Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you

So He got into a boat, crossed, over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!" But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

- Matthew 9:1-8

In yesterday's reading, Jesus and His disciples traveled across the Sea of Galilee into Gentile territory. There they met two fierce demon-possessed men, so violent that no one could pass. They lived away from community, among the tombs. They suddenly cried out, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" There was a herd of swine a ways away from them, and the demons asked to be sent into the swine. Jesus gave permission. They entered the swine, and then the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep cliff and into the sea. The people who kept the swine ran into the city and told everyone what they had seen, including the healing of the two men. The people of the city then returned and begged Jesus to leave their region.

So He got into a boat, crossed, over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." Jesus' own city is Capernaum, the place that serves as His headquarters for His ministry. This is where Peter has a house, and Peter's mother-in-law was healed in a recent reading. My study bible points out that faith works in many ways. Through this story, it says, we understand that "faith is collective as well as personal, for the faith of the paralytic's friends is required for his healing." It also notes that "faith is an indispensable condition for salvation." I think this story also illustrates how we can exhort or help others to come to faith. We really don't know if it was his friends, one friend, or the paralytic himself who may have initially decided to come to Jesus. It could be any scenario. But faith can work through us all, to one another, and for one another. There are no limits in the ways it can work through us and among us. It is a spiritual reality interacting with our own condition. Therefore we can't set limits on how it works, what it does, how it plays out among us. Here, it creates and reflects community in the best sense of the word. Of course, this story reflects Jesus' authority. In the Greek, "Be of good cheer" reads more like "have courage" or "take courage." It reflects a strengthening of inner confidence, an emboldening in some sense, taking heart, also a part of faith and trust -- clearly reflecting on the relationship to Christ.

And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!" But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Matthew takes us further into relationship with Christ. He's the heart-knower. He senses what is in each one of us -- even those who doubt. The statement here is ironic: they think Jesus is blaspheming, but what He does is tell them that they are in effect, thinking evil of something that is good, that is a part of God's grace.

"For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. The authority in Christ is clear. As Son of Man He is defining Messiah. He heals with a word. He gives the paralytic a command, and nature responds to this command. The text tells us in an emphasized way that the paralytic was then able to go walk to his house. There's a great and powerful image of "going home." He's in his right place, and he can get there, now, on his own through the empowering work of Christ. To go to his house is a kind of analogy to the idea that "in My Father's house, there are many mansions." This is true restoration.

Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men. Here's a reversal of the thoughts of the scribes. The multitudes marvel and glorify God because of the expression of Jesus' power through the paralytic. It is a kind of right-relatedness in community, through the restoration of the paralytic.

Paralysis has often been seen, in the context of the Gospels, as a kind of paralysis of the soul, an analogy to what sinfulness does to us. We get stuck someplace. I think that this can happen because of sin in a number of ways, whether in fact we are the ones who sinned or who have been sinned against. Christ's healing touch works through our faith not only for those places where we have gone wrong through our own initiation, but also those places that sin or evil have touched and left a lasting mark within us, another kind of "missing the mark." People who have been harmed as children often suffer with debilitating self-images, and self-destructive behavior. But the life of a believer takes on a kind of responsibility for even the effects of sin. Our faith can help us to be restored through the One who loves us. In the Greek, the word for "forgive" (both here and in the Lord's prayer) means to "let go" or to "send away." In yesterday's reading, the demon-possessed men are violent and self-destructive; the demons that possess them enter the swine and the swine immediately run suicidally down a cliff into the sea where they are drowned. This condition in which we suffer from the effects of sin need not be seen merely as one in which we are guilty, but one in which we suffer our own imperfection from the evil in the world. In some way or another, we may all need healing and restoration. A self-debilitating practice or habit that may result from trauma is still one with which we need to come to grips; in spiritual terms it is not a "natural" state in the sense of the "natural" for which we were created as children of God. If we look at life in the Garden as the true natural state for which we were created, then we can see that our world can be very "unnatural" indeed, even when the original fault is not our own. Paralysis comes when we are stuck in ways that cripple us, are self-destructive, harmful to us, even when we can't see it or know our way through it. Christ asks for restoration of us all; therefore in our own imperfect states, we each come to Him for transformation. Through faith, we take on His yoke that will teach us where we need to go, what we need to do, how He asks us to change, to become unstuck, to go forward and to the proper house where we belong. There are no exceptions to this kind of healing. Where does the knower-of-hearts begin in you? How does He teach you to go, through faith, to become unstuck and move forward to the place where you belong in His community?