Sermon - Trinity XIX 2023 - Matthew 9:1-8

The Healing of the Paralytic, Le Tintoret, 1559

Jesus’ forgiveness is healing.

1. Forgiveness of sins is greater than physical healing

1. Confession and Absolution is a notable miracle

2. Yet, what’s good for the soul is good for the body

1. Because the body and soul are more united than we often think

This past summer I cut my finger such that I had to go to the ER to get stitches. But imagine if upon my arrival to the Emergency Room, the doctor simply said: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” Then, he just stood there as if his job were finished, while my finger continued bleeding profusely. That’s kind of the picture we get in today’s miracle. Four men bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus in order that He might make him better, and what happened? “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’” For a moment it doesn’t even sound like He was going to heal the man’s paralysis. Only later does Jesus say to the paralytic: “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

For us today, we are probably prone to think that the forgiveness of sins is a minor thing, and the real miracle is the physical healing. What if the ER doctor really had just forgiven my sins and walked back out the door? Most folks would’ve been irate! We think of forgiveness as such a minor thing, like it doesn’t even matter, as if the body and our present needs are the only things which are important. We will go to great lengths to receive healing for our bodies, like the men in today’s lesson lowered their friend through the roof to get to Jesus. We will willingly go into debt, travel long distances, undergo extreme side-effects, all to receive physical healing. Even when we can’t physically leave our houses on our own, others will take us. But to receive forgiveness? If there’s even the slightest inconvenience about going to church, we skip it. 

 But, what if physical healing and spiritual healing are the same thing? Perhaps Jesus’ forgiveness is itself the healing. Maybe when Jesus forgave the man’s sins, the paralytic was in that instant made well again, he just continued to lie on his bed. But today we are so bored by forgiveness that we often ignore that miracle and only focus on the physical healing. 

In the Biblical story the people weren’t particularly shocked and scandalized by the physical healing, but by the fact that Jesus forgives sins. The scribes said to themselves: “This man is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone!” We must understand, up until Jesus it was unheard of to forgive someone’s sins directly. Of course we have the example of Joseph forgiving his brothers for selling him into slavery, but that’s different. Here Jesus is forgiving all the sins of this man. Under the Old Testament forgiveness was quite complicated and involved, since it required a sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem performed by a priest. Even then, the priest didn’t forgive sins, he just performed the sacrificial rites. So when Jesus Himself forgives sins, this was utterly shocking and would’ve been considered blasphemous, since they didn’t know that Jesus was God.

This is instructive for us! We should remember that the forgiveness of sins is truly the greater miracle, greater even than the physical healing of paralysis. A few minutes ago in Confession and Absolution, I forgave your sins in the stead and by the command of Jesus. That was huge! In a little bit you’re going to receive the body and blood of Jesus, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. This is incredible!

Perhaps we’re tempted to get bored by the forgiveness of sins, but let it not be so! Resist the devil’s temptations to make you bored with the most incredible healing you will ever receive in your entire life. Because that’s what is happening here: you are being healed with an eternal healing. “So far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” Even though all we hear and see is some guy forgiving us, it is truly the greatest miracle happening in our midst. It may look easy, but it’s the fruits of Christ’s labors. Just as forgiveness in the Old Testament required intricate sacrifice, so too in the New Testament, only there was just one sacrifice: Jesus’ crucifixion. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.”

When the pastor says: “I forgive you,” all of Jesus’ sacrifice is going on behind the scenes and is included in those few words. This should teach us to love Jesus’ forgiveness as much or more than we love physical healing. All of the expense and effort that we invest into our physical health, should also truly be invested in receiving the spiritual healing of our sins. This is why it’s such a beautiful thing when we bring other Christians to church who cannot get here on their own. At St. Paul this happens regularly with folks who live in group homes with Horizon. At Peace this happened with Mary Dawson, may she rest in peace, who though quite physically weak, was brought to church by others so that she might receive the greater healing in the forgiveness of her sins. Even if going to church isn’t the hardest thing for us physically right now, let us learn to desire the spiritual blessing of forgiveness more than any other worldly blessing.

Now, all of that said, there’s another dimension to all of this yet. Remember I said that it’s possible that the paralytic was healed when Jesus forgave him his sins. Thus, the forgiveness of sins and physical healing of the body are much more closely united than we often think. What is good for the soul is good for the body.

Remember, we are both body and soul, the two interconnected and intertwined, only temporarily separated at death until the resurrection. Thus, when the body is mistreated it has an impact on the soul, and likewise a healthy soul does have a positive impact on the body. So when Jesus performs miracles of physical healing for people, there’s more going on than meets the eye. Jesus’ words of forgiveness brought immediate healing to the paralytic and to others whom He healed. Like Solomon said in the proverbs: “My son, be attentive to my words… for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”

Thus, the spiritual healing of the forgiveness of our sins is also a physical healing. Maybe this is hard to believe when you’ve been a Christian all your life and yet your body has so many aches and pains. But consider this, the healing of your soul means that when you die, you’re not really dead. Like we see on some of the Halloween decorations, the gravestones say RIP, Rest In Peace. Christians who die in the faith are not dead, but sleeping. On the last day, when Jesus returns, their bodies will be raised from the grave, incorruptible and eternal, made whole again. The aches and pains will be gone, the scars and disabilities will disappear, because we will have healing for our bodies and souls. “The perishable will put on the imperishable, the mortal puts on immortality.” 

In conclusion, let us earnestly desire the higher gifts. Just as we pursue pleasures of the body and healing for the body, let us pursue with greater vigor eternal treasures and healing for the soul. When you come into private confession and absolution, and the pastor forgives your sins, you’re being healed more powerfully than when you receive stitches or stints, since Jesus’ forgiveness is eternal and will outlast every worldly healing. Don’t lose sight of the goal and the prize awaiting you at the end of this life. Lots of people pursue a perishable wreath on earth, but we pursue that which is imperishable. So let us run so that we may obtain it.