✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Mark 2,1-12 (Matthew 9,1-8. Luke 5,17-26. John 5,1-16) 4913
19. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 064
Fides, Virgin of Agen, France and her companions, Martyrs 287
William Tyndale, English Reformer and Bible Translator. Martyr 1536
6. Oktober 2013
1. O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee; Mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts. Amen (The Book of Common Prayer, 19. Sunday after Trinity).
2. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: „My son, your sins are being forgiven.“ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: „Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?“ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them: „Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic: ‘Your sins are being forgiven,’ or to say: ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.“ And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying: „We never saw anything like this!“
3. Mark the Evangelist highlights three things in today’s Gospel pericope: 1. Jesus forgives a paralytic of his sins, 2. Jesus heals the paralytic and 3. the Son of Man has the authority to do these things.
4. 1. Jesus forgives a paralytic of his sins, but this was not why the paralyzed man’s friends had brought him to Jesus. Why does Jesus deal first with the man’s sin before his paralysis? In Jesus’ day, the common belief was if you were sick, then it was the result of some sin you had committed. This view is still common today, even among Christians. What is your first thought when you get sick or hurt? Is it: what did I do to offend God so that He punished me? Our default view of God is that He is an angry, wrathful God who is capricious and looking for some excuse to punish us. We can even find examples of this in Holy Scripture, like the Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and cry out: „See, God goes about punishing people!“. It is easy to see, then, that the perception of a paralyzed man is that he must have committed an egregious sin to merit his punishment from God. Therefore, the man’s sin must be dealt with first.
5. Jesus absolves the paralyzed man of his sins. Notice the plural of the direct object. Jesus did not forgive the man of the one presumed sin that had presumably caused his paralysis, but rather Jesus forgave him of all his sins. In one act of mercy, Jesus does two things: 1. He challenges the conventional wisdom that says people get sick because they did something to make God angry at them, and 2. He emphasizes God’s mercy over His wrath.
6. 2. Because God is merciful, He heals people, and so Jesus heals the paralytic. In this instance, however, the healing comes after the absolution of the man’s sins. To heal is a gift given from God the Father, and here Jesus heals this man so as to prove that He has the authority to forgive sins.
7. 3. The Son of Man has the authority to forgive sin and heal the sick. The source of this authority is an important issue. Only God can forgive sins and only God can heal a person. The scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy, for they understood His absolution of sins to be an action that declared Jesus to be God. First century Judaism was different from Christianity. Under the old testament, priests did not absolve people with the spoken word, rather the people brought an animal to the temple, the priests sacrificed that animal and the shed blood was the guarantee of the person’s forgiveness. The assurance of forgiveness was in the action of the animal sacrifice that was instituted by God for the forgiveness of sins. So when Jesus arrives and starts verbally telling people „your sins are forgiven“ or „I forgive you“, this was contrary to the approved way of forgiving sins under the Sinai covenant. The scribes rightly interpreted this to be an act of blasphemy, for a mere man cannot change the law and the covenant given to Israel by God Himself through Moses. The scribes rightly tell Jesus: „Only God can forgive sins!“
8. Jesus acknowledges the words of the scribes for only God can forgive sins, but Jesus, the Son of Man, is God, yes, the Son of God, and thus has Divine authority to forgive sins. If Jesus were a mere man, then the scribal criticism would be valid, for a mere man cannot forgive any sin, but Jesus is not a mere man for He is also God, and therefore He has the Divine authority to forgive sins. „The Son of Man is an honorary title from the Old Testament, especially from the Book of Daniel, similar to the title Messiah. The Son of Man is the one whom God sends in the end times, to judge the world. He is the judge sent by God. The New Testament reveals to us that the Father has entrusted this judgment to His Son, so that Jesus is the Son of Man. But what sounds like terrible news is the good news when we see Jesus judges as the Son of Man“ (Wenz § 14-15). It is to our benefit that Jesus is the Son of Man who has come to judge.
9. Jesus was fond of using the title „Son of Man“ for Himself. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus says that the Son of Man: has the authority to forgive sins (2,10), is the lord of the Sabbath (2,28), will suffer, be killed and rise again (8,31; 9,9.12.31; 10,33), will return in glory (8,38; 13,26; 14,62) and gives His life as a ransom for all (10,45). In all this, Jesus is the Son of Man who judges us. Jesus has found us guilty of sin, but He has forgiven that sin. Jesus gave Moses the law on Sinai, and Jesus is the lord of that law. The law convicts us of sin and sentences us to suffering and death, but Jesus took that condemnation upon Himself in our place. Jesus will return on His second advent and judge the wicked unbelievers but He will usher in the righteous believers into His heavenly reign. The law demands a blood sacrifice for sin to be atoned for, and Jesus offers up His own life and body to be that atoning blood sacrifice. The ultimate judgment of Jesus is that you are redeemed, saved and forgiven!
10. What Jesus says to the paralytic He says to you: »Son, daughter, your sins are being forgiven.« We learn in the Small Catechism: „The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent“ (Small Catechism, Confession). „This is what St. John the Evangelist writes in chapter twenty: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’“ (Small Catechism, Confession). „We believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His Divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself“ (Small Catechism, Confession).
11. What Jesus says to the paralytic He will say to you on the last day: »I say to you, rise.« On the last day Jesus will return to earth and raise all the dead. Those who believe in Him, He will raise to eternal life in heaven. This body will be whole and healthy. This body will have no sin and no curse. This body will be perfect and holy, just as Jesus originally created Adam and Eve. Until that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives, Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to His Church. He has given His Church His authority to proclaim the gospel and absolve people’s sins. The called and ordained pastors of His Church preach and absolve on behalf of the Church and with the full authority of Christ Jesus. In the Church’s rites and agenda the pastor asks the penitent in Private Confession: Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness (LSB 293)? And with the Absolution the pastor proclaims: In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit (LSB 293).
12. Jesus »did not arrive to call the righteous, but to call the sinners« (Mark 2,17). Jesus arrived to call you unto forgiveness, unto healing, unto resurrection on the last day, and unto salvation. He calls you as the Son of Man who has the Divine authority to forgive your sins and heal you of the curse of sin, death and hell. He has purchased your forgiveness on the cross and with the empty tomb, and He absolves you each week through His called and ordained servant who speaks His gospel and administers His mercy. Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Lord, Your steadfast love is manifested in Your Beloved Son; Your steadfast love endures forever; You do not forsake the work of Your hands. Manifest Your steadfast love in us so that we are assured of our salvation and our neighbors blessed by our deeds of love. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
Wenz, Armin. Mark 2,1-12. 19. Sunday after Trinity. 14. October 2012. Oberursel. Translated by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind © 2012.
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