A paralyzed man was carried by his friends to a house where Jesus was teaching, but the place was so crowded that they could not get close to him. His friends devised a plan, they carried him up to the rooftop and dug a hole in the roof through which they could lower the man down to Jesus.1
Your Sins Are Forgiven
The plan worked like a charm. Jesus saw the paralyzed man and was impressed by his faith and by the faith of his friends. Jesus, realizing that a sick soul is worse than lame feet, told the man, “son, your sins are forgiven.”2
This was certainly not what anybody was expecting, the man came to Jesus hoping to be able to walk and instead he was told his sins were forgiven. You have to wonder what the paralyzed man was thinking at this point, he might have been a little disappointed. We do know what the scribes thought, they immediately recognized this as blasphemy because only God can forgive sins. 3
Jesus, hearing their disapproval went on to say:
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all 4
How does healing the paralyzed man prove that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins? That was the disconnect I had and something I didn’t understand when I first started reading the Bible, until I learned that in ancient Israel Jesus’ miracles would have shown the people that God approved his message. If Jesus did not have the authority to forgive sins he would not have been able to heal the lame man, but healing the paralyzed man showed his message was approved by God.
This is the only time we hear of Jesus forgiving a person’s sins before healing them, so there must be more here. This is a thought that occurred to me for the first time while I was writing this post.
There was a belief in ancient Israel that a person with an infirmary was being punished by God for either his sins or for the sins of his parents. Remember when the disciples saw the blind man and asked Jesus who had sinned to cause this man’s ailment? 5 Jesus responded to his disciples at that time that infirmaries were not caused by sin and were not punishment for sin.
But because it was traditionally thought infirmaries were punishment for sin, what better proof could Jesus offer to show that this man’s sins were actually and literally forgiven, and that he wasn’t just speaking idle words, than for the people to see the physical ailment healed? With the sin forgiven the infirmary was removed. This was not just a symbolic gesture, the man’s sins were forgiven. This was an external demonstration of an internal healing.
Only God can forgive sins, the scribes got this part right, but they missed the fact that Jesus just proved he was God by demonstrating he had the power and authority to forgive sins. Even after all that they had witnessed, the Jewish leaders continued to question Jesus, and ironically, turned down their own chance at forgiveness and salvation in the process.
Our Sins Are Also Forgiven
In summary: The paralyzed man turned to Jesus, and when Jesus saw that this man believed in him he forgave the man’s sins. This story should be a reminder to all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Lord and Savior. We are like the paralyzed man, we are broken inside and need forgiveness, and we have put our faith in Christ. We believe in him and he has forgiven us.
This story should also be a lesson to those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. If you have not turned to Jesus and accepted him as your Lord and Savior please do not be like the scribes, it is not too late to accept Jesus and to ask for forgiveness. He is waiting for you and if you come to him he will never turn you away.6
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