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.
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.
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.
Well said. Amen!
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