When Christ saw the faith of the friends of the paralytic, He said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” Christ didn’t heal the man until He wanted to show His power to forgive sins. When we are united in the faith of Christ, our sins can be forgiven by God. When we pray each day, rather than praying for our physical health, we should pray for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of others.
My brothers and sisters, we just heard about a miracle in the gospel this morning, and most people associate the miracle to be that this paralytic man began to walk. But I suggest to you that the more important miracle in this morning’s gospel is the forgiveness of sins. Because when these friends brought this man to Christ, the gospel says, “When Christ saw their faith, He turned to the young man. He said, ‘Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you.'” He didn’t heal the man. He forgave his sins.
And that my brothers and sisters is the most important thing in life. And this is where Christ draws our attention today on two things, the forgiveness of sins and the unity of the church. The gospel says, “When Christ saw their faith,” the faith of the friends to bring this man to Christ, He forgave his sins. He didn’t say your faith. He says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The same is possible for us, my brothers and sisters, if we have faith enough to look at the needs of each other and bring each other first and foremost in prayer to Christ, but also to bring people physically to the church to have an encounter with God. And then God will say about our faith, He will see our great faith and He will forgive sins.
But the crowd wasn’t satisfied with the forgiveness of sins. In fact, they accused Him of blasphemy. He said, “Which is easier? To say your sins are forgiven or to say, ‘Arise and walk?'” And this is why Christ healed the man physically. Not because that is what the man needed most, but to show His power to forgive sins.
How many of us go to bed at night and in our prayers we are sorry to God because we didn’t get everything right that day? And we wake up every morning, “God, give me another chance.” This has got to be our daily prayer, for the forgiveness of sins. And we have to care about each other enough to bring others to Christ so that He can forgive their sins as well, so that our faith can spread into the hearts and lives of other people. Our faith is not our own. As St. Paul says that, “The strong are to bear with the weak, that we are one with each other.” In our baptism, we are united to Christ and each other. That means not just the physical but the spiritual. Our sins affect each other because we are united in Christ.
And so my brothers and sisters, let the time be now for us to bring each other to Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Because all of us need God’s love. All of us need God’s forgiveness. And none of us is living this life alone. We are all in this thing called life together. One church, one family, one body of Christ. Let’s now go and find and inspire and invite everyone to come and have an encounter with God for the forgiveness of sins, so that we can all enter the Kingdom light and free. Glory to God for all things.
