A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 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!”
Question 1
How do the friends of the paralysed man show they have faith in Jesus?
Question 2
How would you feel if other people knew what was going in your mind?
This is the second time we’ve seen people marvel at Jesus. So far, although he has done several amazing things, he hasn’t really demonstrated that he is different from some of God’s servants in the past. But in this story we see him doing something completely new – something that no one but God can do. He looks at this man, who was in such a sad situation, hoping to be healed, and tells him that he has been forgiven for every thing he has ever done against God. This was a huge thing to say, because only God can offer forgiveness. What Jesus is saying here is that he has the right to forgive and therefore he is God. For the first time we see Jesus using the title of ‘Son of Man.’ This title from the Old Testament refers to the way God had shown the prophet Daniel that he would send a King to reign over his people and conquer all enemies.
In a way this was an easy thing to say because no one would be able to prove it. But there are two things in the story that show that Jesus was telling the truth. First, by healing the man it shows that he has authority from God. God wouldn’t allow him to do miracles in his name if he was lying. But it also shows that he has another ability that God has, which is to know what the teachers of the law were thinking (look at verses 6 and 7). This makes the whole thing even more amazing. It shows that Jesus knows all that is in our hearts, all those things we are able to hide from everyone else, and despite this he is still willing to forgive us if we ask him to.
Question3
What comfort do we get from knowing that Jesus is King of his people and has won over evil?
Question 4
Do you think you’ve done something that’s too bad for Jesus to forgive?
Pray
that God will give you faith to see that Jesus has authority to forgive sins and that that is the thing you need more than anything.
