The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Jesus’ Public Pardon:  Mt.9:1 – 8

^9:1 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to his own city. ² And they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.’ ³ And some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This fellow blasphemes.’ ⁴ And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? ⁶ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – then he said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, pick up your bed and go home.’ ⁷ And he got up and went home. ⁸ But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

          When President Ford pardoned former President Nixon for Watergate crimes, he gave a very public act of forgiveness.  It wasn’t something done behind closed doors, in secret, or in private.  Nor was it a defense, a belittling of the crime, a negation of its seriousness, or a claim that Nixon was ‘not guilty.’  It was a declaration of ‘guilty’ and ‘pardoned’ at the same time.  This is surprisingly similar to the way Jesus forgives us.  He is a king, after all.  His acts of forgiveness can only be public.

          Matthew provides us with fewer details about this ‘paralytic lying on a bed’ (v.2) than Mark and Luke do.  But we can still glimpse the man’s story.  We can tell that he had to ask his friends to carry him across town, out in the open, while he was lying on his bed.  That’s important.  He’s not afraid of calling a great deal of attention to himself.   Neither should we.  Too often we are dissuaded by the public spectacle we would make of ourselves if we came to Jesus.  Maybe we don’t want to publicly show our trust in Jesus, or our need for his healing power.  Maybe we are discouraged by the crowds around Jesus, namely the other Christians around (maybe you feel like they’re hypocrites) and people getting to know him.  Yet Jesus is a public figure.  He undoubtedly was by this point in his earthly ministry, and he certainly is today because his name is so controversial.  You can’t just come to Jesus in secret with no one else noticing.  Jesus is approached publicly.  Someone will notice.

Is Jesus worth it?  I think so.  Jesus offers healing…and more.  Jesus had said at the beginning of his public ministry that the Sea of Galilee area – the northern area of Israel – would see a great light (4:15 – 16).  He quoted from Isaiah 9:1 – 2.  Isaiah had a larger vision for the age of the Messiah:  ‘the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped; then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy’ (Isaiah 35:6, italics mine).  Jewish messianic hopes linked ‘forgiveness of sins’ and ‘healing of the lame.’  So when the man goes to see Jesus, the king of the promised era, he expects both.  He expects to be made new.

Now that Jesus has already established that he heals people (Mt.4:12 – 8:34), he also establishes that he forgives people’s sins.  He does not excuse sin in the slightest.  But he announces God’s pardon of people, welcoming them from exile back into reunion with God.  Jesus ‘sees their faith’ (9:2).  He sees the inner hopes and trust that they had placed in him.  He therefore extends to the paralyzed man spiritual healing (forgiveness from sin) and physical healing (release from paralysis).

Notice that Jesus makes explicit the scope of his ministry here.  Jesus mentions ‘forgiveness of sins’ three times (9:2, 5, 6).  He makes this a big point in this story.  As far as the story Matthew is telling, this is a new element in his approach to people, and it provokes controversy.  In response, the scribes think to themselves, ‘This fellow blasphemes.’  But Jesus airs their private thoughts for all to hear.  ‘Knowing their thoughts,’ Jesus said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?’  Jesus does this here at this first stage of the conflict with establishment Jews, to strongly invite them to consider him more deeply.  Who else can know the human heart like this?  He sees faith; he knows evil thoughts.  And he restores the man physically as proof that he is restoring the man spiritually.  Perhaps he is to be taken seriously?

          Jesus draws our inner thoughts, faith, and ‘evil thoughts’ out into the public.  The deepest truth about us is our posture towards Jesus.  One way or the other, what we hold inside us will be revealed.  Perhaps not all at once, but eventually, it will.  Either we receive his forgiveness or resist him.  Either we publicly confess our sins in some fashion (general or specific; to one or to many people; whatever is appropriate), or we publicly declare our resistance to God’s healing and forgiving power.  Jesus declares us ‘guilty’ and ‘pardoned’ because he extends God’s new humanity to us publicly.  When Jesus offers us forgiveness, he invites us to publicly acknowledge our past guilt and alienation from God which he has already overcome by uniting divine nature with human nature in his own person, and receive his healing of our human nature as he gives us his new humanity by his Spirit.  Or our ‘evil thoughts’ about him will be revealed.  One way or the other, the fundamental, innermost opinions of ourselves will be revealed when the name of Jesus is uttered.  Just as he expelled the unclean demons into unclean pigs’ flesh in the story of the two demoniacs (8:22 – 34), making clear on the outside what was happening on the inside, Jesus reveals inner truth about us. 

          Search me, and know me, Lord Jesus.  Help me to have faith in you.  Help me to receive your forgiveness and pardon, and be comfortable talking about that publicly.