Trinity 19
Beloved. It is a sad fact that the most precious and greatest blessings of God are the least regarded and most despised. How clearly we see that with the forgiveness of sins! You would think that people would be/ would flock to the places where the forgiveness of sins and eternal life are fully and freely given—the churches throughout our land. But the fact is, only a minority of those calling themselves Christians are in church any given Sunday to be with and meet Jesus, who in His word, the absolution, and Sacrament, is giving them the forgiveness of sin, eternal life and every other heavenly and spiritual blessing of His grace.
God’s physical/ earthly blessings more highly regarded and sought after, not just by unbelievers but also by those calling themselves Christians. But the forgiveness of sin is the greatest blessing of God to us—even much more so than the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food that nourishes us, the shelter that protects us. That’s because the forgiveness of sins rescues us from the curse of sin, the wrath of God over our sin and the death and damnation we earn by our sin. In other words, without the forgiveness of sins, heaven is shut to us. But with the forgiveness of sin we are God’s dear children and heirs of heaven.
The forgiveness of sins is rejected and despised as people live in carnal security—not caring whether they sin or not. Others see the forgiveness of sin as something unnecessary because they think they do more than enough supposed good works to “make up for” their sin; and others use the forgiveness of sin as an excuse to continue on in a life of sin since “it’s all forgiven anyway.” As long as these despisers of God’s greatest blessing remain in this Godless thinking/ way they have no share in the blessing of this great grace of God—the forgiveness of sins. To keep us from this, let us ponder today’s Gospel and see that the word of forgiveness—the holy Absolution—is a mighty word. That’s because it is the word of greatest comfort to us sinners and it is a sure and firm word because it is the word of Jesus, the true God, who brought us forgiveness.
The word of forgiveness—the holy Absolution—is our greatest comfort because sin is our greatest woe and misfortune. No matter what wretchedness we could think of—poverty, abuse, starvation, sickness, etc.—sin is still far greater because in this life, it separates us from God and a full and right relationship with Him and left alone, it leads to eternal damnation in hell. When things are not right between us and God, when the conscience accuses and condemns us, when we have that emptiness in our lives, that’s sin showing itself as our greatest woe and misery. What most people would consider woe and misfortune, pales in comparison to the woe and misery of sin; most people don’t think much of sin and even wink at it—until they face the terrors of conscience, until they cannot rationalize away their sin anymore, until they must face their Judge. So look at our text: There people brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.” What would most people have thought was this man’s greatest misfortune and woe? –His being paralyzed. But what does Jesus regard as his greatest malady? What does He take care of first? –His sin! May we open our eyes to see this great truth—our greatest malady and woe is our sin. And that’s why the forgiveness of sin is our greatest balm and comfort. Whatever gets rid our greatest need/ woe/ malady must be our greatest balm and comfort—and the forgiveness of sins is precisely that! Just as Jesus pronounced the forgiveness of sins to this paralyzed man healing him from his greatest woe, so too does Jesus pronounce to us/ give to us the forgiveness of sins: “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.” He does this in the holy absolution—be it as we confess our sins together at the beginning of service or privately to the pastor. What does that mean? Let us recognize our greatest woe—our sin—and our greatest balm for that woe—the forgiveness of sin. And then what? Let us confess our sin and receive, in faith, that forgiveness that Jesus pronounces to us through the pastor in the holy absolution. Luther points out: this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself. But again, talk is cheap. So what does Jesus do in our text to show that His word—His word of forgiveness—has the power to do what it says, namely to forgive sins? –After all forgiveness is invisible. –He heals the man of his paralysis: But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” The man got up and went home. By healing this man from his obvious, outward malady Jesus showed He could heal him of his greater/ greatest malady of sin merely by speaking the words Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.
Here we come to the heart and core of the Christian faith—the forgiveness of sin. That’s what the Christian faith is all about—the forgiveness of sins in Jesus. What makes a person a Christian is not following all sorts of rules and regulations, like in the other religions, in order to appease God and earn our way into heaven. What makes a person a Christian is faith in Jesus as his/her Savior from sin, death, devil hell. This faith receives Jesus and His work; it believes what Jesus says Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven. Faith receives the forgiveness that Jesus won for us by His life, suffering and death and faith receives Jesus perfect and sinless life. By faith we receive His gifts and clothe ourselves with Jesus and His holiness. So where is the sin that can condemn us? It is forgiven. Where is the sin that separates us from God? It is forgiven. Where is the sin that shuts heaven to us? It is forgiven. Isn’t this too good to be true? How can we be sure of all this? It is all based on the word and work of Jesus, who even at this time confirmed He has the authority: But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” The man got up and went home.
Our sin is our greatest woe and misery and so the forgiveness of our sin is our greatest comfort and balm. And that word of forgiveness/ the holy Absolution— Take heart, son! Your sins are forgive– is a firm and sure word. The word of forgiveness is firm and certain because it is the word of the very God Himself, Christ Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is the one true God. In our text, Jesus makes it clear that He is the true God. He also shows His divine power and glory as He reveals the thoughts of the hearts of his enemies: Then some of the experts in the law said among themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Since Jesus knew their thoughts, he said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? This points to the divine characteristic of omniscience, of Jesus knowing all things. Of course, the miracle, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” The man got up and went home, shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is God who has come to undo the misery and corruption the devil has worked.
Also St. Mark records about this account [Mk. 2.6-7]: But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Using their thoughts against them, Jesus showed His enemies that He is the true God: Then some of the experts in the law said among themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Since Jesus knew their thoughts, he said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he then said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” The man got up and went home. By healing this man, Jesus showed He had authority on earth to forgive sin. And if He had authority to forgive sin—and proved it by healing this man—then by the very words of Jesus’ enemies He had to be God: Who can forgive sins but God alone?
They are right—only God can forgive sin and since Jesus is God, He can forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin because each of our sins is against Him. Only the one wronged can rightfully forgive. And what did Jesus do? –He forgave and by the miracle showed He had every right to do so; if He had authority to heal in His own name, He had the authority to forgive.
That’s the true joy and beauty of the absolution/ the word of forgiveness. It is spoken by Jesus and not only that but Jesus is the very one who brought out for us the forgiveness of sin. The very reason why the Son of God became true Man, the Son of Man, is deal with, once and for all, our spiritual enemies of sin, devil, death and hell. Jesus became true man to do for us what we can’t do ourselves: live a holy, sinless life as God demands of us in His holy Law. Not only did Jesus do that for us, but He also took our sins upon Himself and went to the cross where He suffered God’s wrath and punishment for them in our place/ as our Substitute. That means that God, who as a holy God demands His holy law be obeyed perfectly, has His Law obeyed perfectly—by Jesus for us. Because we have offended God by our sins, and He must punish sin, Jesus came and stepped into our place and suffered the full wrath of God over our sin. And so in and because of Jesus, where is our sin? It is gone—He obeyed the Law of God where we fail; and He endured the punishment for our sin. That’s why we have the forgiveness of our sin—Jesus brought it about; that’s why Jesus said to paralyzed man: Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven. The word of forgiveness/ the holy absolution is a firm and certain word because it is the word of Jesus, the true God, and He Himself brought about that forgiveness. And that is why the absolution is our greatest comfort and balm for sin, our greatest woe and misfortune.
And in grace upon grace, Jesus has this mighty word of forgiveness go out into the world through His Church. He has entrusted His Church—His dear Christians—with that authority to forgive sins. He did that on Easter Sunday. St. John [John 20.22-23] records: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, that means that the Father accepted His sacrifice for the sins of the world; it means that the sins of the world are forgiven. Now Jesus has His Church bring that absolution, that mighty word of forgiveness into the world. The Church’s mission work and our personally telling others the good news about Jesus is nothing else than announcing the forgiveness of sins in Jesus to all people sorry for their sin. When Christians, especially preachers of the Gospel, speak the Absolution/ forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus, this word is firm and certain. It rests upon Jesus’ perfect reconciliation; upon His command; upon His promise. Whoever receives this word in faith has exactly what it promises: the forgiveness of sin.
What a glorious word this word of forgiveness is! And it is certain and sure! It addresses and heals us of our greatest misery and woe. When we feel our sin, let us run to confession that we may receive forgiveness. If we don’t feel sin, let examine heart and life in the light of God’s holy law—for sin is always lurking in us—so that we may find it, repent of it, receive forgiveness/ absolution and in the Holy Spirit’s power root it out from our live. Let us seek His forgiveness where Jesus promised to place it—in church, in the Absolution, in the word and sacrament. INJ Amen