Authority to Forgive Sins
TRANSLATION
(1) And boarding a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city. (2) And behold, some people brought him a paralytic lying on a bed. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.” (3) And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” (4) And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? (5) For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Rise, and walk?’ (6) But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…,” he then said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed, and go home.” (7) And he got up and left for home. (8) But when the crowds saw it, they were fearful and glorified God who had given such authority to a man.
(9) And as Jesus departed from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at a tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. (10) And it happened, as Jesus reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were eating with Jesus and his disciples. (11) And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why would your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (12) But when Jesus heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but rather those who are sick. (13) Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous but sinners.’”
OBSERVATIONS
Repeated words in these two segments highlighted their message. In the first, “paralytic” occurred three times (vss. 2 & 7) and “your sins are forgiven” is found twice (vss. 2 & 5) along with “forgive sins” (vs. 6). “Get up/got up” (vss. 6 & 7) and “authority” are each found twice (vss. 6 & 8).
In the second paragraph, the phrase “tax collectors and sinners” occurred twice (vss. 10 & 11) along with single uses of “tax” (vs. 9) and “sinners” (vs. 13). “Follow/followed” is found twice in verse 9. In each segment we see on display Jesus’ authority both to forgive sins and to call sinners to a life of discipleship. Jesus’ final statement, “For I came not to call the righteous,” should not be understood as an acknowledgement of the self-proclaimed righteousness of the Jewish leaders but rather as an ironic condemnation of their prideful arrogance. Paul, trained as a Pharisee, would later write, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” in quoting Psalm 14:3.
OUTLINE
I. Jesus’ authority to forgive sins was confirmed by his healing the paralytic. (1-8)
II. Jesus’ commitment to fellowship with sinners was confirmed by his calling of Matthew and his accepting an invitation to dine at his house. (9-13)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus demonstrated his compassion for sinners by forgiving and healing the paralytic, calling Matthew to discipleship, and then eating a meal with tax collectors at Matthew’s house.
APPLICATION
In this segment Matthew provided us with his personal testimony of becoming Jesus’ disciple. In doing this he raised two issues that greatly troubled the Jewish religious authorities as they evaluated Jesus’ ministry. The first involved Jesus’ claiming to have the authority to forgive sins which, to them, made him guilty of blasphemy. The second involved Jesus constantly associating with tax collectors and sinners, something these leaders felt observant Jews should never do.
In the first case, Jesus demonstrated the validity of his claim by healing the man he had declared to be forgiven after accusing his observers of harboring evil thoughts in their hearts. As if that weren’t enough, Jesus’ acceptance of Matthew’s invitation to dinner condemned their prideful refusal to associate with sinners. In essence, Jesus was telling these self-righteous Jews, “You are just as sinful as both the paralytic and the tax collectors and need God’s forgiveness for your sins just as much as they because of the pride that has blinded you.” It was no wonder that the Jewish leaders would eventually put to death the one who had so strongly condemned their self-righteous attitudes and behavior.