Matthew 9:1 – Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. 2 Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”
3 But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?”
4 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
7 And the man jumped up and went home! 8 Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority. (NLT)
Many years ago there was a Mel Brooks comedy by the name of High Anxiety. My sister and I would often quote a line from that movie in a joking way. We would say, “There are a lot of sick people in the world. Sick, sick people.” Indeed, there are a lot of sick people in the world, in fact, we’re all sick! We all suffer from a sickness in our souls called sin.
While on this earth, Jesus cared for people in many ways. He taught about God and grace, he fed multitudes, and he healed. Ultimately, Jesus came to heal, but it wasn’t physical healing that was his top priority, it was the healing we all need from sin sickness. The ancient Jews were well aware that sin prevented them from enjoying a close relationship with God, therefore when Jesus encountered this suffering man, he granted him what his soul needed most, forgiveness. The religious teachers did not believe that Jesus was of God, and they accused him of blasphemy. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus basically says, “All right, if that’s not what you want I’ll go ahead and cure his physical infirmities.”
In verse nine the people praise God for Jesus, but I’m not sure as to exactly why they were praising God. Were they praising God for the healing of physical infirmity, or for the forgiveness of sins? I do believe that miraculous healings occur, and have witnessed it myself, but I think this text begs us to question ourselves: Are we be more willing to praise God for physical healing than we are the forgiveness of our sins? Everyone who was healed of physical infirmities in the Bible has long since died of other causes. Likewise, all who are healed physically in our time will also one day die a physical death. There is a healing, however, that enables us to live eternally with God. This is why we worship. This is why we praise God.
Today, let us take some time to praise God for the miraculous gift of the healing of our souls. That’s not just Good Stuff, that’s God Stuff!
Posted by Ramón Torres
And that is why I pray nightly for tyrants, dictators, religious leaders and those that follow them, as well as for those that are misled and harmed by them. Jesus can heal physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Thank you Lord. 🙏
Praise God that He is able heal physically but praise Him even more that He forgives us of our sins and therefore heals us spiritually! This allows us to spend eternity with Him!