Authority?

Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does he think he’s God?” Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for giving humans such authority. [Matthew 9.1-8]

I have responded to this scripture before and am compelled to respond again today. There are two things that stand out to me in my understanding:

First, Jesus proved that He, the Son of Man, as He called Himself, had the authority to forgive sins which was one and the same as healing.

Why did Jesus not call Himself the Son of God? Because He was identifying as a man filled with the Spirit of God for our benefit! Jesus was giving the example for every man who believes in Him to follow.

Jesus made very clear that forgiveness and healing are inseparable. Healing and forgiveness are one and the same. One cannot be healed without forgiveness and one cannot be forgiven without healing (now, there's a can of worms to digest!).

And second, The crowd experienced great fear because of the miracle, but praised God for giving humans such authority.

The crowd evidently got it right here in the assessment of the situation. Jesus called Himself the Son of Man and the crowd evidently understood that Jesus was identifying as a man so all could see that what He did was what any man could do by faith.

Both points made here have to do with authority. Perhaps we need to understand more about authority if we are to understand faith! The authority discussed in this event is the authority to forgive (something believed up to this point to be something only God could do). But Jesus proved the "Son of Man" could forgive (and therefore heal) AND the crowd rightly understood that humans could forgive (and therefore heal).

This is all very much supported by the rest of Jesus demonstrations and teachings - particularly in Matthew 6 where He taught us to pray, "forgive us as we forgive others..." Yes, we can and should forgive others - we have the authority to do it because we have the Spirit of the Living Holy God WITHIN US! A-N-D, Jesus specifically told His followers to do the same works He did (and greater works). What clearer instruction do we need?

Father, help me to consider Your authority and to whom You give it today!