Luke 5:17-26
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
John 20:24-29
Thomas Has to See to Believe
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I have heard a few times when listening to believers debating atheists or non-believers that the non-believer would believe if they could see a modern miracle...Jesus did many miracles, but I guess they are considered non-modern and outdated...And seeing is believing...
When Jesus was teaching one day some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and they tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus...When the men could not find a way to do this because of the large crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus...When Jesus saw their faith, the first thing he said was, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”...At this particular point the man was apparently not healed, but the sins of the paralyzed one were forgiven by Jesus...Jesus has both the power to forgive us of our sins and to heal us when we are ill...So now as the crowd waits and wonders what Jesus can and will do for this paralyzed man, Jesus brings up the subject of sin, and then a question...
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law heard what He had said to the man about forgiving him of his sins and they said, “Who is this Fellow who speaks blasphemy?...Who can forgive sins but God alone?”...Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?...Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?...But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”...So He now said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”...Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God...Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God...They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”...
The people and crowd that day saw a modern miracle by Jesus...But caught up in all of this is a great question...The question raised by Jesus is not to be forgotten...And it is a simple question of deep theology...Before Jesus healed the paralyzed man, He had forgiven him of his sins...And then this question is brought up by Jesus...The question is this, "Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?...This is a very tough question and one that for me takes much thought to decide -which is really easier...Anyone could say your sins are forgiven, just as anyone could say get up and walk...But when One or one says your sins are forgiven nothing is seen or can be seen, I really don't know if their sins are forgiven...But when compared to the paralyzed one being told to get up and walk, seeing is believing...And only this miracle of walking (of the two) would be seen...So one miracle was going to be seen that day, yet another miracle also happened...A man paralyzed would soon be walking -and that is a miracle...But also another miracle would be taking place that could not be seen...A man would have his sins forgiven by the Son of God, who has the authority to forgive sins on earth...This act of forgiveness could not and cannot be seen with our eyes...This miracle touched the paralyzed man's soul, and those around him may have missed this miracle...Yet, this is the miracle that is Almighty and Powerful...On the other hand the paralytic man would, in fact, now get up and walk through Jesus' Divine healing, and that would be seen by many...That healing act has captured everyone's attention, because it was seen...But the man walking away and praising God, had two miracles performed on him that day -one of body and one that touched his Spirit...
So it appears that we as man might view the miracle of a paralyzed man being forgiven as the easier of the two miracles, but is it?...Man likes to see things in our own time and with our own eyes to believe in something unusual or miraculous...Some think miracles are old fashioned and outdated by myths...We might view the miracle of the healing or other miracles that we see and maybe even miss this discussion about sins...We do seem to like miracles that we can see to believe...
Jesus might be bringing up the subject of sins and the forgiveness of sins to tell us that this is the first point of view that God takes...Let us think that the healing miracle as the lesser act of the two miracles...And why we might believe that this is true is because the healing not only follows the forgiveness of the man's sins, but also the question about which is easier, forgiving or healing -comes before he is healed...
What God thinks is important and more important are not always what we think is important or as important...