Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 6:9-13
The LORD's Prayer
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Matthew 9:1-8
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man,lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 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, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Jesus teaches us two important topics in His teaching about the Great Commandments, and then on how to pray in the LORD's Prayer...
Jesus in these topics, there is much on forgiveness and love...In the two great commandments, He teaches us that we are to love our neighbors...In fact, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves...Then in the LORD's Prayer, Jesus tells us that He will forgive our sins, as we forgive our neighbors of their sins against us...He makes this very clear...Now this sounds very good and nice when we were young, and makes sense even as we age and try to forgive others, but forgiving is hard and sometimes takes time...Forgiving, for us, sometimes takes awhile...As I read the Two Great Commandments and study His Prayer, He gives us much to think about...Especially, about my own personal time frames of forgiving others...Because Jesus tells us it is our commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, and when we pray to our Father, in the LORD's Prayer, we are to almost naturally -to forgive others...I believe forgiving is a universal law that Jesus wants us to obey and do...After all, He tells us that the whole Old Testament hang off of these Two Great Commandments of loving our neighbor and loving God...And in His Personal Prayer, the LORD's Prayer, He wants us to forgive others naturally, and easily...But forgiving is not easy...It is about as easy as one loving their enemies...Yet, He wants us to try and learn to do this...Forgiving is almost, as we reread His Prayer, is a matter of fact, and almost done without thought...Jesus teaches us that forgiving is something that is to be done...Jesus went around forgiving others as He travelled from village to village...
Jesus teaches us more about His authority and belief on forgiveness, when He forgives the paralyzed man...Jesus does two things for this paralyzed man...First He forgives this paralyzed man of his sins...There seems to be a pause and break, at this time after He forgives him of his sins...The man is paralyzed, yet the first thing Jesus does is forgive him of his sins -he is not healed, yet...The second thing Jesus does for the paralyzed man is then to heal him...There seems to be some sort of time period between the time He tells the man that His sins are forgiven, and later when He says to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”...And we learn that the paralyzed man after being healed is able to get up and walk home...It seems that Jesus is teaching us that we need forgiveness more than we need physical healings...There is this great first importance of forgiving others...
C. S. Lewis wrote this on the subject of forgiveness and Jesus forgiving others, "He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured...He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses...This makes sense only if He really was God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin."...Jesus was not the only one hurt or harmed by the sin of others...He was not by any means the party chiefly offended in the sin that He is forgiving...But He forgives others quite naturally, as though He should do it, and wants to do it...We broke and break one of God's laws when we sin...
Jesus teaches us that He has the power and authority to forgive sins...He makes that very clear...He forgives the paralyzed man of his sins...Jesus says and teaches, "I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."...Being able to forgive is a universal and global virtue, yet can only be done by each one of us individually...But Jesus has the authority to forgive for us, and does because His death on the cross is forgiveness, for each and everyone of us...
One thing that strikes me about Jesus and how He forgives is the immediacy of Him forgiving...When I am angry at someone and need to forgive them, I cannot quickly forgive them...I think about the harm they have done and think about it over and over and time goes on...Jesus has this ability to just forgive someone of breaking one of His moral rules and moves on very quickly...His is our Great Example of Forgiveness...
And this teaching of Jesus on forgiveness applies today...God has universal laws of morality that He does not want us to break...He wants us to love others...He wants us to forgive others...And if someone breaks that law against us, He is very much forgiving...He wants us to forgive others, and others to forgive us...But He has the authority from God to forgive others of their sins...Now most of us will think that is nice and since He is a good Man, He can do that...But Jesus wants us to take what He has said very personal...Let us say, that there is someone that has sinned against you or your family, and caused you great hurt and great harm...Now let us say, that you haven't forgiven them yet...Well, Jesus has forgiven them already...By His death on the cross, He already has forgiven them...This is what He does -He forgives...And as Lewis says, He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses...He is putting Himself in my shoes and forgiving the one or ones who has hurt me...Now do I want Him to do that?...I maybe am still angry and mad at this person...But Jesus does not consult with me to forgive others, who have sinned against me...He did not consult with anyone who the paralyzed man had sinned against -He just did it...It really is like there is a universal law of LOVE, and He is the Great Judge...It seems love and forgiveness go hand in hand...Jesus LOVES us and often forgave those He came in contact with...And this does makes sense only if He really is God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin we do...
And my prayer is, have mercy on me Father, I am a sinner...