Quasimodogeniti Thursday - Devotions in Exile

The daily lection for Quasimodogeniti Thursday:

Exodus 25:1-22     Luke 5:17-39

I want you to consider yourself in this situation: Your best friend is paralyzed. You want to bring him to see this amazing rabbi/holy man/preacher who heals everybody who comes to him. When you arrive, the place where he is speaking is so crowded that you cannot get anywhere near him. So, you take the stairs outside the building to the roof, you make a hole in the roof, you lower your buddy down through the roof on his stretcher into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus.

And what does Jesus do? He says to your buddy, a paralytic, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

How would you react to that? Most people today would have hollered from the hole in the roof, “Jesus, not forgiveness, we want you to heal him!” There is no record of the paralytic, or his friends taking issue with the prescription Jesus gives. At that point in history, there was a greater understanding of the fact that the problems of physical health were not just illnesses that could be healed by science. People understand at a very basic level that all illnesses were connected to sinfulness – “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)

This is not to say that illness “X” is directly corelated to my body because of sin “Z” I did on June 17, 1962. If there were no sin, there would be no death, nor illnesses, nor COVID-19, nor any of the calamitous things that go on in the world because of the fall.

With that understanding, this paralytic was only too aware of his sinfulness, it was evident in his inability to move. His friends were only too aware of his sinfulness, it was evident in his inability to move. Furthermore, the connection between his sinfulness and paralysis may have been a topic of discussion between them. So, when Jesus says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you,” there was probably some relief.

In fact, nobody said, “Yo! Jesus! Look at the guy, he is paralyzed, he wants healing, not forgiveness!”

Looking at the lesson, it was the scribes and Pharisees who took issue with it, in their minds they began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (vs. 21)

I always find it ironic that Jesus proves His divinity by knowing what they are thinking, but that is never really talked about. Instead, to show His authority to forgive sins on earth, —He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. (vv. 24-25)

Jesus shows His authority to forgive sins by removing from the man’s flesh, the outwardly visible consequences of sin – the creeping overtaking of his body by death, evidenced in his paralysis.

Many today would like to be healed of whatever it is that ails them. Wouldn’t it be nice if COVID-19 would just end… no more cases of it, no more death from it, just gone. Boy would people talk! Fine, it could go that way. It would be like taking an aspirin for the pain of cancer, but doing nothing else. Untreated cancer does not go away. Taking an aspirin might mask the pain for a bit, but worse things would be coming.

So it would be if Jesus had simply healed the paralytic.  The paralysis would be gone, but the cause, his sinfulness, would be unaddressed. Jesus speaks words of eternal healing first, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." It is only after that does He heal the outward evidence of the sinful condition and tells him to rise and walk – which he does.

What is your greater need today, “Rise and walk,” or “your sins are forgiven?” You may be thinking, how about both? Jesus wants to speak to you because He knows your great need to hear those words, “Your sins are forgiven you.” This is why He commands His pastors to speak those words to you, “Your sins are forgiven.” It is the command of Christ that these words be spoken to you. He gave His authority to forgive sins that night of His resurrection in the upper room where the disciples were gathered. He ordained them saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” (Jn 20:23)

A paralytic was healed only to declare to you that your sins are forgiven. You are granted healing and life eternal in those words which declare that forgiven reality. On the last day, your body will be raised and perfected, glorified like unto Christ’s glorified body because you are the forgiven of God.

Scribes and Pharisees felt that only God could forgive sins. Christ is God! He gave Himself as the sacrifice for sin. He paid for the wages required of all sin by giving up His life unto death – even death upon a cross. He shows His authority to forgive by healing the paralytic. He shows us His authority to forgive by rising from the dead three days after He was crucified.

Today, you know that Christ has given authority to do just that – forgive sins.  Those who are forgiven will enjoy eternal life in both body and soul in heaven.

There is truly only one thing to say to you to grant you life and hope in this fallen world – my dear friends, take heart, your sins are forgiven. Amen.

          Let us pray:    Gracious God, Your Son appeared to His disciples in His resurrected flesh to ordain them and to send them out into the world, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name. Continue to raise up for us faithful men to serve in the Office of the Holy Ministry, and sustain those whom You have sent with courage and endurance. Bless their service among Your people, speaking and delivering that precious gift of eternal healing to all who hear and believe Christ’s Word, take heart, your sins are forgiven. Amen.