Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (2023)

Matthew 9:1-8

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today we have in our Gospel Lesson that a paralytic is brought before Jesus by his friends and and when Jesus saw their faith, He forgives the man his sins. This causes the Pharisees to grumble against Him and believe that Jesus is committing blasphemy. Well why is that? How do we see that today? Where do we see the hope found in the forgiveness of sins.

Who do we sin against?

The Scriptures tell us that sin is against God.

No matter what the sin is they are all ultimately against God who is our creator, and the one who sustains not only our life, but the life of everyone in the world. In him all things live and move and have their being, and belong to Him.

In order to sin, we must say, He is wrong.

That we know better, that our body, our life belong to ourselves, and when we step out of our callings to get revenge or take action when we have not been authorized to do so is to say that what God has ordained isn’t good enough, working fast enough, and I’m not satisfied so we will ignore his plan and enact ours.

This is why the Scribes thought Jesus was blaspheming.

Because if we sin against God, then who is it that can forgive our sins? Or we might think of this in terms of debt, if your friend says your mortgage, your car loan is forgiven. Does our friend have the authority to speak on behalf of the bank? We certainly hope so!

The Authority of the Son of Man

Jesus addresses the evil in their hearts.

The reason that this is called evil in the Scriptures is because they reject the fact that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God that He is God in the flesh. This means they lack faith, and that which does not proceed from faith is sin.

To show His authority Jesus says, Rise.

Pick up your bed and go home because he asks which is easier to say? Jesus can say that this man’s sins are forgiven, but how can they verify that it is true? But if he says to a man who is lame, rise and he does, there’s no denying that.

When Jesus speaks, His words do what He says.

This is the case with God from the beginning, how did God create all things, through the Word, and Jesus is the word through whom all things were made. So when Jesus speaks, His Word is faithful and true. If he says Rise and Walk, then that’s what you will do, if He says your sins are forgiven. They are forgiven.

What about today?

The world sees the healing as being greater.

The world tends to be fixated on the here and now and what we can get in the moment. We are concerned for our present ailments, our pains, our sufferings, and everything we endure. Think of everything we have invested and how much money we spend in the medical world to heal our bodies?

The world mocks the Church when we offer up prayers.

They say well what are you doing? What good is that when you pray, aren’t you just admitting that there isn’t anything you can do? Why not do something else like _____________?

People only look to the physical.

They don’t see the need for the gifts of heaven, they don’t see the importance of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life that has been offered to us through Christ. They are like the scribes that question the value and worth of what JEsus has promised.

Many denominations have adopted this view.

If you hear them talk about the social gospel, or the emphasis on what are they doing in the community, and that they are to get busy serving their neighbor in their bodies, but neglect the importance of the Word and what Christ offers. You will find that these denominations are no different from many other non-profits. The reason we are here is because of what Jesus offers, forgiveness.

The Authority to Forgive Sins

Jesus gave this authority to the church.

He passes this on the Disciples and promises them that whatever sins they forgive are forgiven and whatever sins they bind to a person are bound and that this is as valid on heaven and on earth.

This is what we have in the absolution.

It is why in the Absolution you hear me say, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you. So what your pastor says is forgiven on a Sunday morning it is just as though Jesus himself, that is God, has forgiven you.

This is the greatest work of the Church.

That we give to people the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won upon Calvary, that we proclaim Jesus victory over the powers and sin, death, and the devil for you. We know that this victory belongs to you, because when Jesus died for you, He kept His promise that He would rise again. So when you hear in the stead and the by command of my Lord Jesus Christ, you can know that you truly are forgiven.

We dare not lose focus.

Certainly we help our neighbors and we do so in many and various ways. But our priority at Church is that we proclaim Christ’s victory over the powers of darkness. That we uphold His teaching, both His Law which shows us our sin, and the Gospel, that He has forgiven you.

The Evil We Face

We are to keep ourselves unstained from the world.

This is hard because we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. The world does focus on immediate solutions and wants to see results here and now. It will try to lure us away from this foundation. For instance

What is the measure of a good business?

More customers, more money, bigger buildings, expansion, etc. all of these things make for a good business, that they are constantly getting bigger and better. There are aspects of church that fall into those categories that as members of the church we need to attend to, which is why we have things like Quarterly Voter’s meetings.

Is that the measure of a church?

A good Church is one that is faithful in their proclamation of the Word, and that they administer the sacraments rightly. If we have that, then we have a good church. It is so simple, that people often think we need to add stuff on, but that stuff tends to distract us from the important matters. which is that

You are Forgiven

Christ gave the keys to loose and bind sins.

We want to not only have Pastors who forgive our sins, but we also want to come to where the forgiveness of sins is offered. For there is nothing greater in this life than that our sins are forgiven. For to those who are forgiven what happened to this man will happen to you

One day Christ will say to you, Rise.

Now Jesus will likely say it to you when you are in your grave, and He will call you out of that bed, that the world thinks is permanent, for Jesus has shown us that our grave is a temporary thing.

On that day, you will go home.

But it won’t be to our earthly, but we will go to dwell with God in the New Creation, where there will be no more sin, no more illness, no more pain, and no sorrow. All the things we long for now, Christ has promised to give us in the place He has gone ahead to prepare.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the Forgiveness that Christ proclaims to us is our comfort and our hope. For all the illness, diseases, aches, and pains that we suffer with because we have inherited sin from Adam. But Jesus came to bring that to an end. The reason that we are able to receive that healing of our body and dwell in His kingdom is because of the forgiveness Jesus gave to you. That is the most valuable thing in this life. So treasure it and make sure to receive it.

In Jesus name, Amen.