Genesis 1:27
Man and Woman are Created in God's Image
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Matthew 2:1-28
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man,carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Mark 10:17-18
No One is Good But God Alone
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
The Christian worldview is that something has gone wrong with the world, the whole world, and the world needs Something or Someone to fix it...And the Someone is Jesus, who is Christ our LORD...We are in the middle of this brokenness a Savior...
Jesus must have believed this and had this view because He often went around and completely on His Own forgave people of their sins...As He forgave the paralyzed man, we do not even know what sins this crippled man had committed...Yet, according to Jesus, he must have sinned and needed forgiveness...And Jesus was the One necessary to forgive him...After Jesus forgives and heals this paralyzed one, He tells us that He did not come for the righteous but that He came for sinners...Jesus teaches us that there is very much this reality of sin in the world and that we need to seek and find God for our sins and our sinful ways...
Jesus teaches us that He has the power to forgive others...He teaches that He came to earth for sinners...He teaches and makes a very powerful religious statement when He says that while He was on earth fasting could be stopped, and that fasting could and should resume after He had left the earth...He teaches us that He is LORD of Sunday and the Sabbath...All these statements are Divine Statements that He is teaching and making...
Do we think that over time we will evolve to love all of our neighbors, each and everyone of them?...Do we think that one day, the world will be without hate and evil?...Scripture says that God created us in His Image...It does not say that one person or one or more groups were created in His Image...No, it says that all males and all females are made in His Image...
From Jesus’ teachings we learn that no one is good except God alone...So we need forgiving, and that we do need Him to save the world...Jesus is our Savior for the world and man going wrong...