root cause, the root problem from which all other problems come. This biggest need, when dealt with, helps take care of all the other needs. Jesus came to deal with our sin and bring us back into a relationship with God. Jesus alone has the authority to do that.

So Jesus turns to the man and says, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Not everyone is going to appreciate that comment. First of all, the paralyzed man and his friends don’t really appreciate it. Some have compared Jesus forgiving the man’s sins to going out to eat, ordering a steak and receiving a plate with some garnish on the side. It looks nice, but what are you supposed to do with it. The man had come to Jesus to be healed of his paralysis. If the man had wanted his sins forgiven they’d have taken him to a priest at the temple where he could have offered a sacrifice.

Jesus’ comment was a surprise to the man and his friends as it may be for us. But if it is a surprise it tells us that we may have a few in our perspective of things. We have a tendency to focus on earthly needs and problems while overlooking the bigger picture of God’s kingdom and our even deeper spiritual need to be forgiven of our sins that we might be reconciled to God.

That’s because we tend to look at the wrong scoreboard. If you think that not a problem for you, think back to how you answered my question earlier – if God said he would grant one request what would it be. I think I’d be safe to say the vast majority of our answers deal with the physical realm more than they do with the spiritual realm. That not only overestimates what the world can give us, it underestimates the problem of sin.

No one likes to talk about sin and no one wants to be called a sinner. However, it’s no more unloving than a doctor being honest about a diagnosis. If sin is a real problem and we ignore it, it is to our peril. Sin, in its most basic sense is disobedience and rebellion against God. It’s like telling God, “Thanks for making me, but I think I know better about how my life should be lived. I’ll just run things on my own.” The result of our rebellion against our rightful king is separation from him. Our relationship with God is broken and we are deserving of his punishment. If we think little of sin it’s because we think little of God and his holiness. Our earthly perspective prevents us from seeing God for who he really is and sin for what it really is. As a result, we focus on our earthly needs.

Sometimes God gives us not what we want, but what we truly need. What really need is the forgiveness of sins. So Jesus doesn’t just settle for the fruit of the problem, he goes to the root of the problem – sin.

When we pray for others, when we pray for our children, do we only pray for safety, health, and stuff? Do we limit our prayers to earthly things? Do we only focus on those things or do we ask God to change hearts? Do we go deeper? Do we ask that our children and friends would know God and his love for them? Do we ask that they would know his forgiveness and salvation? Are asking God to make them more like Jesus so that their hearts will look more like Jesus? Then they will be free from sin and guilt. Jesus was concerned with the deeper problems and so should we.

Before we see the response of the paralytic or his friends Matthew turns our attention to the second group present that day and they didn’t appreciate Jesus’ pronouncement either. This group is made up of some teachers of the law. They immediately accuse Jesus of blasphemy because only God is able to forgive sins. Remember what we talked about Sunday night. Only the one that’s been sinned against has the right to set the terms for atonement and this forgiveness. Since our all sins are ultimately against God only he has the right to offer forgiveness. For Jesus to offer the man forgiveness was to equate himself with God.

If Jesus were a mere man the teachers of the law would be right, but Jesus isn’t a mere man. Jesus is Immanuel – God in the flesh.

The paralytic and his friends focus only on earthly problems, the teachers of the law focused on the earthly solutions to the spiritual problems. They admitted there was a problem with sin, what they disagreed with was Jesus saying he had authority to deal with it. They thus rejected heaven’s answer to the problem of sin and trusted in their own.

What they didn’t understand is that Jesus is truly God and is therefore authorized to forgive sin.

How does Jesus respond? First, he lets everyone else know what they were saying among themselves.

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Second, he challenges their logic. He asks,

Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? (Matthew 9:5)

Of course it’s easier to say someone’s sins are forgiven because you can’t prove it’s been done, but everyone will be able to see if the man can now walk. But what Jesus is saying is that he’s already done the really more difficult thing because he’s done more than just say the man’s sins were forgiven, he’s actually forgiven them as only God can do. But Jesus goes along with them and says,

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Matthew 9:6a)

Notice how Jesus refers to himself. We see him calling himself the Son of Man again. I made mention a few weeks ago that this is a reference to a prophecy in the Old Testament book of Daniel about one who would come, suffer, and triumph on behalf of God’s people. He therefore has authority right alongside of God. Jesus, who had no sin, took our sin upon himself at the cross. Jesus alone has the power and authority to deal with our deepest need and he proves it by healing the paralytic.

So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” (Matthew 9:6b)

What’s funny is Matthew’s description of what happened next.

Then the man got up and went home. (Matthew 9:7)

Really? That’s all he could say about it? But I guess what more needed to be said? The man didn’t need to stick around. I’m sure he was excited to go share with his family what had happened. So he left.

Before we get the response of these teachers of the law Matthew turns our attention to yet another group present that day – the crowd.

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. (Matthew 9:8)

When the crowds saw the paralyzed man actually pick up his mat and walk away unaided they were amazed. They marvel at what Jesus has done, but it doesn’t appear they have linked that amazement to faith in Jesus which is what God is asking for.

God isn’t asking for our amazement. Nor is he asking for us to try harder. Do you remember what I said Sunday night were often the ways people try to deal with their sin? First, there are some who believe if they just feel bad enough for long enough that should deal with their sin. Then second, there are those who believe if they just straighten up and do better the next time that will take care of their sin. God says neither solution is enough because neither solution deals with the result of the sin – the broken window and the mess it caused. We cannot fix our lives by ourselves.

God is not asking us to trying harder and fix our lives by ourselves. He’s not asking us to clean up our lives before coming to him. God is only asking for our trust. We must therefore say no to all our other would-be saviors. We must say no to:

Our own works

Religious activity

Community service

Our Bible knowledge

Whatever we are hoping with solve our sin problem

We are to say no to whatever we are placing before Jesus and all our trust in him. When we trust him and realize what it means to be forgiven for our sins – to have the debt we owe canceled – we too will be amazed. We will be amazed at what God has done. We will be amazed at what God is doing. And we will be amazed at what has promised to do. It is amazing that Jesus would take my sins and make me a part of his family.

It’s not that we don’t all have very real problems and it’s not that God doesn’t care about them. It’s just that God knows our deepest problem, the root problem, is our sin. God has taken away our sin when Jesus died on the cross and one day Jesus will return and he will then take care of all our other problems.

Think again about how you would have answered that question. What would you ask from God? What would you think if you were to bring your problem before God and he was to say, “Take heart my child, your sins are forgiven,” would that be enough? Would you be able to accept that? Is it enough for you to know that through faith in Jesus your biggest problem has been decisively dealt with? If not, I’m not sure you understand what Jesus really came to do. There is something worse than poverty and death and there’s something better than wealth and health. There’s God.