Epiphany 7 – “Who can forgive sins?” – Mark 2:1-12

Epiphany 7 – “Who can forgive sins?” – Mark 2:1-12
2/16/06 – St. Paul’s Lutheran, Union Grove – Vicar Matthew Peters

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Who can forgive sins?

Not always the first question you ask when you sit down and ponder the great mysteries of life. In fact, it often falls quite a bit further down the list I daresay.
In the Gospel lesson from Mark chapter 2, this was probably not the first thing on the mind of the men who brought their friend to see Jesus. We don’t know why the man was paralyzed. Perhaps from a sickness, maybe from an accident – it really doesn’t matter very much. What we do know, is that this paralyzed man had some very loyal – some very faithful – friends who would go to great lengths to see him made well again.
These events happen again in the city of Capernaum. This is where Jesus had met with much success, and there were many faithful followers even very early on in His ministry. Apparently this town was so excited about Jesus that they packed the house where He was staying, the doorways into the house, as well as (I would imagine) any place nearby where they might be able to hear the words that He spoke.

This was wonderful for the message and ministry of Jesus. Once again, Capernaum had proven to be receptive and glad to hear Jesus’ message. However, from the perspective of these men who were trying to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, this was a tragedy. How do you get an immobilized person to the feet of a busy man when there are people packed like sardines all around Him? How do you carry a grown man into the presence of Jesus, when you yourself couldn’t get through the door if you tried?
Most of you have probably heard the story before. So as you know, these men show great determination and walk their friend up to the flat roof of the house. Houses in Israel usually had flat-topped roofs so that they could be used for a variety of things; Drying the wash, a quiet place to sit, a cooler place to sleep on hot nights – these were not uncommon things for a roof to be used for. So there was often a set of stairs that led to the roof, or at least a decent ladder. The men get up on the roof, and begin to tear open a hole that will be large enough for their friend to fit down through. They then apparently use ropes attached to his bed, and lower the paralyzed man down through the hole right in front of where Jesus was teaching.
This was as much as they could do. They got their friend before Jesus. They wait with eagerness to see if and how Jesus will heal their buddy. What will He say? How will He do it? They listen, and hear Jesus speak to their friend,
“Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Huh? What? “…your sins are forgiven”? But that’s not what… Well, sure that’s great, but these men didn’t lug their friend across town and rip through a roof just to have his sins forgiven. They had expected Jesus to heal him. What’s this business about forgiving sins anyhow? What good is it for Jesus to forgive sins? What does that matter?
That same question, but in a wildly different form, was floating around the heads of the teachers of the law who were present in the house as well. Forgive sins? “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” What is this Jesus trying to say by forgiving sins? Doesn’t He know that it is God’s job to do that?
And you know what? They’re right. God is the only one who can forgive sins. Yet here is Jesus doing that very thing… what does that say about Jesus? It says that Jesus is God. But they could not see that. Their problem in realizing the truth about Jesus stems from the way that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law looked at the commands of God. They saw the laws as something you could keep – that you had to keep. In their eyes, the law of God was given as a set of rules that you had to live by in order for God to love you. These Jews needed to realize that the laws of God were not given so that we could keep them perfectly – but in order to show us that we need God to send us a savior from our failings.

In our Lutheran understanding, this is what we call the ‘second use’ of the law. We use it as a mirror to reflect back at ourselves and observe our sinfulness. The law shows us that we are sinners, that we need help from God.
In the Old Testament, the law served the same purpose. This is why God arranged for the people to present sacrifices in the temple. Not because the people were keeping the law perfectly, but because they weren’t – and they needed someone to pay for those sins. The sheep and cows and birds that were sacrificed on the altars pointed ahead to the final sacrifice. These daily and festival sacrifices of animals were a constant reminder to the people that God was going to send the Messiah to fulfill all that was necessary – to be that ultimate sacrifice for sin. And Jesus is that Messiah – Jesus is that sacrifice.

This is why Jesus first tells the paralyzed man, “…your sins are forgiven.” He did this in order to point all of this out to the people who were standing there. He did this to show… in His words.
“Which is easier: To say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

Who can forgive sins but God? – No one.
Who can heal but by God? – No one.
You see, Jesus does the most important thing first in order to use the more obvious healing as a proof to the crowds.
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Winding down this time of the church year, as we especially look at the early ministry of Jesus – we see as the people are provided with the clear realization that Jesus is more than a teacher… that He is God’s Son! The fulfillment of the covenant promise that they had been waiting for for so long. The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, as from our Old Testament lesson:
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

Who can forgive sins?
God can forgive sins – and He has done it by sending His Son Jesus into the world. The entire point of the encounter here with the people in this house full of listeners turns out to be the exact question that the teachers of the law ask in their hearts; “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Exactly! And Jesus has forgiven our sins – Jesus is God! True God and True Man! As we confess in the Apostles’ Creed: ‘Conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary;’

Jesus came as the Son of God and the Son of Man to proclaim the Word of the Lord – and then to take all of our sins upon Himself at the cross. He: ‘Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died, and was buried…’
As we are about to enter into the Lenten Season, in some two weeks time, this is the suffering and death that we will focus on. The agony of physical pain – but more dreadful, the torture and spiritual anguish that Jesus suffered …for you!
And once again, to give us proof that His sacrifice is complete… to establish without a doubt that Jesus Christ has authority over sin, death, and the devil: ‘The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.’

This is where we have our confidence! At the cross we are forgiven, and at the empty tomb we are made certain! This resurrection from the dead is proof that Jesus has been victorious! Throughout the entirety of the Holy Scriptures, God is pointing to this salvation. God tells us through His Word – He strengthens us and assures us through His Word and Sacraments – telling us and reminding us of those same words that He first declared to that paralyzed man as he lay there on his mat:
“Son, (Daughter,) your sins are forgiven.”

Even though the question might not be the topic of many philosophical conversations around your dinner tables, we are here tonight to remind you of the one and only answer…

Who can forgive sins?
God can forgive sins.
And He has! Through the blood of the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, God has assured each one who trusts in Him, that;
All of your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.