Matthew 9:1 So he stepped into a boat, crossed the lake again and came to his own town. 2 Some people brought him a paralyzed man lying on a mattress. When Yeshua saw their trust, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” 3 On seeing this, some of the Torah-teachers said among themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” 4 Yeshua, knowing what they were thinking, said, “Why are you entertaining evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Tell me, which is easier to say — ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your mattress, and go home!” 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and said a b’rakhah to God the Giver of such authority to human beings.
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Mark 2:1 After a while, Yeshua returned to K’far-Nachum. The word spread that he was back, 2 and so many people gathered around the house that there was no longer any room, not even in front of the door. While he was preaching the message to them, 3 four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man. 4 They could not get near Yeshua because of the crowd, so they stripped the roof over the place where he was, made an opening, and lowered the stretcher with the paralytic lying on it. 5 Seeing their trust, Yeshua said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Some Torah-teachers sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “How can this fellow say such a thing? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God?” 8 But immediately Yeshua, perceiving in his spirit what they were thinking, said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven’? or ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk’? 10 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you: get up, pick up your stretcher and go home!” 12 In front of everyone the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and left. They were all utterly amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
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Luke 5:17 One day when Yeshua was teaching, there were P’rushim and Torah-teachers present who had come from various villages in the Galil and Y’hudah, also from Yerushalayim; and the power of Adonai was with him to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. They wanted to bring him inside and lay him in front of Yeshua, 19 but they couldn’t find a way to get him in because of the crowd. So they went up onto the roof and lowered him on his mattress through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, right in front of Yeshua. 20 When Yeshua saw their trust, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim began thinking, “Who is this fellow that speaks such blasphemies? Who can forgive sin except God?” 22 But Yeshua, knowing what they were thinking, answered, “Why are you turning over such thoughts in your hearts? 23 Which is easier to say? ‘Your sins are forgiven you’? or ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic, “I say to you: get up, pick up your mattress and go home!” 25 Immediately, in front of everyone, he stood up, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home praising God. 26 Amazement seized them all, and they made a b’rakhah to God; they were awestruck, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
Uh-oh!
Here’s a Man that is claiming to be able to forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins, right? If A=B and B=C, that means A=C, correct?
If Yeshua has this authority, He must be God. And the Torah-teachers were trying to wrap their heads around this whole thing. Because this guy did NOT fit their expectations.
Here it is again. Trust. This is starting to become a really big theme with healing. Which makes sense. If you can’t believe you can be healed, why would Abba honor your lack of faith? The entire point of faith is to trust so why would He do something for you in order to try to get you to believe Him?
Is His Word not enough?
Do you need evidence before you believe?
Do you need to put Abba on trial to determine whether or not His testimony is right and true?
Besides, even if He does miracles for you, how long will it be before you are trying Him again? “I need more!”
Starting to sound like Israel leaving Egypt, huh? Yeah, and this is you too.
Most of us are very familiar with this story but think about it in full. Yeshua is inside a house and the crowds are preventing any access whatsoever. These friends of a man that is paralyzed are doing the unthinkable to get their friend in front of this Man that seems to have the ability to heal.
First, they have to climb up on the roof with their paralyzed friend. Have you ever climbed a ladder to get on a roof? You’re super careful, right? One slip and you will have a very quick meeting with the ground. Now imagine hauling your paralyzed friend up the ladder with you. Imagine being the paralyzed friend being pulled up the ladder. Doesn’t sound OSHA approved to me.
This paralyzed friend has to start by having faith in his friends. One mistake and that’s likely it for him. But the promise, or even slight suggestion, of being healed is worth facing death.
Now, getting up there is only half the battle. Most people’s roofs are designed to not let drops of water in, let alone a human being. It is unlikely this home was equipped with a modular roofing system that allows roof tiles to be removed for the enjoyment of a spectacular view on a nice clear day. It’s also unlikely they had a skylight that could be unscrewed for easy 2’ x 4’ access. It was not built anything like your house today. Beams of wood, a wood or earth decking maybe, and many pottery tiles perhaps.
They had to literally break into the house. Destructively. As in break a hole in the roof the size of a full grown man. The police will be called and they will be arrested. Lawbreakers.
“I’ll bet this is why their life is as bad as it is. What do you expect when you’re a lawbreaker? This must be justice, right?”
But they had faith. The friends had faith that their friend could be made whole. The paralyzed man had faith in his friends to help him see this Healer face-to-face. They all knew he could be healed. And they were willing to risk a ton of trouble to get it.
Desperation causes us to do crazy things. But the level of crazy we tend to opt for is generally in moving away from God. We choose to self-medicate and justify our existence. We choose to cast blame on the reasons why we have no faith.
“Life is unfair and I got screwed in this deal. Who can I blame? That 6th grade bully? The teenage boy/girl that rejected me? My parents? God? Somebody is guilty and it clearly isn’t me.”
Our lives are a mess. Maybe not in all areas but I’d wager there are a few wedges in our lives we keep buckled down tight. We know it’s not a good idea to hide these things but what else can we do? Confess? Be vulnerable? Seek forgiveness? Forgive? Not me!
But we need forgiveness. We also need to forgive.
As this scene comes to a close, Yeshua declares that sins are forgiven. Think of the homeowner as they hear this.
“What! These people just put a hole in my house! Let them pay for what they’ve done THEN let’s forgive their sins. There needs to be order to restoration. Action, then forgiveness!! That’s the American way.”
Isn’t this us? Abba does something for someone and our first thought is our own state. Sure, we’re “happy” for them but what about us? Can I get a little love also?
This is simple selfishness and I don’t think any of us are surprised we behave like this.
But one thing that is interesting about this declaration of being able to forgive sins is that it’s more evidence of who He really is. Before, we saw Him accelerate time with the wine, His Word and His touch was enough to reverse time and heal people, He commands evil spirits to be silent (as they are shouting out that He is the Son of God -- and they obey), He delivers people from spiritual defilement and they are set free.
Now, He claims to forgive sins? Like the Torah-teachers said, only God can forgive sins. The evidence is growing and growing, and He’s just been exposed in front of said Torah-teachers. He was in a synagogue before and they saw the deliverance. Now these new guys are seeing something different. Eventually, they will all start to compare notes and it’s going to make a lot of them angry.
One other small detail is that this man must have been paralyzed due to sin. Forgiveness is what brought him healing. Yeshua said he was forgiven, then he was told to get up. Yeshua said he had trust before but now a new level of trust is entering in. Not just believing He can heal, but believing He did heal. And he has to stand. Think about that moment. Assume you did not have the capacity to forgive and Yeshua told you to do so. You’d be hesitant at first but then you did it. All of a sudden the blood rushes into your heart and the sensation would be overwhelming. Learning to balance yourself and not fall down turns out to be a minor issue after all. That feeling of release you’d experience is exactly how this man must have felt.
I think we all (on some level) believe He can do whatever He wants to do. But how is your belief around it actually happening? We hear stories of how other people have been miraculously healed and, once we get over the initial skepticism (if we do), we are reluctantly able to rejoice.
“Oh…uh…yeah…praise…uh…God…”
Then there is just one last thing…
Ah, yes. The seasoned believers. They know how the Kingdom really works. Scruffy and non-pious people are not entitled to forgiveness because they haven't paid their dues. Where are the hours and hours of prayer? Where are the many years of deep study to fully and accurately interpret the Word of God? What about the unending time of service? No! They need to pay for their crimes first, then we’ll all consider whether they are serious through many years of close inspection. Once they have cleared our judgment then, and only then, will we reluctantly believe they are worthy of forgiveness.
But this is how we forgive. It’s always conditional. We need to see continued and permanent change before truly forgiving. And even then…
The scary part? Yeshua is reading your mind as you do it. Sure, you may flaunt with words what you want other people to believe but He hears those deep and wickedly dark thoughts we carry around as we size up each and every person we encounter:
Our words: “I should pray for them.”
Our thoughts: “They are so stupid.”
Our words: “Yes, sir! That’s a great idea!”
Our thoughts: “What an arrogant and moronic prick!”
Our words: “I think she’s a very nice young lady.”
Our thoughts: “Oh yeah, I’d love to have sex with that woman.”
Our words: “I’m just a self-confident woman.”
Our thoughts: “I really want to feel sexy today. I wonder if this outfit will get those guys’ attention?”
And the list goes on.
What’s funny is that we know what these thoughts are, and we think no one will ever know. But Abba knows. And He will call you out on it -- if you’ll listen.
If you do, you may very well see the miracles that He’s doing in other people’s lives.
And if you’re just crazy enough, you may see miracles of your own.