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Forgiving sins

And the scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who  speaks blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins except God alone? But  knowing their thoughts, answering Jesus said to them, Why do you reason  in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, Your sins have been forgiven  you, or to say, Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of  man has authority on the earth to forgive sins, He said to the  paralytic, I say to you, Rise up, and take your cot and go to your  house. And rising up at once before them, taking up that on which he was  lying, he went to his house glorifying God. And amazement seized all,  and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We saw  wonderful things today. (Lk5:21-26)

As I understand it, of all the marvels of science and medicine, one of  the things they cannot yet do is to make nerves heal. Many cells of the  body will regenerate new cells, but not brain cells. If brain cells are  damaged, functions that used to be carried out by the now-damaged cells  will be learned by new parts of the brain. While they claim that  advances are being made, if a person's spinal cord is severed, leaving  the person paralyzed, it is pretty much a -permanent- condition. The  cure for the problem is to somehow come up with -new- pathways for the  signals from the brain to reach the body's extremities.

If somebody's severed spinal cord were to become 'one' again, it would  require an "act of God"... even with today's level of technology. Now,  go back 2000 years when they didn't have even the limited technology  'we' possess today. A paralyzed individual was considered to be in a  permanent state of helplessness. There were no cures.

This paralytic individual is lowered into the crowded house, and the  first words out of Jesus' mouth are, "Man, your sins have been forgiven  you." (vs20) The purpose of this study isn't to figure out 'why' the man  was paralyzed; did he commit some -specific- sin for which God's  judgment was paralysis?

The scribes and Pharisees start reasoning the obvious question. If Jesus  is the product of "fornication" (Jn8:41) as they assumed, He is cursed  because of His parents. There's simply "no way" He could be God. And  yet, He is claiming to forgive sins. And they -correctly- reason that  the only One who can forgive sins -is- God. So, if 'this' person, born  "in sin", is claiming to forgive sins, he is blaspheming. And as they  observe everything else about Him, they are developing a 'picture'. He  blasphemes by claiming to forgive sins, He breaks the sabbath. He's just  simply doing everything contrary to the way that God "would" do things.  He's -got- to be, at least, a false prophet. And in worst-case, as they  would accuse Him on other occasions, of being associated with the  demons. (Mt9:34,etc)

One thing we know about The Son, is that He is a "discerner of the  thoughts and intents of the heart". (Heb4:12) Nathanael was convinced by  this. (Jn1:47-49) Here it says, "but knowing their thoughts". (vs22)  Notice that at this point, they haven't confronted Jesus verbally. They  are "reasoning" these thoughts. So, he gets their attention by revealing  their thoughts to them. Again, it is only "God Who reveals secrets"  (Dan2:28 )

And then, Jesus reasons with them. Notice how God invites, "Come now,  and let us reason together..." (Is1:18 )

Which is easier? to say, Your sins are forgiven, or, "Rise up and walk?  (vs23) Here, now, Jesus expands a bit from the 'withered hand' from our  previous lesson. He speaks of "saying". Words. Remember that Jesus is  the Word Who was in the beginning with God; and -was- God. (Jn1:1) God  created by "saying". When He calmed the storm at sea, He spoke the  "words". So, He reasons with them...who is able to simply speak 'words'  and accomplish God's power? The gentile centurion understood when he  said, "..only speak a word and my boy will be healed." (Mt8:8 )

If anybody were to look at somebody and say, "be healed", they are going  to be as sick as they were before the words. Physicians are not known  for 'speaking words', but for diagnosing, prescribing medicines, poking  needles, and performing surgeries. 'Things'. Cause and effect.
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Thus, if somebody could actually 'speak words' and the person was  healed, they would obviously be beyond the realm of mere humanity. And  what -person- understands and knows the 'speaking of words' to 'teach'  it to somebody else? Such a thing is not known in the physical world.  So, a person could equally -say- the words "be healed" or "your sins are  forgiven" with equal results. Zip! And if a person were, actually, able  to forgive sins, how would we know and observe that those sins were  forgiven? Is there some way to quantify "forgiveness"? Put it in a test  tube or under a microscope and see what forgiveness looks like?

But Jesus is claiming to "forgive sins". How can we know that He is  actually doing what He -says- He is doing? He proves the unseen by  demonstrating His authority to do what -is- 'visible', but otherwise  "impossible" to mere humanity.

So, he -SAYS-, "I -SAY- to you, Rise up, and take your cot and go to  your house." (vs24) It does not record Him 'touching' the individual. So  there is no "power transfer". There is no magical hokus pokus. He  -speaks- the word, and it is done.

To Nicodemus Jesus speaks of the spiritual birth as being something like  the wind, which is invisible to the physical eye, but which one can see  the effects of, nonetheless. (Jn3) In this case, Jesus proves His  authority to forgive sins, an 'invisible' dimension, by performing an  equally God-like act that is 'visible'. If we see that which Jesus did  that is seen, then we can also trust Him for His promises in the  unseen...

While Jesus would say to Thomas, "blessed are those not seeing and yet  believing" (Jn20:29) He actually gave many bases of visual things of the  "things not lasting" as a basis for us to hope in "the things not being  seen" which "are everlasting". (2Cor4:18 ) Our faith is not a totally  blind faith. Jesus' deeds provide a basis for the "substance" of things  hoped for and the "evidence" of things not seen. (Heb11:1)

Thus, when He would perform the ultimate 'visible' deed in shedding His  blood, demonstrating ultimate love (Jn3:16, 15:13, Rom5:6-8 ), we can be  assured of His redemption and forgiveness of sins. (Eph1:7)