Today's readings are Genesis 3.1-24 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+3.1-24 ) and Mark 2.1-17 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+2.1-17 ). Shortly, we'll turn our attention to Mark 2.5, "And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven'" (ESV). But let's set the stage first.
In Genesis 3 we see the world plunge headfirst into sin. The woman doubts the provision of God, tries to defend what God has said by going beyond it, and enters into sin, bringing her husband with her. The man, since he was present and was charged with guarding the woman, holds the ultimate responsibility for the unbelief and subsequent physical sin. Through our first parents, Adam and Eve, we have all entered into sin, succumbed to temptation, taken on death rather than life. And so, since that time, we have seen that the world is lying in sin, suffering, darkness, and despair.
Many generations later, several people have a friend who has felt the ravages of sin, and has been paralyzed, unable to live as a productive member of an active society. These people, who we assume to be his friends, bring him to Jesus at a time when Jesus has been heard of and is teaching and healing people who have gathered around him. The friends carrying the paralytic bring him to Jesus with some difficulty - they had to climb up to the roof of the building and bring him through the roof due to the tightly-packed crowd. They want to see if Jesus will heal him.
Before we go too far, let's remember that these are real people. The paralyzed man doesn't have any hope in his society. There isn't anything that medical science can do for him. And he is a real person with real struggles and real desires, just like the rest of us. His friends are real people too. They don't wish to encourage false hope, they don't want to bring despair into their friend's life, they don't wish to try something that will fail.
Jesus looks at the paralytic man and proclaims him free from sin. This should shock us just as it did the people clustered around Jesus that evening. First off, "Jesus, you don't understand. He's not worried about sin. He wants to walk." How often we come to God with the wrong problems. He sent his Son into the world to deal with our big problem - sin. Do we want Jesus to take care of all sorts of other things and not sin? Or maybe we don't think we're evil enough that Jesus would need to heal us. Maybe we think we're all right on our own. The Bible has news for us. We're not all right. We have a sin problem and we can't take care of it. We need the Lord to undertake in our lives and heal us from sin.
But there's more of a shock. Jesus? Heal someone from sin? By doing this Jesus boldly claims divinity. He is equating himself with God the Father. In an age when neo-Gnosticism says that Jesus never claimed to be God, we need look no farther than this verse. Jesus does the acts of God and claims credit for them. He is making a bold clam of divinity.
Here's the final shock I want to mention today. Jesus didn't look at the faith of the man he healed. Jesus healed him according to his own good pleasure. Jesus does not have to answer our cries for healing. He does not have to give us the kind of healing we ask for. He doesn't have to give us anything at all. Yet according to his good pleasure, without any testimony that the man himself was asking for healing or salvation from sin, Jesus forgives the man's sins, just as easily as he later brings him physical healing. Jesus' salvation is not based on the quality of the paralytic's trust, how the paralytic asks for forgiveness, or any kind of pledges the paralytic might give about his future life. Jesus forgives and heals the man because he wants to.
In this day and age we tend to look to the testimony of the believer, the quality of faith or repentance, or some other intangible feeling for our faith. Let us not fall into that trap. Though Jesus calls us to repentance and faith, though He calls us to believe and to obey, Jesus doesn't make his forgiveness bound in any way to the quality of our repentance. Has Jesus told you in his word that he forgives? Then he forgives! Cast your care on him. He has died for your sins. He himself said that he gave his life a ransom for many, not for few. The forgiveness of Christ extends as far and wide as the crowd of people looking to him for forgiveness. It does not depend on your feelings or how well you prayed. It depends on his mighty power and perfect righteousness.
My faith is weak. My savior is not weak.
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