Mark 2:1-12
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!”
Matthew 18:21-22
Jesus Teaches Us to Forgive
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 6:9-15
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.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Mark 11:25
Jesus Teaches Us to Forgive Others
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
John 8:46
Jesus Asks Others to Prove Him Guilty of Sin
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
1 Peter 2:22
Jesus Did Not Commit a Sin
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
Matthew 7:24-29
Jesus Teaches and Speaks With an Authority
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Luke 23:26-34
Carrying His Cross to His Own Death He Forgives
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them,“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus forgives and forgives quickly...He is always ready to forgive...Are you, when you think about forgiveness?...Jesus has the authority to forgive...He also taught us to forgive...He knows all about forgiveness...And there is something very great in forgiveness...And something different in the way He went around talking and teaching about forgiveness...And as He went around teaching in these different places, He had this aura of authority...
There is something Divine in the way Jesus teaches on the subject of forgiveness...One question comes to mind, is why did He teach so much on forgiveness?...Where did He get all this knowledge on forgiving?...To sin is human, but to completely understand forgiveness like Jesus does is Divine...Forgiveness is a great act of LOVE...
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...In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history."...
God's LOVE was wounded, was hurt by our sinning...God was sinned against by us...Who can forgive -unless you are the one harmed?...Who is complete LOVE, whose LOVE is actually injured in every one of our sins?...When we sit down and think about it was Jesus the one hurt or harmed by the sin of others?...Jesus was not or is not harmed by a sin one has done (or is He harmed)...Is Jesus harmed by one little sin I do?...Jesus was not by any means the party chiefly offended in the sin that He is forgiving, according to man's thinking...But He forgives others in the four gospels quite readily, quite naturally and gently, as though He should do it, and like He wants to do it -to help us...It is like He actually knows of each of our sins and our individual temptations to sin...
And He goes around traveling and teaching in different villages and people all about His ideas on forgiveness, and spends quite a bit of time on the subject of people forgiving others...The reason He did this is because we do sin...Even in His Prayer, the LORD's Prayer, it teaches on forgiveness...And because we sin, we need this forgiveness...We need His forgiveness...
And while He teaches us to forgive, we learn something very outstanding about Him...He basically said He did not sin...Peter was one of Jesus' original Twelve Disciples...Peter was an eyewitness to Jesus, and learned so much from Him...In Peter's first epistle, he tells us that Jesus did not commit a sin...So while Jesus went around forgiving others of their sins, and teaching us to forgive others of their sins, He basically says that He did not commit one sin...Now that is strange in the sense that from His human perspective point of view, He never sinned...This is one of the reasons He said, "Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?...If I AM telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?"...That is odd since He spends so much time and has parables about forgiveness...And towards the end of His Prayer He says, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you....But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."...This is in His Prayer, so we know He wants us to remember these things on forgiveness...As we see study these things and the way He goes about teaching and forgiving, we can see something sacred and holy...We see Divinity...Jesus forgives us completely and perfectly...And what we see is a Person, who is divine, sacred and holy...
He does not feel in anyway that He was a sinner...He truly believes He has not sinned...So He does have this authority to forgive others of their personal sins...So, all the time, He is teaching us to forgive others, He humbly admits in the form of a question that He never has been guilty of a sin...How can this be, unless He is God in the Flesh?...