Forgiveness

Introduction

I’m going to go out on a limb tonight and reference a movie that might show my age a bit, but it helps to show what we are going to be talking tonight so I’m just going to .

As we read this passage there were three parties involved, the paralytic man and his friends (Forgiveness of sin, wait what?!), the religious leaders (Jesus’ claim of divinity), and finally us, the readers (forgiven to forgive- what it looks like to have a restored relationship with God) . And I believe that all three parties have different reactions to what Jesus did here. And we will visit each reaction and see what we can learn from them.

This movie is one of the most gripping movies of my childhood. The reason was not because of great acting or cinematography but rather it’s core message, it plays on one of humanity’s deepest desires. And that is justice, sa

Have you ever heard the statement forgive and forget?

It’s probably one of the most stupid thing I have ever heard! But we’ve all heard it, some even say the Bible says we should forgive and forget. What a load of baloney.

But first I want to tell you a story, as a kid I had a friend, this was before high school, she was a smart kid, she always made the top ten in academics, she played in a side netball team and so one day at netball she started feeling these pains in her hip, and she was known to complain a lot, so most people just brushed it off and said she’ll walk it off, all she needs is rest.

Imagine someone bumping into you at the shops, they say sorry, you move on, yes you forgive and forget, unless you have serious rage problems and hit the person. But most people usually say, it’s ok, don’t worry about it. And forget about it right. I guess forgiving and forgetting is possible in this circumstance, but imagine someone drink driving and killing your whole family in a car crash. There would be some serious problems with your brain if you forget that. Forgiving and forgetting is not Christian. But forgiving is. And it’s hard.

Well the pain didn’t go away, as a matter of fact, it got worse. She eventually went to the doctors and found out that she had an aggressive bone cancer. And just like that her whole life changed, they fought the cancer and beat it but later on it returned and sadly that time it took her life.

Forgiving someone for bumping into you in the shops is much easier than the person who causes serious pain and suffering to your life. This is Christian forgiving though.

How simple was her problem when it was only hi pain in her hip, just take some rest and walk it of people said. But the root of the pain was way more serious than just that.

Just like with my friend had a greater need than she knew at the time, Jesus wants us to know in this passage what we need.

Response 1: Paralytic and his friends

So let’s look at the first reaction,

we are introduced to a problem, there is a paralysed man, and it doesn’t matter how hard his friends try they can’t get him to Jesus. They know that Jesus is their only hope to heal him, and so they improvise, they break through the roof and lower the man down to Jesus.

Finally all their efforts the man lies before Jesus, helpless, his friends on the roof.

Just imagine for a moment that you are that paralysed man, you go through all that trouble, trying to convince your friends to take you to Jesus, because he can make you walk. And finally you’re finally able to convince four friends to take you to Jesus, but they have to break you through a roof to get you in reach of Jesus, because they can’t get you to them. And you finally get there, you lay before Jesus, expecting him to heal you, and he looks at you... and then at your friends...

And he says to you, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Ohhhk Jesus, you think to yourself, thank you for that, but there is a much bigger problem I want you to take care of, if you haven't noticed, I can’t walk for goodness sake!

Have you ever watched a movie or T.V. series and the whole story was hyped up so much by your friends and everyone else and then the movie ends and you are disappointed. It was over hyped.

Well imagine how disappointed this guy was, and embarrassed, he convinced his friends that this man Jesus will make him walk, and now Jesus says this. Your sins are forgiven.

Imagine that! Crazy stuff, you might think… But why didn’t Jesus just heal the man.

The problem was, that this man was under the impression that his biggest problem was that he couldn’t walk, but, Jesus wanted to correct his thinking. His biggest problem wasn’t that he can’t walk, he missed his greatest need. The forgiveness of his sin and a repaired relationship with God was his greatest need. And it is ours as well.

How often do you think we think like this? What is our greatest needs?

If only I had a boyfriend or girlfriend, then I’ll be happy.

If only I had the latest playstation, iPhone, laptop whatever the latest thing is.

If only my marks were better at school.

If only my family were richer.

If only, if only, if only.

No, says Jesus, what you need is me. You need a restored relationship with God. You see, he will never disappoint you, you get a new phone today, tomorrow you drop it and the screen cracks, and then you browse with your sad screen and realise that they just released a new version of your phone.

Your friends will disappoint you.

Your family will disappoint you at times.

This is not to say, you should avoid your friends, family, and other things.

Jesus, wants us to see that our greatest need is him, and he will never disappoint us.

Don’t you want to know him? Have a relationship with him? The one who created everything and gave up everything for you. Don’t you want to learn more about him who died for us? So that we can live in a restored relationship with God and at the same time blessing the world with how we live?

The only way that you get this, is through having your sins forgiven and subsequently having Jesus change the way you live your life.

So like the paralytic man we should realise our biggest problem is Spiritual, not that physical is bad. Jesus did eventually heal him, but our sin is what is separating us from God, and it’s only through Jesus that we can have the forgiveness of sin.

We have now seen the surprise of this crippled man when Jesus forgave him and didn’t heal him. The surprise of the religious guys was completely different, how can Jesus forgive sin is what they were asking. So lets investigate what the Scribes, the religious guys had to say about what Jesus did here.

Response 2: The Scribes

Imagine I run up to Linn and I punch him right in the face. Knock him right off his feet, and then walk away and pretend nothing happened, and Damon sees this and is like,

“Wow, that’s not good!” But you know what will be appropriate he thinks, “forgiveness” So Damon picks Linn up brings him to me and Damon says, “you know what David, I forgive you for knocking Linn out.”

And Linn is like, “Ummm I don’t know that forgiveness works like that Damon.”

And so Linn constructs this beautiful argument for how forgiveness work, he says, “You see Damon, because David punched me, and he is the guilty party, you forgiving him means... squat. David sinned against me, I need to forgive him.” And then Linn goes off and cries all night long.

You see

In this passage, Jesus forgives the man his sin, and he can only do that if the he sinned against Jesus.

And the man walks out of that room being physically and spiritually restored. The religious Scribes were absolutely shocked! How could this man claim to be God, he is blaspheming they thought in their hearts. And if Jesus is not God, then they were right, then he was blaspheming! But, Jesus said this because he is God.

And Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking. He wants them to know he is God, and that he therefore has the authority to forgive sin. And Jesus, in order to back his words up heals the man of his paralysis. And the man walks out of that room being physically and spiritually restored.

Jesus knew exactly what the scribes were thinking, that he claims to be God almighty. Jesus wants them to know that he is God, and that he has the authority to forgive sin. And the religious Scribes were absolutely shocked! How could this man claim to be God, he is blaspheming they thought in their hearts. And if Jesus is not God, then they were right, then he was blaspheming! But, Jesus said this because he is God.

And in order to back his words up, he heals the man of his paralysis. And the man walks out of that room being physically and spiritually restored.

In our little scenario earlier Damon was not able to forgive me on behalf Linn, and if Jesus isn’t God, then he can’t forgive others of their sin that is committed against God. But Jesus proved himself to be God, not only here by raising this man to walk, but, by being raised from the dead, and therefore defeating death, for the forgiveness of our sin. So that we might have a restored relationship with him. So that when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, he places all his perfect goodness on you, by taking all the wrong things you have done and will do on himself. He will change your life by giving you pure desires and a hate for wrong.

I hope you see that Jesus is the only one that can restore your relationship with God.

Now that we have seen our greatest need, the forgiveness of sin from the perspective of the paralytic.

And we’ve seen from the the response of the Scribes that Jesus is God, and only he can put you in a right relationship with God.

Now I want to look at a response from us as readers. I only recently heard about this perspective and it was a little bit of a light bulb moment for me when I first heard it. So let’s look at what response we as readers should have when we see Jesus forgiving this man.

Response 3: We the Readers

Now we already dealt with the question about why Jesus forgave the man instead of healing the man. What else is making us scratch our heads?

Think about it, how can Jesus, God incarnate forgive someone who is not seeking forgiveness? How does one become a Christian? You turn to Jesus to forgive you of your wrong doing against others and against God, and he forgives you, making you a child of God, and then you turn away from your sin.

This paralytic man did none of that, and yet Jesus forgave him. How does that work.

If you look at v. 8 you see something interesting in Jesus’ encounter with the Scribes, the religious guys if you want.

The New International Version Chapter 2

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?

The New International Version Chapter 2

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?

Jesus as God saw the hearts of these religious guys, and he knew what they thought. This is what God does, he knows every part of our being, our deepest secrets and our most intricate insecurities, and what does he say?

Nothing you have ever done can put you outside of y forgiveness. I want you just where you are, no matter what you have done, no matter how ashamed you might be, no matter how poor or rich you are. I want you. I care for you. I died for you.

As Jesus saw in this paralytic man’s heart he must have seen some desire for God’s grace, mercy and love. And so Jesus reached out gave him the greatest gift of all. By giving the man rest, his unknown desire.

And Jesus wants to that with each and every one of us here, no matter who you are, what you have done, or what has been done to you. There is no sin is too big for the cross of Jesus. There is no shame that you may contain that will keep him away. Jesus wants you. And if you submit to him, then he will change you into a person that reflects his character.

Conclusion

Remember the story of my friend who passed of cancer. When she first experienced that pain, she had no idea how serious her problem was, all she knew was she needs help. I fear that sometimes we don’t know how serious a trouble we are in if we don’t know Jesus, we desperately need his forgiveness, and we desperately need him, to shape us, and to mould us into the image that we bear, God’s image. If you do not know Jesus and you want to, please come and speak to one of the leaders at any time anywhere. You have our numbers. If you think that you are outside of God’s forgiveness, I urge you to come and speak to us, we desperately want to speak to you about it. Let’s pray.