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Matthew 9:1-8
Jesus had gotten into a boat, crossed the sea, performed a miracle in the presence of His disciples by calming the weather, performed another miracle of healing two demon-possessed men, and was then asked to leave the region (Matthew 8:23-34). He then gets back into the boat and crosses the sea again and goes back to Capernaum/His own city (Matthew 9:1, Matthew 4:13, NKJV). A paralytic was brought to Him in hopes that Jesus would heal him. But instead of simply healing the man of his physical infirmities, the text tells us that Jesus saw their faith in Him, and He says to the paralytic in Matthew 9:2 “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” This was quite shocking to some scribes that were witnessing this event. How could a man claim to forgive sins and equal Himself with God? They kept quiet but the text tells us that Jesus knew their thoughts. Jesus used this event to show His power to forgive sins, but He also then heals the paralytic’s physical issues. I believe that the reason Jesus did this in this fashion is found in Matthew 9:8 which states, “Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.” The people were still trying to figure out who Jesus was and of how He had obtained such great power. Jesus wanted them to know that God was within Him and that God sent Him to do these things to bring glory to God the Father in heaven.
This is the power of God working through His Son Jesus.
Part of the mission of Jesus in His physical ministry on this earth was to show everyone that He was truly sent from God in heaven. He was sent to save humanity from sin, eternal death, and from the sinful nature caused by the devil. In the ministry of Jesus, He was showing everyone that He was truly the Son of God – the Messiah that they had been longing for and that the Prophets had talked about. These events were recorded for us today, so that we too may read and understand who Jesus was, and who Jesus is for us today – our Savior – the Savior of the world! We too should marvel and glorify God for giving us a Savior that still, and always will have the power to heal us and forgive our sins. John 20:31 (NIV) states, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Dear LORD,
Jesus has shown us His power to heal, and He has shown us His power to forgive sins. We have Your Word to teach us the way in which we should live in respect to You and of how we should live our lives in obedience to Your will for our lives that we can only, ever find if we truly and sincerely put and keep our faith in You through opening our hearts to Jesus – the Savior of the world! We love You LORD, and we thank you for Your great magnificent love for each and every one of us. In Jesus name I pray, amen.