Whose Faith?
9 So he got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town. 2 Just then some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”
4 Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?[b] 5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 7 So he got up and went home. 8 When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and gave glory to God, who had given such authority to men.
This, our Gospel text, is a very interesting text to think about. The stopping point—the place to pause and wonder about…at least for me…in what Jesus did…
It was this: 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith….
Whose faith, I wonder? All of theirs, or just those who brought the paralytic to Jesus?
Whose faith, I wonder? Was it when those mothers brought their babies to Jesus to touch and bless them? Was it the baby’s faith, or the faith of the mothers?
Obvious, right?
No…not really… because first, babies can’t walk…and they cannot…well…what goes through your mind…?
They can’t…well…believe, right?
But they can…!
And the question is how… and when… do they… do just that?
The same thing going is on in our text—the same question being asked, with the paralytic man…and yes, we can claim the same bible text… for doing so, when we bring babies up for baptism.
As it is certainly not their faith that makes them come up to the font anymore than it was Lazarus’ faith that allowed… that caused him to walk out of that tomb that he had been in for four days!
The point there, is not that babies cannot have faith, but that dead humans cannot have faith…and to be frank, clear, and direct, both Lazarus and babies are not born with faith…
They…we…are born dead…spiritually…without spiritual life…eternal souls yes, but not spiritual life in the biblical sense…not alive to God…not facing God, but rather with our backs to Him…
In our church, and rightly so…biblically so, it is the faith of their parents, grandparents, and the church that bring them…that know and believe—where they are to bring them, and to whom they are to bring them to, as they know that it is He—Jesus who can do what He says He can do…
It is this: their faith that they exercise by bringing them up to the font and then it is they too who confess for these infants…who cannot make the good confession of THEIR faith given to them… they can’t say, yes, I believe… I renounce the devil and all his ways…
Confessing THE faith for themselves…
This faith that is in and about Jesus and about what He can do…has done…will do…
That is…to make them alive…first spiritually…turning them toward God rather than away…
But then alive physically…too…eventually….
With Lazarus it was 4 days…but then the poor guy had to die again…so…he waits with us…
But in the end, he will rise a second time…alive fully, to never die again.
And this same thing is happening in our text with this group of people that bring this broken man to whom they have heard or heard about…or have seen for themselves…and from faith…know who Jesus is and what he can do…
But…what does Jesus do for them? Jesus says first: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
So again, and it needs to be asked, was it that their…or our sins…that were forgiven because of our faith, or because of Jesus?
It’s a chicken and egg thing…a cause and effect question.
Some will say that we are saved by faith…
But really, it is that we are saved by Grace (the Grace of God) through Faith.
This is no word game here…and it is not just a matter of semantics, either.
The problem is all in how we define faith. If you think faith is just some tool that we use to attach to all sorts of things…
If you think it a work, and so then a cause of something, then we have it wrong.
So, at times it is better to say it the other way. As faith, first of all, is a gift, and that gift works inside of us kind of like any of our involuntary bodily functions. We don’t think about or act in any way, to breath…or have our hearts beat. They just do.
Sure, we can find ways to stop them…
But for the most part…if there is nothing wrong…they just do their job…
Same with faith. In fact, Luther calls faith an organ. It just believes and receives what is given it. It just listens and accepts what God says. It just trusts Jesus. That is what faith does. That is all it does.
Faith…real faith…true God given faith…only Trusts in God…and nothing else…in no one else.
What some people call faith, is not faith…it is not Biblical or Spiritual faith…anyway.
Sure, you can trust your dad…or that the chair won’t fall out from under you when you sit, but we cannot…and will not…naturally trust God. It just is not in us—the opposite in fact is in us…still is…and it fights with our God given faith all the time…
And that is where out text comes in too…
The whole question of why these people have come with their paralytic friend was all because of what they heard.
The only reason that people bring babies to Jesus is because of what they have heard.
The only reason Lazarus walked out of that tomb was because…he heard….
Wait…dead men can’t hear…
Right! So then what?
You see that is the thing here… about the cause of all of this. The Cause is always and always will be the Word of God.
He causes…and He causes by His Word. And the neat thing is that in, with and under that Word…those Words…even now…
Is that needed faith to believe, trust, and accept…what God…says about us…about what He has done for us and will do for us…
But first we have to be alive to have and use this gift of faith. Dead things don’t believe.
So, He speaks and makes alive: “Lazarus, come out!”
He speaks and creates faith: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
Then with a living breathing spirit…that does face God…we then use this faith to believe, trust and accept who He is and what He has done for us…
And most importantly, how He forgives us all our sins.
Notice Jesus starts with that?
Well, yeah…that is because these…those…and them are the cause of all of that…like sickness and death…and estrangement from God.
Do you want to see what babies…what we all are truly like before being given a living breathing spirit…a living breathing faith?
Listen then to the next part of our text again: 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
Yes, babies too…and yes, we are just like this before our hearts and minds are converted.
As we too will say the harder of the two is to get up and walk…to walk out of the tomb…
Jesus is saying no…as some of you can almost do that now…and today it is even more so the case. Our medical science can do some of these things…
Maybe not a 4-day dead person, but a few minute dead person. Many of those who just a few years ago would be paralyzed for life now walk.
But to get God to forgive sins…who is going to get that done? What do we have to cause God to do this…what reason can we give God? Sure, we can forgive each other, yes, but when we sin, we don’t just sin against our neighbor, but against God too.
If it is a matter of buying or earning…it costs a life…a lifetime if perfect good to offset a lifetime of sin. Who has that to exchange?
Jesus.
And that is why we come to Him when we get Word that He is offering just this very thing. That is why those mothers brought their babies to Him…that is why we do.
And that is why this group of people brought this paralyzed man to Him.
But this man got a lot more than they hoped…than they ever expected.
Because he heard…and from hearing believed not only that he could walk…but also that his sins are forgiven…
Now this seems to only be directed to this man, but…as they were all coming to Him, this also meant something for this paralytic’s friends who brought him as well.
They may not have needed physical healing, but…they did need healing for the cause of all this…
And they could also take His Words of Forgiveness for themselves because His Words concerning this meant they could…
Could have this from Him…just as the healing came from Him…
Unlike what the Scribes were telling them…what they had not been preaching or proclaiming…
So, Jesus announces to them all: 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. A lot of them got it. A lot of them went home with their sins forgiven…with a trust in this Word. We see this by the response of the crowd in verse 8:
8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Authority to forgive sins. Wow! Better than healing physical ailments. In fact if you read the Gospels they blamed all sickness and disease on a persons sins, or the sins of the parents. Not really true…not directly anyway. Jesus clears that error up in other places, but still people knew that sin-guilt had consequences…both here and in eternity…and that this was the real problem. But Now God has sent the very thing…the very remedy. The Forgiveness of sins. And we know that where there is the forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation…in the man who is God, Jesus Christ who did exchange all His good for all our evil in order to win this authority for us all.
Your sins are forgiven you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore you will get up…and you will walk…and even if you die you will live.
Amen.
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