Daily Devotional For Monday, January 29, 2024

Good morning or good afternoon or good evening, whichever it is for you. Today, we are in Matthew 9, where Jesus does another miracle of the 9 miracles that Matthew’s Gospels reports. You can read it here in Matthew 9:1-8, “And getting into a boat He crossed over and came to His own city. (2) And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (3) And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” (4) But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? (5) For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? (6) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” (7) And he rose and went home. (8) When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (ESV).

I don’t know if you have noticed that discussing the subject of sin seems to be taboo today. People want to excuse their sin, blame their sin on someone else, or justify their sin or rationalize their sin. You’ve heard me say many times that any time we rationalize our sin we are making up “rational lies” about our sin. In our story today, Jesus forgives a man’s sin. We do not know what specific sin or sins this man had committed. In doing this, as you read above, Jesus ticked off the religious leaders of His day.

But the heart of the Gospel is Jesus came to forgive us of our sin, but we first have to acknowledge we sin and need His forgiveness. And not only can Jesus forgive us our sin, He has the power to free us from them and the horrible consequences our sin brings to us and to others. We read that Jesus “came to His own city” — Nazareth. Sometimes it is hard to come home. People remember the old you and they let you know it.

When Jesus began His ministry, His own town not only rejected Him, they attempted to kill Him. Look at Luke 4:29, “And they rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw Him down the cliff. (30) But passing through their midst, He went away” (ESV). People do not forget quickly and neither did Jesus. To return home would be at some risk and possibly some danger. 

When I read the passage above, several key aspects stand out to me. (1) First, is the people’s faith. Matthew 9:2 says, “And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith . . .” (ESV). We are told this man was a paralytic. The Greek New Testament word is [παραλυτικός, paraltikos]. The Greek literally means “the relaxing of the nerves to the point where there is immobility.” The fact that this man’s friends brought him to Jesus lying on a bed is to let us know how severe this man’s condition was.

Today, we are blessed with wheelchairs, crutches, physical and occupational therapy and etc. but back then you were on your own unless someone showed you pity. This man must have been deeply loved and cherished because in those days, such people were considered cursed by God for sin they had committed. Thus not only did they have to deal with being a paralytic, they had to deal with being ostracized, shamed, gossip about, and rejected. 

In John 9, when Jesus and His disciple passed a man who had been blind since birth, Jesus’ own disciples asked Him this question in John 9:1-2, “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. (2) And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (ESV). At times, our afflictions are due to our sin, but many times they are not.  Since the people of his day attributed his affliction with sin, this is why Jesus dealt with his sin first.

Jesus said Matthew 9:2b, “He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (ESV). This man and his friends were persistent to get him to Jesus. This is one of those rare times that the affected said nothing to Jesus initially. Maybe his paralysis even affected his ability to speak. Some stroke victims can have paralysis and speech problems. We do not know. What is implied is that this man was literally placed at Jesus’ feet begging for mercy, healing and forgiveness. And due to the man’s faith and the faith of his friends, Jesus healed him

(2) Jesus forgave and encouraged the man in more ways than we realize here. Yes, Jesus pronounced forgiveness, but Jesus also said to the man, “Take heart . . .” Many times this phrase is translated as “take courage.” The Greek New Testament word used here is [θαρσέω, tharseo] and is one of two main Greek words for “courage.” The other Greek word is [Tolmaō, Tolmaō]. This word refers to pushing through some fear or anxiety or pain by gritting of the teeth. You still have the fear or anxiety but you muster up courage or you muster up sheer will power to push through it. This outward courage a soldier exhibits in war. We tell our children “do not be afraid,” as a way to ease their fear or anxiety. 

The Greek New Word used here, [θαρσέω, tharseo],but this Greek New Testament word represents the courage that eliminates fear totally. This man had much to fear beside living the rest of his life as a paralytic. He feared dying and going to hell for his sin. So, Jesus comforts him with, “Do no be afraid. I have forgiven your sins and your fear of what happens to you after death is no longer a real fear.” Anyone who is unrepentant, will one day face divine judgment and punishment. That is real and it is a real fear we all face unless we have repented and had Jesus forgive our sins. Seeing this man’s faith, Jesus said, “Son, I’ve taken care of that.”

Jesus reaffirmed this with a term of endearment. He called the man “son.” The Greek New Testament word for this is [τέκνον, teknon]. This should not seem strange because we use this same term today to young men who are close to us a son. We use it as a term to denote friendship and identity. This man had gone from being a spiritual orphan to now being an adopted son to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 

Now to make sure this man understood the degree or depth of his forgiveness, Jesus used this New Testament Greek word [ἀφίημι, aphinmi] and it has the idea of “casting away, throwing away, driving away or doing away with.” This the same idea in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us” (ESV). How far is that? — Infinity. 

So, whether this man’s illness was due to sin or not, it was no longer an issue. His soul was healed and his body was healed. I love this story by John MacArthur. He writes this: 

“When missionaries in northern Alaska were translating the Bible into the language of the Eskimos, they discovered there was no word in that language for forgiveness. After much patient listening, however, they discovered a word that means, “not being able to think about it anymore.” That word was used throughout the translation to represent forgiveness, because God’s promise to repentant sinners is, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34) — (John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 52).

Yes God does. Tomorrow I will pick up with this story again, but here are some questions to consider:

1. When it comes to your sin, do you call it that, or do you water it down?
2. When it comes to your sin, do you justify it, make excuses for it or rationalize it (make up rational lies)?
3. When you see “sinners,” do you hope God punishes them or forgives them?
4. What would God say are your sins and why? What should be your next step in dealing with them?
5. What surprises you most in this story and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please forgive me for not taking my sin seriously. You did. The proof is the cross and Your crucifixion. Jesus, I no longer want to make excuses for my sin or rationalize my sin. I want to confess it to You. Here are the sins I am confessing right now . . . . Please forgive me. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”