Exploring My Strange Bible - Who Can Forgive Sins? - Gospel of Matthew Part 16

Episode Date: August 13, 2018

We unravel a well-known story that takes place in Gospel Chapter 9 about Jesus forgiving the sins of a man who is paralyzed in legs. Then, he heals his legs so that he can get up and walk away. However, this is a controversy around this healing that Jesus performs, and it becomes a focal point for the whole story. For Jesus to forgive sins a first-century Jewish context was a loaded and symbolic act. We’ll discuss more about this and Jesus redefining the definition of God in today’s episode.

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, in this episode, we're going to keep exploring the gospel according to Matthew. These were teachings that I did a number of years ago as a teaching pastor at Door of Hope.

And we're going to look at a well-known story in the gospel of Matthew. It's in chapter 9. It's the story of Jesus forgiving the sins of a man who's paralyzed in his legs and then healing his legs so that he can get up and walk away. But there's a controversy that surrounds this healing that Jesus performs that becomes kind of the focus point for the whole story. This is an important story like all the stories in Matthew. It's not just in the Gospel of Matthew to make us think Jesus is powerful.

For Jesus to forgive sins in a first century Jewish context was a loaded and symbolic act. There was a very clear place where Israelites went to have their sins forgiven, and it wasn't some random house up in the villages of Galilee. It was the temple in Jerusalem. What Jesus is doing in this story is not just acting powerfully. He's actually redefining people's concept of God. So let's open our minds as with all these stories of Jesus, you have to make them unfamiliar for you to actually hear them with their original power. And so let's try and do that as we dive

into this amazing story about who can forgive sins. about who can forgive sins. So Matthew chapter 9, here's another one. Another story about how Jesus is amazing and awesome and does things that surprise us in wonderful ways. We have been, well, actually, let me just say this. Heather read the story. What's the story about? You don't have to be like super smart or a scholar or anything to read the short story and figure

out what it's about. It's a fairly simple story, isn't it? Some people bring a man with a broken body. He's paralyzed. We don't know how much of his body is, for sure, at least his legs. He's lying on a mat, and he's brought to Jesus by his friends. That's an interesting detail. And Jesus speaks to him really kindly, says his sins are forgiven. And it makes some people angry, doesn't it? Did you see that?

Bible teachers make them angry, and they think Jesus is blaspheming, right? And so then he has this dialogue with them. Jesus does not defuse the situation, right? He actually makes it even more volatile, and he makes this claim. At the end of it all, he says, here's why I'm doing this, and why you shouldn't, you know, be disturbed by what I'm saying. Look at verse 6. It's just kind of, he brings it all to a point. He says, I want you to know that the Son of Man, me, that I have what? What does he say? I have authority to do this, to forgive this man's sins. And then he heals the man. That's remarkable. And then look at how the story ends. Look at the last sentence of the story. The crowd, the people around, they see this, and they're filled with what? So the New International Version says,

awe. Any other translations of that last sentence there? So awestruck, or they were afraid. They're freaked out at what just happened. But then that fear turns into praise and gratefulness, and they praise God for what? Why? Why are they praising God? Because God has seen it fit to give what? Authority to humans, to this human Jesus. What's the story about, you guys? It's a short story. It's the key word. It gets repeated twice at key moments in the story what's the story about it's about jesus and jesus has what there you go you did it it's really it's not hard to understand a lot of the bible it's just there you go it's it's anytime the author repeats a word at key moments in the story there you go jesus has authority so we've as we've been going through

the gospel according to matthew we've had've had Jesus bring in the kingdom announcement. That was chapter four. We've had, yeah, he brings the kingdom, and all these people are flocking to Jesus. He's claiming that the story of the God of Israel, the creator and redeemer, he's taking back his world from what we've done to the place, and he's setting things right in Jesus. Then we had teacher Jesus, right? Chapters five through seven, and he's brilliant and amazing, and he's talking about the transformation of the heart. And then we had compassionate Jesus, the healing of the man with the skin disease. And then we had Jesus, who's surprising and includes the outsider, right? like this Roman soldier and so on. And now here, last week then we had Jesus calming the sea, and that's Jesus doing something that,

you know, in a Jewish mindset only the God of Israel can do, calming the seas. And we also learn he's confronting evil. And then now here, do you see how it's kind of like ramping up? And now we have authority figure Jesus. That's what this story is about. This story is about how Jesus has authority to do things that nobody else can do. This is about Jesus, the authority figure. Now, I don't know why that's funny, but it's funny to me too. It's funny to me too.

And here's why. I love teacher Jesus and brilliant and merciful Jesus and so on, really resonating with that, you know? And then here's a story where the whole purpose is dedicated to setting up Jesus as an authority figure. Now, whose heart is warmed by authority figure Jesus? Merciful Jesus, teacher Jesus, authority figure Jesus. So what's going on there? Not in the story, but inside of us, right? And so this may be happening in only half the room right now. It happens with me.

There is something about the word authority that when we hear it, it's not flowery, happy associations that come into our minds. My guess is for most of us. And maybe for some of us, you know, we were reading the story and we're like, yeah, Jesus, he's cool and he's authority, authority. You realize, whoa, this story is about Jesus's authority, authority. Yes, he is an authority figure. And my hunch is that for some of us, at least, if we would spend time with it, we would sense this little allergic reaction inside of us, right? So like this authority figure, Jesus. So what's going on with that there?

Why does this appeal to us in a different way than merciful, compassionate, brilliant teacher Jesus? What's going on there? Well, first, you know, majority of us in the room here, brilliant teacher Jesus. What's going on there? Well, first, you know, majority of us in the room here, you're Americans. So just like authority isn't the happiest word. And, you know, the birth of our culture is like, don't tread on me or tell me what to do. You know what I mean? Like that's where our country was birthed, right? And so there's that. Second of all, you live in Portland where authority is like a cussed, right? And so there's that. And second of all, you live in Portland, where authority is like a cuss word, right? Like someone's an authority over you, or I have

authority, like that's just, you don't talk about that kind of thing. So there's that going on too. And so here's the deal. It all has, it's very subjective, really. Some of you don't have any problems with this authority, and Jesus as an authority figure. Some of us, though, just the language makes us nervous. And it has to do with our stories, right? The kinds of people in your life, in your formative years and on through, who were authority figures in your life. And so whether it was parents and whether they did a really bad job or a good job. And then you had teachers, and then you've had supervisors and coworkers and managers or something like that, bosses.

And all of that shapes our view of authority. And it's just subjective for me too, right? So just sharing very personally why I have a little allergic reaction to authority figure Jesus. And it's subjective for me too. It's just part of my story. So the most, the formative years of my life here in Portland

were spent absolutely immersed in skateboard culture, right? So back when the Pearl District was like half empty warehouses everywhere, right? And when East Portland was like seedy and sketchy, and the action was in Beaverton and Gresham. That's where people actually wanted to live, right? And so there you go. Whoa, that was crazy, my microphone. But there you go. That was Portland, you know, 20 years ago. And so, but for skateboarders, it's paradise, right? The core of the city is paradise. And so, in the movie, there's a little movie playing in the head of a skateboarder at all times. And how that, the main star is yourself, right? And then how that movie goes is like you're skateboarding all the time and trying to gain all

these new tricks and skills or whatever, because one day you're going to make it. And you're skateboarding all the time and trying to gain all these new tricks and skills or whatever because one day you're going to make it and someone's going to pay you to skateboard, right? Until you're 30 and your body's totally shattered, right? And then also in this movie, the Pearl District is just a paradise, right? All the loading docks and ledges and so on. But also in that movie, there is an authority figure. And those authority figures are your arch nemesis, right? It's the two-headed dragon, right? And who's your

arch nemesis? Skateboarders. Security guards, right? Who think they have authority. And then police officers who actually do have authority, right? And so, but it's silly. This was in the movies and skateboard videos and magazines and so on. Like, those are the bad guys. Those are the bad people. That's how they're always portrayed, right? And so, and it's silly.

It's such a self-centered view. Because, like, you're down there, and you're actually ruining someone's property. And then they have these people come as authority figures to tell you to stop. And you get offended. Right? As skateboarders, you're like, how dare you tell me what to do with your property? That is the logic that's going on in the mind of a skateboarder. And it's illogic, right?

It doesn't make any sense at all. But there you go. That's what's going on. That's my formative world growing up. And so this is not a respectable character trait in me. I'm just telling you I just have this stick it to the man kind of thing. It's my default. I have to actively choose to not respond to authority figures in that way. You have your own story, but you guys get what I'm talking about here. And so here's a story

whose sole purpose is to establish Jesus as like a supreme authority figure. So what do you do with that? Well, there's a number of things you do with it. First of all, you have to check yourself. And you say, you and I all have different ideas of what it means for a person to be in authority. Those are subjective because they're based on our experience and our life story. Because most of our experiences of authority are of someone who has their will, their purpose. And they impose that from some kind of distance or an elevated distance, and then there's the threat of some kind of punishment or negative consequences that threaten if you're not going to comply with their will

and submit to their authority in some way. That's how it's gone for most of us, and most of us along the way have really negative experience with somebody who loves to do that. And so then we come to the Bible and we read about God's authority or about Jesus right here having authority. And we just fill in what authority is and what it means. We just read that into the story. As if somehow our life experience actually determines the meaning of authority. It's as if somehow our life experience actually determines the meaning of authority. And so what it means to be a Christian is, as always, to come to these stories about Jesus and to let them redefine everything for us.

So with your view of God, we don't believe in some other God and then Jesus. We believe that Jesus is the revelation of who God is. And so if we have ideas about God, we let them be challenged and corrected and undermined by these stories. And with the same with our view of authority. And so here's the question I want to put to the story as we work through it, is what kind of authority does Jesus have? And what does Jesus do with his authority? And what are the kinds of people that are threatened by his authority? And then what kinds of people are liberated, they're healed by Jesus's authority? And once you read through the story, you realize this is a completely

different category of authority. It's an authority where when I grasp it, I'm eager to surrender to it. So let's dive into the story, and we'll just kind of see where it leads us. You guys with me? Okay. So just first sentence, chapter 9. Jesus stepped into a boat.

He's on a boat. He crossed over and came to his own town. So if you were last week, he had crossed the lake, and he had the whole scene with the cemetery and the two crazy guys, and so now he's back, coming back to his side of the lake. And some men brought to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat, and Jesus saw their faith, and then he responds to them. So let's pause for a second here. So some of you actually might be familiar with this story, and you'll notice something. How many of you know the story

where Jesus is in a house, there's crowds around the door, and there's some guys who have a friend who's paralyzed, and they can't get near Jesus. So do you remember what they do? They crawl up on the roof of the house, flat roof house, and they just start like shredding the roof to pieces, right? They just tear it apart. They're so desperate, and then they lower the guy on ropes down in front of Jesus in the house. You guys remember that story? That's this story. That's this story. If you go read, this story is found in Matthew, but also in the gospel according to Mark and Luke. And if you compare them all, what you'll see is Matthew is giving you like the super condensed version. So he knows you can go find, you know, a fuller version of this story here. He's not telling the

story without, there's no house, there's no destruction of the roof, there's no crowds or anything. He's abbreviated the story down to emphasize the things that you so easily picked up. Jesus as an authority figure. For him, that's what this episode is about. But that's the story right here, the house and so on. So some men approach him. We know in a house, but he's not concerned with those details. So you have these guys, and they bring their friend who's paralyzed, right? This body doesn't work. Now just look at how this initial scene goes, this opening scene. These guys bring the paralyzed man. He's lying on the mat. Look at Jesus' response. What does Jesus notice?

He sees this scene happening in front of him. What does Jesus notice? He sees the scene happening in front of him. What does he notice? What does it say? Their faith. Now that's interesting. That's interesting for a lot of different reasons. First of all, in English, we would almost never say, I see your faith. Would you ever say that to people? You're like, I see your faith. What wonderful faith I see. So no, we don't. For us, faith is religious faith. If we say someone has religious faith, what we're talking about is their beliefs. Are they a person of faith? Which means, do they believe in God? Do they believe some of the implications about that for human beings

and how we should live or something like that? That's how we use the word faith. That is not what faith means right here. What is Jesus actually seeing? What does Jesus see in front of him? He sees four guys carrying their friend who can't walk. That's what he sees. But what Matthew says is he's seeing their faith.

So did Jesus have some side interview with them to find out about their religious beliefs or something? Like, what does that mean? Of course not. He's looking at their behavior. He's looking at their actions. And so this is a very simple little detail in the story, but it's profound.

What is faith in this story? Faith is the mindset of these guys. Presumably, it includes the guy, the paralyzed man. He's not kicking and screaming like, no, don't take me to Jesus. Like, he wants this too. So there's five of them carrying him. And it's this mindset that there is something wrong with me. And Jesus can do something for me that I cannot do for myself. I have to get in front of Jesus. I have to get to Jesus. That's it. That's it.

They will not be deterred. They have to get in front of Jesus because of this deep, visceral conviction that their friend has this need that cannot be fixed by anybody else. I have to get to Jesus. That's faith in this story. And so, yes, it has to do, it's something they believe about Jesus, namely that Jesus can do something to heal and transform our friend, namely that Jesus can do something to heal and transform our friend. But it's not just a belief. It's their behavior.

And it's very simple. If you, in the world of the Bible, in the teaching of the Bible, faith, if you want to know what you really believe, if you want to know what you have faith in, don't pay attention to your words, first of all, what you say you believe, right? Because that changes depending on the audience and who you're looking to impress, right? And actually don't even look at what you think you believe because that's fickle too. Have you had your coffee yet, you know? Like have you been eating right and so on and who are your friends and so on? So that's subjective too. If you want to know what you actually believe, look at how you live. Look at how you behave. That will tell you the truth

about what you actually believe about God, about yourself, and about other people. And so Jesus looks at their behavior and their choices reveal this desperation to get in front of him because they believe that only Jesus can do something for their friend. That's faith. And notice also, whose faith is Jesus looking at? It's their faith. So he sees their faith, and it's their faith. And this is remarkable. Who is Jesus going to go on to talk to here? Not all of them. Do you see that? Who does he say? What does he say his words to? He said to the man, to the paralyzed man. And then he just addresses him throughout the rest of the story. So there's another layer here. This is what we call a community of faith.

This is why we have as our second pillar at Door of Hope, community. And it's just this basic belief that not just following Jesus, even trying to believe in Jesus and live out the implications of that, it's just impossible to do that by yourself. And here's this beautiful illustration of a case where there's a paralyzed man, and for one reason or another, he doesn't have the ability to get himself in front of Jesus. It's actually the community of faith around him that carries him into this transformational encounter with Jesus. It's this wonderful narrative illustration of what a community of faith does. There are times when my faith, I may have faith to get me in front of Jesus, but it's not actually motivating me to get where I need to get in front of Jesus.

Sometimes it's somebody else's faith in Jesus that's going to help move me and get me in front of Jesus to do what's necessary. Are you with me here? This is so profound. You need people. That's what I'm telling you right now. You need other disciples of Jesus in your life because your faith won't be sufficient all of the time.

And that's just part of being human. So Jesus sees their faith, and he says to the man, and then here's the one-liner he delivers. Take heart or take courage, son. This is not John Wayne speak right here. It's the son, you know, this kind of thing. He uses the word little boy. And this is not a little boy.

He's a man. But he calls him a little boy. And he tells him not to be afraid. And then he says this line, your sins are forgiven. Now let's just, let's pause and reflect on this, because the story moves on to talk about the religious leaders and what they think about what Jesus just said. Your sins are forgiven. Now just put yourself in the scene, right? Put yourself in that moment in front of Jesus. The four friends came, they set him

down. It's this paralyzed man in front of Jesus, and he says, little, little boy, don't be afraid. Your sins are forgiven. Now, if you're the, if you are the paralyzed man, how are you feeling right now? Let's just be honest. Don't, like, be religious, right? Like, how do you feel right now? Is it ever bad to have your sins forgiven in person by Jesus? No, that's rad. So, you know, like, it's a good day already, you know? That's happened.

But, right? It's like, Jesus, I got this thing with my legs that's fairly obvious. I was hoping I'm here because I want that to be dealt with. Are you with me here? What's going on here? Now, Jesus is going to heal his legs. He's going to. But it's not what he says first. What's that about?

That's interesting. Does Jesus not think that that's as important? Is Jesus implying, as maybe some people have read this story, that he thinks the spiritual, the state of one's soul, is more important than the state of one's body? Is that what we're supposed to take away from this? Is it that it's only after dealing with the spiritual element that he thinks it's like, what's happening here? And it raises other questions too, like, so this man's body is broken. Is Jesus implying that his broken body is a result of his sin somehow? And so his sins need to be forgiven before he can be? Is it that kind of thing going on? Like, what's happening here? And I think this

is why the story is in the Gospel of Matthew, I'm sure. This is why, as the disciples were around witnessing this, this clearly stuck in their memory, right? This powerful moment in the story. Why does Jesus talk about forgiveness first and then heal? So part of it, I think, is for us as Westerners, we just have this huge disconnect with our view of our bodies and ourselves. And somehow we think that our emotional, spiritual health is totally disconnected from our actual physical existence. So that's just a really distorted view of the world right there. Somehow we're not all whole and this isn't all interconnected. So that's a very different view of the human self that's just assumed in the Bible that comes from a different culture than ours.

But second is that the scriptures really do have a nuanced way of talking about the relationship of sickness and bad health and sin. And it's not a simple connection. So you have stories. You have stories like this in the Bible about, say, like a character named Miriam, Moses's sister. And at this key moment, as the people of Israel are wandering in the wilderness, she starts bad-mouthing Moses and undermining his leadership in front of everybody. It's just really bad etiquette, you know? And it's just, it's a crucial moment, and she just undermines everything. And And it's just, it's a crucial moment, and she just undermines everything. And so as a result, she gets a skin disease. She really gets a skin disease, you know? And then she was like, holy cow, and she confesses,

and Moses intercedes on her behalf, and she gets better. But there you go, that's a story about someone getting sick as a result of really stupid, selfish, sinful decision. So that's in the Bible. That's in Jesus' Bible. And then there's also psalms and prayers in Jesus' Bible, where, like Psalm 32, it's a psalm of confession, and the poet is saying, man, there's this horrible thing that I did, and I didn't tell anybody, and I didn't tell God. I didn't confess it or own up to it. And he talks about the physical effects that it has, that it drained his body of energy. It's like he's talking about anxiety and stress and worry, and it just ruined his body, he said. So there's, it's not God sending it as punishment or something

like that. It's just the effects of sin and guilt. When we don't get them out, they ruin the human body. But then you also have in Jesus' same Bible, a whole book of the Bible, about a man who's very, very sick. And what did he ever do wrong? What am I talking about? What book of the Bible? The book of Job, right? The book of the bible the book of job right the book of job and the whole point of that book is just because someone is sick does not mean necessarily that they've done anything wrong or that god has ticked at them in in any way so all three of those views exist in jesus bible right and here's what's really interesting is there was another occasion when someone with a broken body is presented to jesus and look here it's in john chapter 9 you'll just see where i'm

going here this is really interesting jesus was going along and he saw a man blind from birth And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This guy or his parents that he was born blind? So just stop right there. Do you see their logic here? So they're ignoring the book of Job. They're not paying attention to the nuance of Psalm 32, and they're just going for the story of Miriam, right? So they're appealing to a story in their Bible and a mindset while ignoring other parts of the Bible. And look at Jesus' response. He's just like, wrong question.

Why are you obsessed with that question? Neither this man nor his parents sin. Why are you so set on speculating about why and the cause? As if you want to be God and understand the cause of everything in the universe. He says, listen, don't think about why. Think about the result that this is going to have. It will result in the work of God being displayed through him. So here's the deal. Let's keep that up there and think about this story right here. So here's the deal. Let's keep that up there and think about this story right here. Can you as a Christian assume that when your body breaks down, or a loved one, their body breaks down, something happens, can you assume that they've done something wrong and that God's sending this as punishment? Answer. No. Are you with me? Here, let's just be very clear about that. No, right? The Bible recognizes the complexity

of human behavior, our moral decisions, the effects of our moral decisions, and there's a whole host of explanations, and we are not prophets with divine insight to always know why. And second of all, Jesus thinks that's the wrong question. What he thinks is that having a broken body creates an environment where someone, when they come to Jesus, that suffering all of a sudden has the chance to transform that person. Their experience of hardship has the ability both to display God's mercy and grace, but also to change that person, whether it's their body is healed or something else. That's how Jesus views the situation. And so I think that's where I would encourage us to go here. So I don't think Jesus is implying that this guy is a horrible man,

that he's been punished all these years and paralyzed. No, the whole point is don't let your mind, you don't know why and you're not ever going to know why. What I do think we should ask is why does Jesus say this first? Why does he say it first? So Jesus has some insight and he always has insight into people. He always treats people as individuals, never with formulas or categories. He treats them as individuals and he says precisely what people need to hear. We'll see this time and again as we go through the Gospel of Matthew. And so Jesus

discerns that for this guy, so this guy grew up in this culture. There's a paralyzed man who grew up in this culture where everyone he knows, everyone stares at him and concludes, oh yeah, he did something, right? And how could you not begin to believe that as the years go by? And then you begin to believe that about yourself, and then what does that do to your view of God? Is you're not getting better? Well, if I'm in this mess and my body is like this because I did something to offend God and I'm not getting better, it must mean that he is perpetually angry with me. And what is it that I did wrong? Like that's where this guy lives

because this is where Jesus decides their default category. And so Jesus discerns that there's something going on in this man where this is what he needs to hear first. Jesus discerns that if he were to heal this man's body, but were to never address this issue of his view of God and his view of himself and where he stands with God, Jesus discerns that he will not have actually have fully healed and helped this man. It's not that he thinks that spirit is more important than body. It's that he's fully healed and helped this man. It's not that he thinks that

spirit is more important than body. It's that he's discerning that this man needs to hear first and foremost that God's not angry with him and that he's not being punished. Are you with me here? Look at how he addresses him. He's not giving a lecture. These tender, tender words. Little boy, tender words. Little boy, don't be afraid. You are right with God. God's not angry with you. You're forgiven. I mean, just very personal and compassionate. And so this is the first thing it should do to remake our view of authority, is what does Jesus do with his authority? He doesn't maintain elevated distance. He moves right towards people and says to them precisely what they need to hear.

That's what Jesus does with his authority. It's very different than a security guard. It's just a totally different category. It's also a very dangerous thing to say in Jesus' culture. Look at the response of these guys here. Verse 3. At this, some of the teachers of the law,

and therefore law, think Jewish categories, Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible, and then all of the discussion of the rabbis about how to live faithfully to God and follow the laws of the Torah. These are Bible teachers. They're me. They're like your local Bible teacher. That's what these guys are up in Galilee. And what are they doing? They are talking amongst themselves saying, oh my gosh, this guy, right? This fellow's blaspheming. He's blaspheming. Now, I think Matthew just assumes that you're going to know what that means or what that implies. What has Jesus said? He's only said two things, really. So he said, you know, don't be afraid, little boy. Is that blasphemous? Nope. Okay, that's not a good

candidate. So your sins are forgiven. That must be it. That's what Jesus said that's blasphemous. And some of you might put that together. For others of us, we need to connect the dots more. So if you're living in Jesus' day, how do you experience and know that you have forgiveness for some wrong that you've done from the God of Israel? How do you know? from the God of Israel. How do you know? So, it is, you do pray like the Psalm, Psalm 32, you do confess your sin. There's this very personal moment, but forgiveness is never a private affair in Jesus' culture. It's a public matter. So, it begins with this confession of

the heart, but then there actually is something concrete and real that you go do. And it has to do with a building, an actual building that's in Jerusalem. And so I'll show you a picture of it, a reconstructed picture of it from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Just look at that. It's so awesome. So this is one of the coolest maps. It's this fully, it's this large-scale reconstruction of Jerusalem in Jesus's time period, in the first century, at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It's about half a football field the size of this model. It's so awesome. You can spend hours there cruising around. And so from this vantage point right here, it's as if you're standing on the Mount of Olives to the

east. And this is what you would see. And so on the left there, that red roof structure there, that's called the colonnade or the portico of Solomon. It's called in the book of Acts. So this is where all the money changes would be. When people come, this is where they would exchange their money and come buy animals and so on. And buying animals is really key to enacting God's forgiveness on your behalf. So here's, I mean, you're up in Galilee and you steal your neighbor's donkey or something like that, right? And so what do you do? You do, I confess, and pray, but then you get on your donkey, you know, and you go to Jerusalem. And you go, you know, if you don't want to carry a lambie with you, you could do that. But if you didn't want to, you could just bring some cash, exchange it right there, and buy an animal. And then you'd go from the red roof

structure across the courtyard. Let's zoom in. We can zoom in once more on the temple. Yeah. And so then you would come and you would come that little gold door and there would be a line there because there's a hundred people in front of you that stole their neighbor's donkey or whatever, you know. So they're all there. And so it's a very public experience doing this. And so your turn would come up, and then a priest would greet you. And what are they doing? Through that gold door is an inner courtyard,

and that's where a large, like this tall, huge, big altar is. And since you're coming midday, the priests, they start their day with white clothing. But by this point of the day, it's just bloody because it's like a butcher shop, right? And what are they doing? They're slaughtering, they're sacrificing animals. And so you come to the altar, these priests guide you, you have this conversation before the God of Israel, whose presence dwells in the temple. You name what you've done. The priest takes this lamb and slits its throat and pours its blood into a bowl. Now, just think about how visceral this experience is, right? You're

watching this animal die because of the wrong that you have done, right? You'd made a stupid, sinful decision. You've contributed once again to why this world is such a screwed up place. And so you're watching, this is a symbol that's meant to help you understand the gravity of our decisions, that our decisions matter and they create real ruin in the world. And so this animal dies on my behalf, and then its body is burned on the altar. Atonement is made. My sin is covered, and the priest says to me, your sins are forgiven. There you go. That's like, I could have read Leviticus chapter 4 to you, but instead I did this, right? So there you go. That's like, I could have read Leviticus chapter 4 to you, but instead I did this, right?

So there you go. That's how it works. And if you are an Israelite in Jesus' day, this is not legalistic. This is not oppressive to you. This is awesome, right? Because you stole your neighbor's donkey. And although I can just say I'm sorry to God, like it still leaves this chasm and this

rift in the relationship. And God in his grace and mercy has dwelt among us despite our sin and selfishness, and he's provided a very clear way for my sins to be covered and for my guilt to be dealt with. And so you leave the temple praising God and singing psalms that you grew up memorizing, and it's an experience of grace. And so here, look at what Jesus is doing here. Jesus, he's 70 miles north up in Galilee, and Jesus, here's this man who may or may not, it doesn't matter, be paralyzed because of his sin. That's not the point. What Jesus does is he says, you are right with God. And Jesus just pronounces what the priest would pronounce. And has this man gone to Al for a sacrifice in Jerusalem? Like, no.

Like, Jesus just asserts his authority to declare that this man is right with God, completely apart from ever going and doing this. Are you with me here? This would speak loud and clear to everybody who's standing right there. We need to connect the dots for us, because this is not our culture and so on. But do you see how real and concrete of a scandal that Jesus is opening up here? And it makes about as much sense as like, I have my, we live in a neighborhood with a lot of dogs, and they poop in each other's yards and stuff like that. And so there's these feuding battle lines on my street about like, oh, you know, they never clean up their dog or whatever. And so, but here, we don't have a dog. And so here's what I can't do is like my neighbor's dog poops on the

other person's yard across the street. What I cannot do is just waltz into the middle of their issue and be like, you're forgiven, right, to that person, you know. And my neighbor here is just going to be like, well, it's not your dog or your yard. You know, like, how do you have the right to forgive them? You see what I'm saying here? That's what Jesus is doing. In the Bible teacher's mind, there's this paralyzed man, and then there's God. And Jesus is just putting himself right here in the place of the priest and in the place of the temple and saying, you are forgiven. He's offering God's forgiveness as if it's his to offer. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? Now again, Matthew could have just written a story and just said, hey, dear reader,

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the very human embodiment of the God of Israel, the creator of the world. He could say that, but what a boring book that would be to read, right? And so the disciples, this experience just rocked them. And it's absolutely scandalous. Absolutely scandalous. And Jesus knows it. And instead of defusing it, he turns up the heat. Look at what he says. Verse 4. He says, knowing their thoughts, Jesus could perceive. That's what these Bible teachers are thinking. Jesus said, why are you entertaining these evil thoughts in your heart? Which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk?

Which is easier, to say to someone you are right with God or to transform their bodies? Which is easier? So can any kook sit by the entry to the New York subway station and just yell at people, you're forgiven, God forgives you, you're forgiven, you're good with God? Like, can anybody do that? Can you waltz around and say, like, yes, of course you can. Anybody can say that. How do you fact check it?

You know? Is there a website you go to? Like, you look up, like, am I forgiven? I don't know. I need to find out. Like, how do you? Do you see? It's much easier.

And he knows that his words and him asserting his authority is the issue. And so he says, all right, if you don't believe this, then let me give you a real demonstration of what my authority does, which is new creation, to heal this man's body, which is exactly what he does. He says, I want you to know that the Son of Man, that's Jesus' favorite term for himself, that the Son of Man has authority right here, right now, to offer God's forgiveness, to forgive sins. He said to the paralyzed man, get up, take your mat, go home. The man got up and went home. If Jesus, which is easier, to say the sins are forgiven or to transform his body? Let me just do that real quick for you. Boom. That's right. And so if that just happened,

what does it say about the forgiveness issue? You get it. Right? He doesn't even answer their question. Right? He lets the scenario and the man getting up. What a powerful response to their question. Look at how the story closes. When the crowds saw this, this is everybody standing around, what's their first response? We talked about this earlier. Their first response is fear. They're awestruck, right? They're filled. There's something scary. This is very similar to the story about Jesus calming the sea sea and the disciples instead of saying yay hooray jesus you saved us they're just like oh my gosh like get me off the boat like who is what kind of human is this remember that was their response what kind of human is this

who am i in the boat with right now and that's exactly what these crowds their first respond with fear just like oh if what just happened really means what it means, then Jesus is who he's saying he is. And what that means is that he is the very meeting place of heaven and earth. Jesus is not saying that the temple's bad, just like he wasn't saying that the Torah and the Old Testament is bad. He's saying they were pointing forward to a fulfillment. He said, I've come to fulfill them. And so the temple was this meeting place of heaven and earth and of God and humanity and of God's holiness and grace and human sin.

And it's the place where God is committed to forgiving and transforming his relationship with people. And Jesus just inserts himself right into the middle of this equation, and he says that he is this new temple. He is this new priest. He is God offering forgiveness to people, just declaring it. And it freaks people out because they have no categories for this. But that's not how it ends.

First, they're filled with fear for the implications about who Jesus is and his authority. But then look what happens. Their fear is converted into what? Into worship. into worship. They begin to worship God because God's authority has been given to and is found expression through this human Jesus, which means this. They've had a conversion of their view of authority. What kind of authority figure is Jesus? He's not, whatever category you have from your own growing up experience, like don't impose that on Jesus. Jesus is a different category altogether. He's his own category. And so what is, let's ask our questions again. What does Jesus do with his

authority? What he does is he doesn't maintain a distance. He actually meets this broken man right where he's at. And what kind of authority does Jesus have? He has authority to both name and deal with the deepest brokenness and sin and flaws and failures of the human heart and mind. And what kinds of people are threatened by that kind of authority? people are threatened by that kind of authority. People who are more interested in preserving religious traditions than encountering the living God in a transforming personal encounter. That's who's threatened by Jesus. And who finds themselves liberated by the authority of Jesus? People with faith. People who just have this deep conviction,

there is something really wrong with me or with my friend. I can't do anything about it. I have to get in front of Jesus. And people who are willing to come to Jesus and just surrender it all and just say, I need your help, Jesus. They find Jesus' authority absolutely healing and transformative. Are you with me here? Isn't this a great story? This is so profound. This is so profound. What does this mean for us? What does this mean to you? I can't claim to know that, right? But I think for many of us, it reveals a Jesus who,

these words are a word of comfort, deep comfort, because there are a whole bunch of us who labor under this false idea about who God is, that he's like your way, you know, like that he's like, you're like way, you know, like wound too tight parent or teacher or whatever. That's just never pleased enough with you, always pointing out your failures and faults. You'll never measure up, this kind of thing. And you begin to believe those things about yourself. And those beliefs can actually have negative physical consequences on someone's body over the decades of a human life, those negative self-loathing kinds of thought patterns. And so for people who are in that mindset, and I think that that's likely the mindset that Jesus is addressing here, and why he addresses that issue first. Jesus meets this person right where they're at, and he just says, little child, don't be afraid.

God is not angry at you. The fact that Jesus is here doing what he's doing means that God has made a decision to meet this man despite his flaws and failures, to meet him right there, and to pronounce that he is on good terms with God. And some of you need to hear that and you need to know it this morning. You need to. And at the same time, it speaks a word of comfort. It also speaks a word of challenge. And that's because grace is a

scandalous thing, right? Because there are some people that can walk away from being forgiven like this, and they can think, whoa, like, wow, this is actually not a big deal that I behave in these ways, right? And that I do these things that hurt myself and other people or whatever. And so, like, it must, God's over, Jesus is overlooking it. So, I just kind of, and that's just a dangerous mindset. Like, just trust me, you don't want to play that game. And so grace actually increases the demand for response. It increases our accountability to respond to this generosity that's in front of us. Not because, like, God's a jerk, but because what does that say about me and the state of my heart that I look such generosity in the face and then just take advantage of it.

It's actually hardening myself in those same patterns that Jesus is trying to free you from. And so there might be some of us today who we hear these words of Jesus to you. Little child, stop being afraid. You're forgiven. And you need to hear those words as words that shake you awake to the reality of the decisions that you've been making and the way that they affect people and the way that they affect yourself and that they're wrong. And that God's not angry with you. He's moving towards you. He's trying to heal you if you'll let him. And so which of these two, you if you'll let him. And so which of these two, this story speaks to you, I have no idea. That's not my job. That's the Holy Spirit. We welcome the Spirit into our gathering with the whole song.

And so during this time of prayer and worship and reflection, I just encourage you to discern what Jesus is saying to you with his authority. discern what Jesus is saying to you with his authority. You guys, thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible podcast. We'll see you next time, and we'll keep exploring the gospel according to Matthew. Let's follow Jesus together, and grace and peace to you.