The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
19th Sunday after Trinity 2014
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
19th Sunday after Trinity 2014
October 19, 2014
“Matthew 9:5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?”
Have you ever witnessed a public scandal? Have you ever heard someone say something so
outrageous that it took your breath away? In short, have you ever heard
something that literally shook you to the roots?
We have an example of that in today’s
Gospel. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
says something that shakes the scribes to their very roots. Recall that these men were the ones who had
devoted their very lives to the preservation of the Law. The scribes were in charge of copying the
Talmud and the Torah, all without a single mistake. In addition, they would make pronouncements
based on the Jewish Scriptures, always with an eye on complete compliance with
the Law.
Now, here comes into their midst a
seemingly simple rabbi from Nazareth who says, Matthew 9:2: “Son, be of good cheer; thy
sins be forgiven thee.”The sheer audacity of the statement must have been most
upsetting and unsettling to them. How
dare he say such a thing? What a
scandalous thing to say! Imagine how you would feel. Let’s say a person walks into your office or
place of business and presumes to know everything about what you are doing, and
then makes a pronouncement that strikes at the very root of our
profession. In other words, the very
boldness and audacity of the statement makes your jaw drop.
This is
exactly what Christ did in this situation. Note, Christ did not merely heal the man and
send him on his way. That would have been too easy (for him) and would not have
provided the witness that He wanted at that time. After all, our Lord had been doing miracles
for some time now and his fame would have spread far and wide, else why would
the men come to Him?
For
example, in the Book of Matthew up to this point, Christ has healed the leper,
the centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, and the demoniac. In addition, he rebuked the storm on Lake
Genessaret and astonished his own disciples.
These, of course, are only the documented miracles and healings. There were no doubt hundreds of others in
addition to these. Thus, the healing of
the man with the palsy was not the question.
Christ
wanted to make a statement about himself, in such a way that told the scribes
and Pharisees who He was without an overt claim made by himself. After all, a self-proclaimed prophet or
messiah is usually met with extreme cynicism, and even scorn.
Christ’s intent was not to talk
about himself. Instead, Jesus constantly
provided signs which pointed to His Lordship. For example, the entire Book of John is
constructed around signs, all of which point to Christ. With the idea of signs in mind, let us look
at this particular one.
Once again, note that Christ did not merely
say to the man, “Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house.” Although this was the outcome of the event,
it is presented almost as an afterthought.
Instead, he first looked at the man, and said, (Matthew 9:2) ”Son, be of good cheer; thy
sins be forgiven thee.” This is the scandalous statement that shocked
the scribes present. These holy men
thought to themselves, “This man is a blasphemer. Who can forgive sins except God?”
Then,
Christ draws the sign to a close by asking a simple question, (Matthew 9:5-7)
“For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to
say, Arise, and walk?” While they were
pondering this, Our Lord continued: “But that ye may know that the Son of man
hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,)
Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to
his house.”The sign is complete. Christ
clearly drew the comparison that the One who could forgive sins was also the
One who could heal a sick man with a word.
He left it up to the scribes to make the obvious connection.
No
doubt they did make the connection, but not being mixed with faith, it was
impossible for them to realize what was really happening. Again, although they
saw the sign, they did not have the gift of faith to see that God Himself was
among them. Emmanuel had indeed come, according to prophecy, but their minds
were closed.
God
uses signs everyday to point us to Himself. For traditional, historic
Christians such as ourselves, we have the most powerful and readily accessible
signs available to us. These are the
Word of God and the Holy Sacraments, both of which are meant to point us
constantly to Jesus and his saving grace.
When we think of our advantages as modern Christians, it seems it would
be so much easier to believe, doesn’t it?
After all, we the Word of God readily available in every bookstore, even
every supermarket, all over the Internet, and broadcast on the airwaves. We have churches on virtually every corner
all over this country, and we have the Holy Sacrament available on a wide-scale
basis. In short, we have signs literally
shouting the name of Christ virtually everywhere.
Why then,
are not all churches full? Why, with all
the abundance of signs, is not this country, even all the world, literally
bursting with vibrant enthusiasm for God?
The
fact is that signs alone are not enough.
Note that Christ saw the men bringing the sufferer into His midst, and “seeing
their faith”, proceeded to heal him.
Signs merely point out the way to us.
It is up to us to follow their direction.
Whatever
they may be, and however they may show up in your life, watch for your personal
signs that point you to Christ. Look for
signs in your own spirit that lead you to a greater awareness of His power in
your life. Above all, use the signs available to us to take the right road to
Christ.
Then,
when God calls us to heed a certain sign, let us all hope and pray that we have
faith sufficient to take the road He has pointed out to us. It is that road that leads to our ultimate
fulfillment.
Matthew 9:2 : “And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed:
and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good
cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”
