What's Your Problem?

Jesus has the authority and heart to forgive our sin.

Intro me

I know our world is in a mess - many of our own lives are too. I want to ask you this morning- anonymously - what’s the most serious problem you have just now? what category is it in? health? finances? relationships? work? housing? What’s at the top of your mind?

[word cloud]

Can we get a quick sense for where we are as a room - if you’re with us online, join in too. Just in a word or two, what’s the most serious problem in your life just now? At least, what category is it in? If you had someone with a magic wand who could just fix things, what would you have them fix in your own life? Of if you had a magic lamp with a wish granting problem-solving genie inside, what would you have him fixing?

Pull out your phone and let me know so we have a sense for where we are as a room… health? finances? relationships? mental health? work? housing? safety? exams?

...

Now imagine you hear there’s someone powerful enough to fix anything, to fix everything - Mr SuperFixIt or whatever. Imagine you get to them, you share your top problem, you lay it out before them, and they understand you, and they look like they care, and they’re not asking for money upfront or anything… But when they wave their wand, or do whatever it is they do to magic something up, and the fairy dust clears, they haven’t solved that problem at all - they’ve been at work on something completely different..

Like, say - just hypothetically - my top problem was my job - it sucks - it’s dragging me down. And I lay all that out, and I’m like can you do anything? And of course they can - Mr SuperFixIt can fix anything. But when he waves his wand and the magic sparkles clear, my job’s not sorted at all - but I do have a newfound commitment to regular exercise and a good diet!

That’d be pretty annoying, right? Unless - unless they knew better than me what the real issue was...

If you’re not that familiar with the stories of Jesus, today we have a famous one - and it has important truths for us as we wrestle with big problems in our own lives. And if you know the stories of Jesus well already, you might well have a hunch for which story it is - and you might think you can just switch off because - yeah, duh - you get it already.

I hear you - but can I appeal to you to give me a chance? Because there’s some big stuff to think through here. And I doubt many of us have really gotten all the way to the bottom and uncovered everything.

So let’s start with our story from the bible. Matthew chapter 9 - page 973 - and we’re reading the first chunk. Andrea is reading for us today. Matthew chapter 9 - page 973. Last week we saw Jesus win a full-on demonic showdown - and then be rejected by the nearby town-folk. There’s another shock as we pick up the story this week - two actually.

Matthew 9:1–8 NIV

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

Coming in faith

Our writer, Matthew, told us Jesus left the town of Capernaum because of the crowds drawn by his powers - and took that eventful boat trip across the lake that we’ve been walking through. Today we see Jesus come back home, back to Capernaum - and from the other gospels we know he’s mobbed by those same crowds the moment he returns.

Despite the multitudes, a committed and resourceful group of friends come looking for his power, come to him in faith for one who’s paralysed.

If you were with us a few weeks back, perhaps you’ll remember we looked at the story of a Roman centurion back in chapter 8. It didn’t occur to me right away, but that story took place in this same city and featured a paralysed friend as well... Jesus singled out the amazing faith of that centurion: faith that Jesus could heal his paralysed friend with just a word, even from a distance.

If only these friends had shared that amazing faith - or at least just learned from his story - they could have saved themselves all the palaver of getting their friend to Jesus! See, other gospels tell us they dug through someone’s roof to get to him. It doesn’t rain as much in Israel as it does here - but making a man-sized hole in the roof is never going to go down well - that would definitely take some faith!

Anyway, like we saw two weeks ago, Jesus saves and helps even those with little faith - here he’s at it again: Jesus sees their faith, even thought it’s not amazing faith, and he acts in response.

A quick aside: if you’re wondering about Jesus seeing their faith and doing something for that man, commentators from Chrysostom to Calvin have pointed out when Jesus sees the faith of the group - ‘their faith’ - the group could easily include the man too; would he have cooked up the plan if he had no faith at all? At the very least, he has enough faith to let himself be brought rather that roll off the mat half way! So there’s some faith all round.

A shocking response

So Jesus sees their faith, and acts in response. If you’ve been around church for a while, it’s pretty hard to feel the force of it, but here’s where we run into this week’s shock: after everything those friends have done to get the paralytic to Jesus, Jesus doesn’t fix his problem. Instead he declares the man’s sins are forgiven.

First up, it was pretty obvious what the man’s big problem was and what the friends were looking for - even though it doesn’t seem to have been stated. And we know and we’ve seen that Jesus has the power to fix that kind of problem. But just like Mr SuperFixIt, Jesus shockingly does the wrong thing - what good is sins forgiven if the man still can’t walk, Jesus?

But it’s shocking for a second reason, too: Jesus declaring ‘your sins are forgiven’ is Jesus - the new teacher in town - stepping onto God’s turf. It’s something no religious leader of the time would have dared to say - at least not outside of the standard religious provisions for dealing with sin, tied up with animal sacrifices and the Jerusalem temple. “one does not simply ‘forgive people’s sins’, Jesus!”

Jesus’ words must have astounded the original hearers. His ministry is definitely taking a turn into stranger and more divisive things than just teachings, healing and deliverance - and you can see that in the response of the religious experts there with Jesus, these ‘teachers of the law’: “blasphemy!”

Blasphemy!

Why is this blasphemy? Well you can’t just go around telling people that God holds nothing against them - which is what it would mean for sins to be forgiven. In the other gospels telling this same story it’s spelled out for us: Lk 5:21 who can forgive sins but God alone?

Luke 5:21 NIV

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Why can only God forgive sin? Because even as our sin often harms others - or ourselves - at the most fundamental level, we’ve done wrong “against” God, the one in authority. Crossing his line. Transgressing his law.

Like the way you might crash when you run a red light and injure others or yourself - or you might make it through the junction just fine - but it’s illegal either way: you’re breaking the law. There’s a fundamental problem with the one in authority.

Jesus’ words are shocking to these religious experts. Is that because he’s taking the place of God, forgiving sin, but they’re not convinced he has the right? It’s not actually that clear from his initial declaration exactly what’s going on. “Your sins are forgiven” is passive rather than active; Jesus is declaring something is happening to the man, not telling us who’s doing it. Like I could say “you’re being hit” without necessarily being the one punching you - though, of course, depending on how annoying you’re being, it could be me!

But even if Jesus was just daring to declare or imply what God may or may not have done, those religious experts would call this blasphemy. And we shouldn’t necessarily jump on them too quickly for doing that - I mean, is it really ok to tell people that God has nothing against them - without checking in with God on that first? If this was just a genuine concern for God’s glory, his honour, a concern that someone might inappropriately be stepping into his place, surely it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

But Jesus shows us there’s more to it, calling them on their “evil thoughts” and challenging them on their motives - Mt 9:4

Matthew 9:4 NIV

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?

Maybe they started with an appropriate question over whether Jesus really could say things like that - but it seems to have gone further in their minds and now there are evil thoughts floating around, not just a rightly cautious response to a newcomer. Jesus digs in: his ‘why’ challenges them to look inside their hearts: what is their true motive for opposing him? Why are the upset about the new kid on the block.

Awesome authority

Regardless of their objections - almost to rub their noses in it, to avoid any wiggle room or shadow of doubt - Jesus tells those religious leaders he will demonstrate explicitly that he himself has the authority to forgive (not just declare forgiveness on God’s behalf) - and he’ll do that through a clear and visible demonstration of his power - through a verifiable miracle of healing. Mt 9:6

Matthew 9:6 NIV

But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

See, it might seem easy to declare “your sins are forgiven” because who can really tell if that’s really happened or just some words in the air. “Get up and walk” - now that’s pretty verifiable; either the paralytic’s still stuck on his mat, still needing to be carried around by his friends, or he’ll be up and on his feet. Any room for uncertainty is about to be totally removed.

Ever heard the phrase show-don’t-tell? Meaning that it’s more powerful to demonstrate something than just to explain it? Well this is a show-don’t-tell moment from Jesus. Jesus shows them he is able to heal - to heal by his word alone. To restore that man’s broken body in front of everyone, in the middle of the crowd. And he does that to demonstrate his wider authority to also forgive sins.

Now we don’t know how these particular religious leaders responded. Perhaps they are convinced - perhaps they are confused - perhaps nothing will move their evil thoughts and they remain opposed despite the miracle in front of their eyes. But the crowd, at least, gasp and grasp that God has given Jesus such authority - authority to heal, and that means authority to forgive sins too.

Here’s our memory verse we started with played out: Jesus said ‘all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me’ - and this passage is the summit of a series of demonstrations of Jesus’ authority that Matthew’s gospel has in a row for us showing us the different facets of that authority. Authority to cleanse. To heal. To command the wind and waves. To deliver. And finally to forgive.

But along with this recognition of Jesus’ authority, we also hear the watching crowd are “filled with awe” - more literally, they are afraid. Quaking in their boots. Terrified. Why do you think that is? Why would this demonstration of Jesus’ authority spark fear in people?

I think it’s totally logical, really: If all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus - and it has; they’ve just seen it demonstrated right in front of their eyes - if he’s the promised messiah, the king of the coming kingdom, he will be the one welcoming us home into that Kingdom on the last day - or the one sending us away from it. Our (eternal) life depends on his word - his say-so. Without his word we have zero hope. Awe, or fear, is exactly the correct response to one with such authority - with all authority. It’s a fearful, an awesome authority.

sin and sickness

But I want to go back a bit in the story here, and think about that first shock: Jesus doesn’t heal - at least not right away. Jesus doesn’t deal with what seems for all the world to be the obvious primary problem that’s right in front of his nose. Why?

One potential answer would be to see sickness as the physical manifestation of sin - like the part of an iceberg visible above the surface telling us there’s more hidden beneath the waves

It’s true the Bible teaches that sin sometimes does result in sickness as judgement on it - 1 Cor 11:29-30 is one example of that.

1 Corinthians 11:29–30 NIV

For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

And there are plenty of passages in Old Testament, the first half of the bible, which teach the same thing e.g. Lev 26:14ff.

At the same time, the Bible rejects any universal connection between sin and sickness; it’s definitely not the case that everywhere there’s sickness there’s also sin, that it’s always judgement. In John 9:2 Jesus is asked about this explicitly - by disciples assuming it:

John 9:2 NIV

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus’ answer? “neither” - sickness but no sin - there’s no universal connection.

Commentators I’ve read tell me that Jews understood healing to be impossible until any sin was forgiven. Rabbi Chija ben Abba: ‘No sick person is cured from sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.’ Is that what’s going on here? Is healing always be dependent on forgiveness of sin - so Jesus might just be covering all the bases by declaring forgiveness before moving on to a healing? A necessary first step?

Well, if that were the case, if you had to “prepare the way” for healing with forgiveness, it’s very hard to understand how we’ve seen lots and lots of healing up to this point without any mention of forgiveness. I think this all adds up to show us Jesus isn’t diagnosing sin based on the man’s sickness as a symptom and going after the root cause - or forgiving sin in order to prepare him for a physical cure. That doesn’t explain why it’s Jesus’ first port of call.

"the baddest sickness in the world is sin”

So we’re still none the wiser on that first shock, on why Jesus doesn’t heal - at least not heal first. And it is shocking - perhaps it didn’t ought to be, but it is. Did the sick man know of his sin? Perhaps - probably. I mean, he committed it. Did he know it was his most critical problem? Did he feel it as that? Was that what he came to Jesus for? I doubt it!

Put yourself in his place - imagine how his hopes must have risen with Jesus’ first words, “take heart”, - yes! healing is coming! my legs back - my life back! And it’s hard to believe anything other than him feeling his hopes crushed by Jesus’ next words: “your sins are forgiven” what? uh? who said anything about sins, Jesus? What I really need is to be able to walk!

We don’t see his reaction - maybe he was so spiritual he was stoked! - but what would your reaction be? Seriously, imagine you’ve brought your big life problem to Jesus. You got to the front of the queue and it’s your turn. Would you be glad to have your sins forgiven yet your life problem remain? I don’t think so. Could you imagine being in that man’s shoes - led on that man’s mat the moment after - still stuck there?

But Jesus knows what he’s doing. And Jesus has his priorities straight. Show-don’t-tell time again: Jesus dealing with the man’s sins first and legs second shows us which of those Jesus thinks is the bigger problem. First things first! Even if you wouldn’t call yourself his follower here today, if you have any respect for Jesus at all, you have to hear the message he’s delivering here. Sin is the number one problem any of us have - no matter how pressing everything else might seem to us.

Here’s why: Imagine you’ve just been diagnosed with a newfound superbug and the doctor in his white coat apologetically explains to you that there is a 100% fatality rate - no hope whatsoever for any effective treatment. You are going to die. Well that’s sin - except that you aren’t just going to die - you are going to die forever, separated from God.

Christians, this should be the biggest thing in the world for us - life not death; God’s child not God’s enemy. We know the facts here. Yet so often - let’s be honest - it feels pretty incidental and we’re much more focused on talking to Jesus about anything and everything else: job; money; health; relationships. Honestly, is forgiveness regularly at the top of your prayer priorities? I know it’s not for me - I get so caught up in this life.

How can we get perspective here? I’ve been thinking about this and I just don’t know. I don’t really know how I can get a better heart grasp of this critical truth - it just seems to get stuck in my head and not make it all the way down. The Lord’s Prayer I think can be some of a help for us - it is for me - teaching us to pray with God’s priorities rather than our own.

There’s one more thing I want to show you in this passage, though. Thankfully even when we don’t get it, Jesus still does. When this suffering man comes to Jesus, coming no doubt looking for his legs back, Jesus gives him what he truly needs: his life back. Jesus has the authority - and the heart - to forgive his sin. And when we come to Jesus most concerned about our savings or our sufferings, all the problems which so fill our lives, he’s still most concerned about our sins - and still he has the authority - and the heart - to forgive. He rescues us from them “take heart - your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus gives us what we truly need - not necessarily what we want, or what we came to him for. Something to bear in mind when your life isn’t going the way you’d like it. Not everyone gets this two-for-one treatment of sins and legs. But Jesus sees us and loves us and and knows us - and gives us what we truly need. And he does it for free.

Martin Luther, famous sixteenth century reformer says: “The kingdom of Christ is simply the sentence “your sins are forgiven”; here there are no works, no merits, no commandments or law—but only pure grace and kindliness”. Luther’s point is there’s no evidence or suggestion the paralysed man had sorted himself out, turned his life around, done anything worthy of earning this forgiveness or even understood things well enough to ask for it - it’s grace pure and simple that, out of nowhere, Jesus declares forgiveness to him.

Time to land the plane. Do I have a problem? Yes I do. Do you have a problem? Yes you do. What’s our problem? Our biggest problem? Sin - it’s going to kill us forever if Jesus doesn’t get to it first. What’s the good news? We can come to Jesus and hear these same words: “take heart - your sins are forgiven.” How come? Because all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to him.

Maybe you’ve never really understood just how big a problem sin is for you - see here Jesus thinks it’s absolutely critical - way above mere walking. Maybe you get it, but your problem seems totally overwhelming, impossible that anyone could deal with the mess you’ve made of life. Or maybe you just think no-one would ever want to deal with it for someone like you. Yeah? Well take heart because Jesus is here, stil ready to save.

Maybe you’ve been a Christian for years. You probably know the facts and know what sin - and its forgiveness - means - but in practice it feels like small beans compared to the other problems in your life. Well let Jesus show you again this morning it’s the big one. It’s the only one that really matters in the end. And take heart because Jesus is here, still ready to save.

Let’s pray together. If that’d be something new for you, you can start today. Listen to what I say, and if you want to say the same thing, just repeat it in your head to God. And then say Amen with me when we’re done.

pray

— prep for Q+R --

what does forgiven feel like

Kierkegaard: A person rests in the forgiveness of sins when one’s thought of God does not remind one of one’s sins but rather of the fact that they have been forgiven, so that what has happened in the past is now not a remembrance of how badly one did then but of how much one was forgiven

How come Jesus can forgive?

Because he himself will take on our sins. Mt 26:28

Matthew 26:28 NIV

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

sin the most serious problem

If we rarely believe our sins are our most serious problem how much more the world around us? Is it any wonder the whole idea of sin seems medieval or just a joke to most people? That’s one of the things that makes it so hard to effectively share the good news of Jesus: it’s only good news when people grasp the bad news about our sins and our separation from God.

authority given to Jesus? or more generally?

“to people (pl)”

France: a more general sense that God now allows any human being to forgive sins on his behalf would be a non sequitur after Jesus has just claimed and demonstrated a special personal authority as the Son of Man; rather “to any human”

Morris: “in the New Testament there is not one example of any church or any Christian forgiving the sins of anyone; if this is what Jesus meant, surely someone would have done it”

Son of Man explicitly receives authority - Dan 7:13-14