Matthew 9.1-7

AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE

Matthew 9.1-6

‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’ Matthew 9.6.

Today's gospel story is about the power of Jesus to forgive sins.

A paralytic man is brought to Jesus for healing. Now, as far as the Jews were concerned, sickness was considered to be a form of punishment from God for sins committed.

Being a child of his time, Jesus was aware of this explanation in the Jewish tradition. Therefore, in order to heal the paralytic, he says: ‘Your sins are forgiven.'

However, this upset the Scribes who were present since they believed that only God could forgive sins. Therefore, if Jesus was claiming to be able to forgive sins, he was claiming to be God, and this he was not, as far as the Scribes were concerned.

Jesus therefore seeks to prove that he does indeed have such authority delegated to him by God. So he says to the paralytic: ‘Stand up, take your bed’. If Jesus had no such power the man would not be able get up. But if the man did get up, this would prove visibly that Jesus did indeed have the power to forgive sins, as he claimed.

So he says: ‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’

And we are told he did indeed get up and departed to his own home thereby demonstrating that Jesus did indeed have the divine authority to forgive sins.

That same authority to forgive sins Jesus in turn delegated to his apostles. Later on in St Matthew's Gospel we read: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’. (18.18) The terms 'bind' and 'loose' were applied to the authority of the rabbis to decide what was lawful and unlawful, and also to exclude people from, or readmit members of the synagogue. In other words, Jesus handed on comparable authority to admit or exclude people to and from the church, with the promise that God would uphold their decision.

This same delegation of authority to forgive sins is also to be found in St John's Gospel, when Jesus says to his apostles on Easter day: 'whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you retain, they are retained.'

It is on the basis of these texts that the Anglican, Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches understand that the same authority had been handed on to its bishops, who are the successors of the apostles, and they in turn to the priests whom they ordain.

So in the service for the Ordaining of Priests, the bishop, and priests present lay their hands upon those to be ordained priests, and the bishop says,

‘Grant to these your servants, merciful God,

grace and power to fulfil their ministry:

to proclaim the gospel of salvation through word and sacrament,

to declare the forgiveness of sins,

and to watch over and care for the people committed to their charge.

As you have called them to your service,

make them worthy of their calling…’

Thus, it is upon the authority of God, handed down to Christ, and from Christ to his apostles, and from the apostles to the bishops, and from the bishops to the priests, from the days of the New Testament until now, that a priest has the authority to forgive sins in the name of God.

This is made very clear in the Sacrament of Confession when the priest proclaims the absolution. He uses the following words:

'Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive you all your offences: and by his authority committed to me, I absolve you from all your sins.'

Now that does not mean that a priest is better than anyone else. It does not mean that he or she cannot sin. Rather, that he or she is a human channel through which God exercises his Grace. That is why, when I have heard a person's confession, I always conclude with the words:

"Go in peace, the Lord has put away all your sins. Please pray for me, a sinner also.'

Yes. Confession is one of the seven sacraments of the Anglican Church, available to all who are paralysed by unforgiven sin. However, unlike other churches, it is not compulsory. The Anglican practice is best summed up with the tag, all can, some should, none must.

You can find the order of service, in the service of The Visitation of the Sick, in the Book of Common Prayer. There the instruction reads: 'Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feels his conscience troubled with any weighty matter.' And let us not forget that sin is a form of sickness since it can cause paralysis in our relationship with God and one another, as our Gospel reading makes clear.

Thus, many a person has been enabled to ‘arise' from their bed of sin through the confession of their sins. They have been able to put to death the old self and rise to new life within the fellowship of the Church. Thus death and resurrection need not be merely historical events of the past, but can become living realities in your life and in mine, because:

'the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins', and to say to those who are sick: ‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’