Some friends of a paralytic brought him before Jesus lying on a mat. The buzz about Jesus’ healing powers must’ve reached them and they thought the least they could do for their friend was to carry him to Jesus. It is obvious that they had faith that Jesus could heal him and Jesus himself “saw their faith.” Now, instead of performing a healing right there and then, Jesus puzzles everyone (including myself as a reader of the story) by forgiving the sins of the paralytic. What? Forgiveness of sins? Isn’t that something only God can do? The accusation of blasphemy began to spread in the minds of those who heard his words. Blasphemy is to intentionally speak in a way that is irreverent towards God. Jesus’ forgiveness of sins was taken as blasphemy because he was making himself equal to God. This was one of the reasons they wanted to kill him (Jn.5:18).
Jesus categorized their thoughts of blasphemy as evil. While they had good intentions of defending the glory and reputation of God, they failed to notice that God was standing before them in the flesh. In order to prove to them that he was the Son of Man, the Messiah “with authority on earth to forgive sins,” he tells the paralytic: “rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he does! The reaction of the crowd is fear mixed with awe of God who granted Jesus such authority. To follow Jesus is to believe he is the Son of Man with authority to forgive sins.
Father, grow and strengthen my faith in Jesus’ forgiveness of my sins. Thank you for sending your Son into the world to take upon himself our sins.
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