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INJ
St Matthew 9:1-8
'Forgiveness Among Men'
Matins
The 19th Sunday after Trinity Sunday | September 28, 2008
Dear Saints,
Jesus loves us. Over and over we see the tender seriousness of His love and compassion and mercy. He doesn't leave us to our own devices; He doesn't let us sink down into the darkness of death and the despair of condemnation. He rescues and saves, He helps and delivers. We see this in the Gospel text.
The paralyzed man is brought to Jesus, laid there at His feet, and Jesus forgives His sins and sends him walking home. Jesus speaks to this man words that no one else can speak, words like “Your sins are forgiven” and “Stand up”. It's this word that Jesus wants us to hear, to believe, that our sins are forgiven.
You all know that last Sunday night I went with Pastor Melius from Mt Zion to the Denver Atheists and Freethinkers meeting. They meet in the basement of a small coffee house downtown, and there were 12-15 of us gathered around the table.
We went to ask them one question, “What do you believe in?” Some of them wanted to argue that they don't believe in anything. Others said evolution gave them enough. Some said that they wanted to do good and help humanity; others said there was no such thing as good or progress, there is only what there is. They all wanted to stick close to nature, to reason, to science, to evidence. And they all fancied that being an atheists (which to them meant throwing off the superstitious mythology of our religious culture) was a courageous act. As the name of their group implies, they are “freethinkers”, free people unbound by the foolish and enslaving concepts of man and God.
You all know that I don't like to give my opinion from the pulpit. That this is the place for the certainty of God's word and not the uncertainties of my own ideas. But if you'll be patient with me, I'm still trying to think all this through, so I can offer an opinion: I think that what is driving most of our atheist friends is the drive to be free from some oppressive deity or some arcane morality. If there is no God, then the I'm not going to get zapped when I do this or that. As I understand it this morning atheism is an attempt to free oneself from the “shackles” of heaven.
But the results are a slavery of a worse kind. The illusion of freedom lasts only for a little while. But if all there is is nature, if we got here through nature, if we're nothing more than big bags of molecules, then there is no freedom at all. What you think is a choice to do this or do that is simply the result of electrical impulses in your mind that couldn't have been any other way. In other words, if there is only nature there is no good, no choice, no freedom. Emancipation from heaven means slavery to the earth.
I haven't talked this through with my new atheist friends, so I don't know how they will react to it. I think Pastor Melius and I will go back, so I'll report back to you all. We did, though, talk about death, and this is important, because if your reason doesn't get you to this realization that there is no freedom, death does. If there is anything that can get in the way of the thought, “I can do whatever I want,” it is the grave.
We are not free people. (And now I'm finished with my thoughts, and back to solid ground.) We are in bondage to sin and death. We are sick and dying. The atheist should know it. We should know it. The paralytic man certainly knew it. He couldn't even stand up. To get to Jesus he and to have four friends carry him and lower him down through the roof. Our suffering and death remind us that we are not free to do whatever we want.
And the danger with our suffering is that we fall into despair. We know that we are sick and dying because we are sinners. All of this is our wages, the wages of sin. And you and I know how it is that when something happens to us, when we get sick, when there's an accident, when a loved one is suffering or dies, we start to ask ourselves what we did wrong. Our consciences fire up and get after us. If you did this or didn't do that then to Lord wouldn't be punishing you. Surely you've brought this, the Lord's anger on yourself. “Lord, what have I done?” Surely the paralytic asked that question as he laid there trying in vain to wiggle his frozen toes. “Why are you angry?”
Listen to the Lord's answer to these questions, for the paralytic man and for you, “Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven.” Your sins are forgiven. That is all the paralyzed man needed. God's anger at my sin is sent away, sent to Jesus and His cross, sent to His tomb where it is put to rest. It is this word, which comes from outside of us, which brings this man peace and health.
We might be tempted to think that Jesus does wrong here, that this man came for healing and Jesus instead gives him forgiveness. No. Jesus is not playing around with this man, toying with him to make a theological point, treating him as an object lesson for the Pharisees. This is not the way of our Lord. He loves this paralytic, and He gives him just what he needs, and just what you need.
Forgiveness is our treasure. If we have this, the absolute confidence that when the Lord looks at us He smiles, that He is completely pleased with you, that you are His joy and delight, that when He considers you He sees the righteousness of His Son our Lord Jesus, that His wrath is spent on another, and there is nothing left for you, when we have this there is nothing more that we need.
What do you think, if you could roll back the sky and see the face of God looking at you, what do you think is on that face? A scowl? Anger? Wrath? Or worse, indifference? God looking the other direction? All of these are wrong. Your sins are forgiven. On the face of you heavenly Father is a smile. For you.
This is how the Lord treats sinners, how He treats us, He loves us and dies for us and forgives us. Stunning. It is the reason that He has this church here for us, this pulpit, this altar, because He loves us and He wants us to know that we are forgiven. That against the lies of the devil and the world and our sinful flesh this truth would stand implanted on our hearts, “Your sins are forgiven.”
There are two things dangerous to our faith: pride and despair. Here the Lord is dealing with despair, and I want us to hear this word with a crystal clarity.
I've been with people, I've been with you guys, in the hospital, at the deathbed. “Heaven's coming,” I've said. And do you know what you've said back to me? “I hope so.” Hope. In the way the Scriptures use this word all is well; there is no doubt in hope but a sure confidence in the Lord's promise. But too often there have been questions in your mind. Questions dressed up in humility. “I hope I'll make it to heaven, but I'm not sure. I haven't been that good. I've sinned quite a bit, Pastor. There are things I regret, things I'm ashamed of.”
Dear saints, listen, I know that you are a sinner, God knows, but this is why Jesus died for you. For you. Your sins are forgiven. All of them. That time that you're ashamed of: forgiven. That regret: forgiven. Forgiven. All of it. Nothing remains. You are the Lord's baptized, His children, all of the sin and shame has been washed away. You have Him and He has you. Listen to the words Jesus spoke to the paralyzed man, He had them put into Matthew's Gospel so that you would hear them as well, “Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven.”
Now we know that where the forgiveness of sins is, there also is life and salvation. Our forgiveness is our freedom. That we are forgiven means that the Lord has for us the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Our forgiveness means that death is over come. I hope that we can connect the dots here. What we confess in the creed, “I believe in.. the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting,” we want to keep together. Because we are forgiven we will be resurrected to everlasting life.
But here are the pharisees who doubt the Lord's Word of forgiveness and accuse Him of blasphemy. So for them (who the Lord also loves) and for us Jesus says to the man “Arise, take up your mat and go home.” Such will be the Lord's word of life for us on the last day, when He comes in glory to call all flesh out of the grave. And while we wait for the glorious hope of His reappearing, we cling to the treasure of the Lord's promise, “Your sins are forgiven.”
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO