Authority to Forgive Sin

Pharisees

These next couple weeks we will be looking at Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees.

We see that they have come from every village of Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. (v.17)

We may think of the Pharisees as evil, always wrong but we must remember that these were the men in charge of the “oral law” or “oral traditions.” The oral traditions were a fence you might say to protect them from breaking the law. They traced themselves back to the Maccabean revolt where the Jews were becoming merged with the Greek ways of living and were not staying separated to God. In fact “Pharisee” means “separated one.” They were zealous for the faith and were champions of the messianic hope.

Their problem with Jesus was mostly that He was too liberal, too permissive. He associated with harlots, tax collectors and didn’t observe the oral traditions such as the sabbath.

Ways that we are like the Pharisees?

Urgency to see Jesus

Friends who are willing to bring their friend, then when they cannot get in. They tear apart the roof to get into the house where Jesus is speaking.

Zeal- To be excited to have enthusiasm. Knowing that your friend will never walk again and you will do whatever is in your power to get them to the one who can heal.

Jesus had zeal. In Jn 2:17 He drove out the money changers and this was done because of passion for the Holiness of the Lord and His house.

Jesus not only recognizes the faith of the Paralyzed man but the faith of his friends. It was their faith that brought him to the Lord.

Don’t give up on your friends, If they don’t know Jesus, keep praying, if they have strayed keep praying. It is our place to bring them to Christ with urgency.

Son of Man

Jesus favorite title for himself

80 times Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of man.

Some say that this means to refer to a human being in general. That you are a son of a man. This is the term used in Ezekiel when he is called son of man.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Appeared like son of man because he had the entirety of the essence of man in Him. But only like a son of man because he had the entire essence of God in Him.

Jesus is referring to Himself as The son of man sent by the ancient of days with the purpose of establishing his eternal kingdom.

Jesus is about to perform a miracle to show the people that He has been sent by the ancient of days and has divine power give weight to His words.

Authority to forgive sins

Is it more important to be physically healed or forgiven of your sins? I hope that everyone here would say forgiven.

What does it look like when someone is forgiven of sins, physically, what transformation takes place before your eyes?

It’s not something that we can see. Jesus says “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

The act of healing is a divine act. It is a divine act that they can see to lay proof to the divine act that they cannot see.

What does this mean for us?

Hebrews 9:24–26 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

We know that Christ entered into the heavenly temple, the one that the temple on earth was modeled after. With his own blood to make a sacrifice for sins.

This is why Jesus could say to the man that his sins were forgiven, this how we know that our sins are forgiven. Not because God decides to ignore our sins, that would make Him unjust. But because Jesus picked up the tab for our sin.

Their Response

With awe

The Greek word is phobos, fear.

This isn’t just “dude, that’s cool.” This is an awesome respect that boarders fear.

Why?

They realized that who they were in the presence of was powerful, so much more powerful than they were.

Glorified God

First the paralytic glorified God.

Glorifying God comes from a thankful heart, one that is thanking and praising God, telling of what He has done.

Are you thankful for the things that God has done in your life. Has given you has done for you? How do you show it?

The peoples response to the awe was to glorify God.

Do you glorify God when you see Him working?

Seeing a sinner come to Jesus is no less of a miracle than Jesus healing a paralyzed man.