A Trick Question

Matthew 9: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+9&version=NIV

            Matthew 9:1-8 is one of those stories that has always stuck in my head, although, to tell the truth, it’s Mark’s and Luke’s accounts that stick out. Both Mark and Luke include the detail that the house was so crowded that the paralyzed man’s friends have to lower him through the roof. As a child the thing that stood out was the dedication of the friends, so desperate to get their friend to Jesus. In mature theological reflection, what a great visual of the sinner, powerless in his sin! Our salvation, as this man’s healing, is pure gift. Mature theological reflection also makes one wish that more friends in our day were more desperate to get their friends to Jesus.

            But Matthew doesn’t tell us how the man gets before Jesus; Matthew wants our attention somewhere else. He wants us to focus on Jesus’ statement that the man’s sins are forgiven (remember chapter 1? That’s why He’s named Jesus, after all, because he will forgive his peoples sins) and His question about which is easier.

            It’s a trick question. On the face of it, it is much easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” than it is to say, “Get up and walk.” Think about it: you can’t see another person’s spiritual condition, so if you say someone’s sins are forgiven, who is going to prove you wrong? On the other hand, everyone can see the man is paralyzed, so if you say, “Get up,” and he doesn’t, well, then you’re a fraud.

            But here’s the trick: it doesn’t cost Jesus a thing to restore this man’s movement. It’s just one more thing like stilling the storm, completely natural for Him as the Son of the Creator God. It is, for Jesus, an easy miracle. But to forgive the man’s sins? Ho, ho, ho! Now we’re counting the cost because forgiveness means the cross; it means Jesus suffering; it means death for Jesus. Salvation might be free for us, but that doesn’t mean it was cheap! It just means that Jesus paid the price for us!

            I think about that in these days. Right now, our fears and our worries are on display; just log into Facebook or flip on the evening news. And we are praying, “Deliver us from evil,” pretty fervently. And I’m not trying to minimize those fears. But I do hope that we don’t lose sight of the deeper problems and the greater gifts—sin and grace and forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. And I hope that when this is all over and past, we don’t take for granted the thing that really matters, the most precious of gifts, the salvation that Jesus earned for us.