The Power... to Forgive

The Power...to Forgive--July 27, 2018

“Then some people came, bringing to Jesus a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.' Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Stand up and walk?’ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins'--he said to the paralytic--'I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” [Mark 2:3-11]

Most of the time, Jesus didn’t go around directly saying, “Did you know that I’m the living God-in-the-flesh?” or explicitly announcing, “Hey, I’m the Son of God over here—give me some attention and the glory I deserve.”  But that’s not to say Jesus didn’t send that same message; it’s just that he had different ways of getting it across. Jesus declared his claims of divinity by what he did—by asserting that he had the authority to do things that only the living God can do.  In other words, Jesus showed that he was God-in-the-flesh by his actions: specific, chosen, concrete actions that are the kind of thing that only the Creator of the universe has the right to do.  But those actions were no less clear and no less certain than saying something that direct—and everybody else around Jesus knew exactly what his actions meant.

Take today’s scene. Jesus has just told a man who was brought to him that his sins were forgiven. It’s no surprise that the respectable religious folks were upset—Jesus has just claimed for himself a power and responsibility that belongs only to the living God. And by daring to do this, Jesus is equating himself with no less than the Creator of the universe! The religious experts in the crowd are right to be shocked and scandalized by what they have just witnessed, and they are asking the right question: Who can forgive sins but God alone?  And they are right that the charge to bring against Jesus is blasphemy—claiming for yourself what belongs to God alone. 

There’s no way around it: Jesus has claimed for himself the ability and authority to wipe away the record of this man’s sins (and presumably, of anybody else), and that is a right reserved by none but the living God. So either Jesus has just grievously insulted the Almighty (which is the only possibility that the religious authorities can imagine), or… Jesus is none other than God the Son in our midst. But there is no middle ground on this one. The scribes are right on this one—give them their due. Either Jesus really is who the voice says he is, or he is the most arrogant, deluded soul ever to walk the earth. (To borrow from C.S. Lewis’ famous way of putting it, Jesus forces us to regard him either as a lunatic, or a liar… or the Lord.) There is no alternative with someone who claims to do what only God can do. The question is turned back to us then: what are we going to do with this Jesus, who won’t let us treat him as just a teacher of interesting religious insights and warm-fuzzy spiritual pick-me-ups?

Jesus realizes, he knows, that he has given us only these two alternatives: to take Jesus for who he claims to be (by his actions as well as his words) or to dismiss him entirely. And in fact he raises the stakes here in these verses. He doesn’t wait for us to call his bluff—he calls his own bluff—only to reveal that he’s had a royal flush all along. This is the point of his exchange with these religious so-and-sos.  “Which is easier?” Jesus asks, “To say this man’s sins are forgiven, or to tell him to get up and walk?”   The point, of course, is that in theory, anybody can claim that someone’s sins are forgiven, because you can’t see that to know if it’s true or not. How would you know it if someone’s sins are forgiven? Jesus realizes that although only God has the real authority to forgive sins, anybody with a big mouth can say that they have this authority, and there would be no possible way to tell if it were so. It would be much the same as if I told you I had granted a presidential pardon to some criminal on death-row. The term itself implies that I have the same authority the president has, but you wouldn’t be able to tell if I were lying or not, because conveniently, the prisoner isn’t here for me to show you, and neither is his criminal record.

But Jesus knows all of this, too. So he raises the stakes and says, “I know that anybody can say they have the power to forgive sins—so long as they are not afraid of the risks of saying it! But what if I do something you can see? Would that convince you?” He is setting up a contest, a final showdown: once he goes to the lengths of making this man able to walk again, we will have no choice but to either take Jesus for who he is on his own terms, or we will have to reject him altogether, along with the God whom he represents. 

The question for us today is just that: will we recognize Jesus as God-in-the-flesh, and believe him when he tells us that our sins—and those of the whole world—have been nailed to the cross and dealt with? Will we dare to take Jesus on his own terms? And if we do, well, where will that lead?

Lord Jesus, let us receive you on your own terms today, and not patronize or pander to you by pretending to honor you by giving you second or third place in our lives.  Let us recognize the living God by your presence in our lives today, and make us to trust what you tell us.