The Son of man has authority to forgive sins[Matt 9a]

The Son of man has authority to forgive sins

Matthew 9:1-16

Key verse 6a But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...."

Today’s passages describe three events: Jesus’ healing of a paralytic and calling of Matthew, and a question on fasting. As we go through the passages, I pray that God may give us an in-depth understanding of how God deals with man’s sin.

Introduction: Last week we learned about Jesus. The question was, who is Jesus in the essence of his being? Often he called himself a Son of Man, depicting himself to be just one of many human beings born of woman man. This was the basic premise unless he is proven otherwise. But as Jesus calmed the storm, as Jesus drove out so powerful demons, the disciples came to know that Jesus is not just a mere son of man. In him is the power and authority of the almighty God. No one in history displayed such power throughout human history. When Moses put his staff on the river, it was divided into two, and Israel was able to walk on the Red Sea as a dry ground. He did not claim this as his own work but it was the work of God Himself. Jesus by calming the raging waters demonstrated the power of God Almighty as Moses demonstrated God’s power in the Red Sea. Through this Jesus proved himself that in the essence of his being, He is the Son of God Almighty. Today’s passages introduce something new about Jesus. What is it? As we go through, I pray, God may reveal among us a new truth about Jesus, particularly in his handling of men’s sin.

First Jesus said to a paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven. Next Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, saying that He came to call sinners, not the righteous. Third, as long as the disciples are with Jesus, there is no need for fasting. On each of these stories one common theme is dealt with. That is the matter of human sin. So it is good to discuss first how sin had been viewed and handled until this time. And then we will discuss the details of each story.

God took Israel out of Egypt and lead them into the desert. In the desert, their unbelief in sin was revealed and God dealt with it with his righteous judgment; they died in the desert. They could not enter the Promised Land. God punished them according to their sin. During this time God made a treaty with Israel. This treaty is unique and different. It is called the suzerain covenant. The convent entails one theme; Israel to be God’s chosen people and God is to be their King and to protect them from all harm’s way as well as to bless them with an abundance of land, prosperity and flourishing posterity. To be his people was not without risk. God is holy and they must be holy. So sin that made them unholy must be dealt with. Sin was dealt with in two ways; by the law and by sacrificial system. The law was provided for them to keep themselves holy. But no matter how hard they try to keep the law and be holy, it was inevitable for them to sin and unacceptable to God. So for this occasion, a provision was made; this is the sacrificial system, in which though men sinned against God, they could be cleansed and become holy again by paying off their sins by sacrificing animals to God. In this sacrificial system, few things are clear; sin is the violation of the law of God, and becoming unholy and unacceptable to God, sin must be paid off by life; ie. The cost of sins is death and must be paid by his or her own life. God in his grace took animal’s life in place of men so that they may not die but live even after sinning. So sin has its cost! The cost is life. Even now no one has to tell us what happens when we go out sin against God. When one is involved in womanizing, drinking, robbing, cheating, without failure we bore its bad outcome. So again sin has its cost! The cost is life.

As indicated by the Law of Moses, sin is sinning against God only. No one else. Though we do many wrongs to others, ultimately it is against God and his law that we violate and that we must pay it off by my life. Simply it is God alone who can forgive sin and he is the only one who is worthy of forgiving sin.

So David in his remorse and repentance confessed this way; … Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

here he wronged to Bathsheba, wronged to her husband by murder… but he said he sinned against God and God only! Some understood that David sinned against God only because he was the king and he had the right and authority to do anything he wanted to do his people. But I would take it differently. All sins are against God and these sins are expressed toward other human beings, which God created as His own. So anyone who violated God’s will and purpose for that man sins against God. Like this, we can conclude that no matter what sin one committed, to judge or to forgive that sin is God’s prerogative and God’s only.

As we go through today’s word, we must bear in mind that in the backdrop of such understanding these passages must be understood.

1. Your sins are forgiven [1-8]

V1 Jesus came back to Galilee. This is the place where he worked miracles and healed the people. It’s like coming back to his home turf. It means he is picking up the work that he left off for a while. There was much popularity about Jesus as a powerful servant of God and a miracle worker. But from this day on Jesus is making a new teaching; what is that new teaching?

V2 ; some men brought a paralytic to Jesus and to him Jesus said, take heart my son, your sins are forgiven.

1. It is written also in Luke and mark. But here it is described most succinctly. It is the shortest description. As he made it short, he focused on one facet of this event; i.e. Jesus has the power to forgive sins.
2. Few men—four brought this man to Jesus. Obviously, their intent was to heal this man from paralysis. It was the need of this man and this was the primary purpose of bringing this man to Jesus by four. Also, the crowd surrounding Jesus looking intently to what Jesus was about to do had the same anticipation; healing of this man from paralysis. But Jesus said something totally unexpected and irrelevant to this man’s need; your sins are forgiven. This is irrelevant and unnecessary, and it is uncalled for!

V 3. But it created a strong distaste among the teachers of the Law. They mumbled to themselves. This fellow is blaspheming! This is not an ordinary accusation. Death is prescribed for the one who blasphemes God! The due judgment for blaspheme is death! So if this is true, then Jesus should be stoned to death. So thought the teachers of the Law. But they could not utter possibly because all the people surrounded view Jesus so highly. Here also they called Jesus ‘this fellow’. They thought Jesus as one of the members among them. Outwardly Jesus is a man. No one can discern that he is not a man. Because he was born by a woman and he lived among man as man. So he is a man! A man should not dare to forgive the sins of others! He himself is a sinner and how can he forgive the sins of others. Forgiving is God’s prerogative. No one, no man can do such things. But this fellow dared to say that he forgives the sins of this paralyzed man.

V4-5. The teachers of the law never doubted what they were thinking was right. This fellow is a blasphemer! But Jesus called it ‘evil thought’. This also is a strong statement. If one says to the other, you blasphemer! The other says to that man, you evil! This is a heated debate. Why did Jesus call them evil? The very thought that assigning the work of God as blasphemy is evil. Evil is what opposes God, no matter how it sounds or looks good. The forgiving of this man is not the work of man but the work of God because God the Father gave Jesus the authority to forgive sins! So if his forgiveness is from God, then Jesus is right and the teachers of the law are evil!. So Jesus says to them, which one is easier to say your sins are forgiven or get up and walk!
As a man, neither of them is easy. How can a man say that he can forgive the sins of others unless he is deceiving others! So is true to say this man, "get up and walk!".  A man has no power to do so! So, both of these are difficult for any men to do. Actually, in his honesty, both of them are impossible things for any men to do!

V6 the reason that Jesus said your sins are forgiven is that they may know that Jesus has the power to forgive the sins of men. Jesus wanted to show them this power. So Jesus said the man again, ...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."[6b]

What happened as soon as Jesus said this?

V7. The paralyzed man got up and went home. He was forgiven of his sins and he was healed of the paralysis. He became whole again. What went on this man’s life? As he presented himself to Jesus, he was so fearful. Why? When we present ourselves to a godly and powerful man who can perceive all truth, we will be naturally fearful if we have committed an egregious sin. If that sin caused him his paralysis, all the more so, he should be fearful. In some sense, the paralysis speaks of the sin that he had committed before. It remains as a permanent reminder of the sin that he had committed. It causes a great pain and anguish. There is a strong sense of judgment of God and condemnation from men. Living under such judgment is far worse than physical ailments. It destroys the mind, destroys the spirit and robs off all hope and meaning and purpose of life. As soon as he saw Jesus, he was fearful of that Judgment; but here Jesus said; take heart, Son! This is an implicit forgiveness and acceptance. Jesus the Son of God has the authority to forgive the sins of man and he delivers the power of forgiveness. That power is revealed in the healing of the paralysis. It is undoing of all guilty, judgment, and condemnations. He became free and right again in God! Jesus has that power and that authority.

When I came to know Jesus for the first time in my life, I thought that Jesus is just a son of man. He was born 2000 years ago, in a country in which I have no particular interest. How can he forgive my sins? But God convicted me of my sins, which I never cared before! I was day and night suffered a great fear and judgment of God. I found myself the worst sinner, who has all kinds of sins, from sexual immoralities to murder, liar .. whatever you name a sin, that was in me! How could I bear its burdens! Thousands of tons of weight were on me. It crushed my spirit, destroyed my pride and ego, and robbed me of all the hope and dreams. Yet one day God delivered me by Jesus’ grace. His suffering on the cross took away all my sins. It was gone just like that as soon as I received his grace of forgiveness! It was literally the power of God! The power of God almighty, the creator of heaven and the earth! On this man, lying flat on the floor, paralyzed on lower body, living in pain and anguish of the sins that caused him such devastating and burdensome outcome of life. So he was frozen by fear! But by Jesus word, the guilty of the all the wrong he did was gone and the paralysis was gone! It is true: Jesus can forgive sins! He has the power to do so and he has authority to do so! Only God has that prerogative but God the father delegated that authority and power to the Son of God. So here Jesus declares that the Son of man has authority to forgive sin! Here Jesus, for the first time in human history, showed a power and a will to forgive the sin of a man. Not only that, it was for the first time, sin is forgiven by direct intervention on one’s life through simply a word. For the first time, a man was forgiven and that was proven in fact. This happened even though he did not utter any word of repentance, did not sacrifice any animals. If he did one thing, he presented himself to Jesus! That’s all that he did! Here in this man, who came with fear and uncertainty, helpless in paralysis is found the proof of the forgiveness of sin. It is in his healed paralysis, in his smiling face, and joy overflowing in his lips.

So if you have any sin, known or unknown, if you are struggling because of its condemnation! Then present yourself to Jesus!

V8⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. As soon as Jesus told him to get up and walk, he got up and walked. When people saw this they praised God, who had given them such authority to men. If we look at this sentence carefully, we come to know two things from the crowds; a. They believed that Jesus forgave the sins of this man. In other words, Jesus proved that he can forgive the sins of men by this action. B. they thought that God gave men to such authority. Certainly first is true. But the second might be a mistaken understanding. But there was no choice but to understand this way because they thought that Jesus is another man! In this Jesus demonstrated that Jesus has God’s authority and deducing from this, they must accept that Jesus is the Son of God. But they failed to do so. This is a very disheartening fact! But Jesus had to work more! This blindness will continue to the end! But anyway, this must be changed and they must believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

2. I have come to call sinners [9-13]

This event is recorded in all three gospels. And in all three gospels, these three events—healing of a paralyzed man, calling of Matthew, and the question on fasting are described in sequence. In other words, all these three events are linked together historically and thematically. They happened at the beginning stage of Jesus’ ministry.

V 9. ⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Matthew was sitting at a tax collector’s booth. More likely the booth was located at the neck of a road that leads to the town. So in order to get to the town, people have no choice but to pass by this booth. At this booth, tax collectors collect taxes. They are the taxes levied against many commodities that are passing through this road. Certainly, it is possible that here the collectors can catch all people of the town to collect other taxes imposed by Roman authorities such as head tax, or man tax, etc. Since all taxes are for the Roman government—particularly the emperor, Jew hated tax collectors and they counted them unclean. In order to collect taxes, they had to handle all kinds of unclean animals as well as goods. Because of this the tax collector are certainly unclean ceremonially. Matthew was sitting at this tax booth. He heard of Jesus and his miracles and his compassion for the weak and weary. He wanted to see Jesus in order to find him out who Jesus is and if he could help him out. But when he saw Jesus and his crowd coming, he sat there and could not or would not do anything. Because it is almost certain that he will be rejected and ridiculed by people around him. He knew of his wrongs and understood his predicament as a sinner. So he sat as if his body was nailed down to the chair. Even he had a strong desire to see this famous Jesus, he could not! To him, he was not worthy even if he wanted to go and see Jesus. While he is lingering in this thought, Jesus called him; Have you felt such feeling before! Your body is frozen and could not do because of the sins that you committed. He was like a coin rolled away hidden at a dark corner of a closet! Unless someone finds him, he could never come out of it and he could never be found! What did Jesus do!

Jesus said to him, ‘follow me!’ To Matthew, it's a sound of a rescuer. Out of darkness, a rescuer came and reaching out his hand. Jesus, the one whom he thought over and over and over, actually came and was calling him! Follow me! Matthew sprang up from his chair immediately and followed Jesus. The heavy load that nailed him to his chair was gone and his body was light like a feather. It was a moment of a decision but it was long held desire and hope that he never thought of happening. It was the moment of his life. Where does this courage come from? Why did he not hesitate even a second to think over Jesus call! Though he lived a sinful life, he yearned for truth and godliness. He yearned for the coming of the Messiah! As he heard of Jesus, he knew by heart Jesus is the one and he had eagerly hoped to see Jesus! In one word, Matthew even only by hearing of Jesus work and his teaching knew and believed that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah. When one searches God in truth and honesty, God makes a visit like this. Heb 11:6 As Matthew followed Jesus, his heart was overflowed with joy. What did he do!

V10 ¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.
He invited Jesus and his disciples. He invited many of his tax collector friends and he invited all those who are associated with them. So in this feast were many tax collectors and many other people who could not be welcomed by the teachers of the Law. Here we do not know who the ‘sinners’ are. But it is quite clear that they are those whose lifestyles could not be accepted according to the Law of Moses.

V11 ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
When Pharisees and teachers of the law saw this, and made a remark, ‘"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Jesus supposed to be a righteous and holy servant of God. How come, he is eating with tax collectors and sinners! To their mind, it was an unthinkable thing! It is like my daughter hanging around druggers and prostitutes! I would never allow such things to my daughter. How about if my son is hanging out with gangs and homosexuals! To the teachers of the law, this is exactly what Jesus is doing! So it is quite natural for them to detest the tax collectors and sinners. So it is quite natural for them that what Jesus was doing was all too strange and odd! Why does your teacher to such things! The teachers of the law would not associate with such people who messed up their lives with sin. They were too good and too righteous to accept such ungodly people.

V12-13. ¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Here Jesus called himself a doctor. He came to heal the sick. And only the sick need a doctor. These tax collectors and sinners are the ones who are really sick and need me, the doctor of life. Jesus came to call the sick! Their lives are tainted much by sinfulness; So almost every aspect of their lives are affected by sins. Yet Jesus came to call these people so as to make them God’s people. What kinds of sin were they involved? We do not know exactly who the sinners were. But it was a remarkable turn in comparison to the law that was set by God. All the law violators were to be punished so as to keep godly community pure and holy. So if adultery is caught, he or she must be stoned to death! No one should associate with the one who made his life in ungodly fashion. Yet Jesus, the Son of God came to embrace sinners like these tax collectors. It is a remarkable turning point. Has it happened just now? Let’s look at the quote; it is in the book of Hosea 14:1-2.
Simply in God’s mercy and grace he is willing to forgive the sins of men without any condition. This is a remarkable turning point and these teachers of the law did not know and could not grasp.

3. The new wine Jesus [14-17]

V 14 ¹⁴ Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
In this paragraph is centered on one issue: fasting. This came about through a careful observation on Jesus and his disciples. John’s disciples and Pharisees noticed one distinctively different way of godliness among Jesus’ disciples. They did not fast at all. At that time, fasting is one of the three things that every righteous and godly man are to do; fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. If someone does not do these three things, then one can raise a doubt on his genuine godliness. John can be taken as the godliest person at that time. He and his disciples fasted consistently. So fasting is considered truly as an essential element of godly life.

But I like to look into its origin. When and how did the fasting come to be and eventually become an emblem of righteousness?

According to the Law of Moses, Fasting was ordered on one occasion, during the Day of Atonement. This is the day when the sins of Israel is atoned for by sacrificing animals. So fasting is very closely linked to redeeming of sin or simply forgiving of sin. We find that the people of Nineveh repented and fasted as they heard of coming judgment through Prophet Jonah. So God relented his decision to destroy Nineveh. So as one fasts, he seeks God’s mercy and his forgiveness. We do not know when fasting became an expression of righteous life. One thing is clear, when one fast, he fast to seek God’s mercy esp. on the matter of sin. It is well reflected in the life of Daniel[9:3-5, 8-9]

. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.

⁸ O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. ⁹ The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹

So fasting is to seek God’s mercy through His forgiveness! So it is a right thing to do for all sinners; John did it and Pharisees did practice fasting. Then why didn’t Jesus teach his disciples to fast or did not practice fasting!

V15a. ¹⁵ Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

Here Jesus is the bridegroom and the disciples are guests. Jesus is getting married. Marriage is a time of great joy and happiness. Marriage is not the place for fasting, not the time for fasting. Then when is the appropriate time for fasting?

V 15b. The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

So simply speaking, as long as Jesus, the bridegroom, is with them, there is no need for fasting.

This is a profound implication: fasting is to seek God and his mercy, particularly his forgiveness. If one does not need fasting, it means that he met God and his sins have seen resolved. Jesus the bridegroom makes the both of these needs! He is God and he can meet the needs of all sinful men by forgiving their sins. So totally it is unnecessary for Jesus’ disciples to fast, seeking God, and his mercy.

Then why could John’s disciples and Pharisee not see this truth?

V16-17.

¹⁶ "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

Jesus gave them these two analogies about their effort to understand Jesus work. First Here is an old garment. Its cloth is stretched and worn. It has no tensile strength. It is not elastic and it can be torn very easily if one applies a small tension. When one put a patch of new cloth on this garment, then the new cloth will shrink and pulls away from the old garment. So soon the edge of the old garment will be torn.

Here a garment is what we wear to cover our body and to make us look decent and beautiful. John and his disciples wore the old garment; the law of Moses in order to make them look good. It gave them covering and make them decent. But it is old and can easily tear apart by even a small force. All the more if one put a patch of new cloth on it, it will certainly tear the old one.

Simply the old and new cannot match together. Out of the old system of understanding, the new cannot be understood intelligently and reasonably. This is what John’s disciples and the Pharisees were trying to do.

Second, is about wine and wineskin. When a new wine is made, it is stored in a new wineskin. As it gets aged, the wineskin is stretched and loses its elasticity. If one pours a new wine in this old wineskin, as the wine gets fermented and expand in volume, it will burst the wineskin. Simply old wineskin cannot hold the new wine. So it is very important to put new wine into a new wineskin.

In both of these analogies, two things are clear; the old cannot hold the new. The old is not compatible with the new at all. Also, the focus is on the new. New cloth and new wine. We have to have new cloth. To do so the old has to be taken off first!. Also in order to take new wine, we must have new wineskin.

About what is Jesus talking? It is about how sin is handled. It was handled through the Law of Moses. When one keeps the law, he can have a cloth that covers himself. He can enjoy the wine that makes him happy. This principle is applied in Matt 7:16-19. Whatever you do, you will bear the fruit of what you do! So you must do good! It all depends on what you do and how you do! Whether you do it well or now is measured by the Law of Moses. This has been commanding principles of life that penetrate throughout the human race, from the beginning of history to the end of history. Such a principle is working on South American Mayans, Babylonians, Greeks, ancient Chinese, Koreans. It is the rule of Buddhism, Confucius ideals, Moslems, and Hinduism. When I visited Peru, I saw an old temple site. At one corned to this temple complex was a trench, about 4ft width by 6 ft length, 3 feet deep. In it were human bones. Here they sacrificed young girls as a ransom for their gods. The sin of the tribe or nation must be redeemed by sacrificing these virgin girls. So here in South America, the culture had no connection to any part of the world, particularly to the middle east, but their hearts were seared; sin and its judgment; the commanding rule of life that is set by God since the fall of men. God has set this in more concrete form and structure in the Law of Moses.

Now God is beginning a new way. It is a new cloth that covers one. God sent His son Jesus, and let him handle the sin according to His way and purpose. So Jesus showed vividly how he would handle the sin of men through the healing of the paralyzed man. Jesus showed such will when he called Matthew. Matthew was a sinner living in sinful life. Pharisees rejected. Ordinary people of Israel condemned them to be ungodly. But when Jesus saw his faith, he called Matthew without any preconditions. Jesus welcomed and accepted Matthew before he actually shows or utters any repentance. This is amazing grace. Because it is totally by the grace of Jesus, its joy is not known to those who seek forgiveness of sin by the old way. Jesus brings new wine to those who believe in him Jesus give true joy and peace.

Jesus welcomes all sinners. He is eager to forgive sins no matter how ugly they are. No one needs to suffer the pains of sin and its judgment. This is new wine. This is new cloth; We have to drink new wine; we have to put on new clothes. To do so,
One thing is needed. We must present ourselves to Jesus in faith: Faith that Jesus is the Son of God, the creator, faith that Jesus would and could forgive our sins. Come! Jesus will forgive your sin.

Let’s read the key verse