What do we need more? Healing or forgiveness? Check out the story in Matthew chapter 9, verses 1-8 in the Bible. Jesus demonstrates for you which you need more.
The answer to the question. Remember – the
man is a paralytic, but what is the first thing Jesus says to him? “Your
sins are forgiven.” And the religious leaders are upset he claims to be able to forgive. So Jesus asks them: Which is easier: to say, ''''Your sins are forgiven,'''' or to say, ''''Get up and walk''''? What do you think? Understand what it meant to be a
paralytic in those days – he didn’t have what we have available to us. Even a little illness meant a life of hopelessness. So – is it easy to say, “Get up and walk? Actually, it is no easier than “Your sins are forgiven.” He had to depend on God to do them both. I really appreciate Drs who know this is still true today. They can use tools and procedures, but in the end they depend on the body to respond – it is God who decides to make it respond. So – when he heals the man, he is saying that he is showing that He has authority to forgive sins.
The Implied Question - What does the man needs even more than being able to walk? Forgiveness. In another place he says, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Who is better off – The man who is healed but is not forgiven, or the man who is still a paralytic but is forgiven? Going deeper than the surface, and seeing this in view of what comes after this life, it is obvious. And – He is demonstrating where you find forgiveness. When Peter was made to face the religious leaders in the temple he told them, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." In that the paralytic found all the hope he needed.
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