Which is easier?

[PJD1987]

Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 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 stretcher, and go home.” - Matthew 9:5-6

This quote has always confused me…anyone have any thoughts or explanations about what is meant here?

Thank you.

God bless.

-Paul

 

[jcrichton]

Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 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 stretcher, and go home.” - Matthew 9:5-6

This quote has always confused me…anyone have any thoughts or explanations about what is meant here?

Thank you.

God bless.

-Paul

Hi, Paul!

…Judaism tied in sickness and desease to sin… since Scriptures state that Yahweh God charges the sin of the fathers to the forth generation… they always attributed birth defects and sickness as the fault of either the child or the parent…

…they also understood, with clear precision, that sin can only be forgiven by God (which is one of the reasons why they wanted to kill Jesus since He went about forgiving sins… which ment that He considered Himself to be Equal to God); when Jesus offered forgiveness of sin or when He encountered the sick/deceased these two factors were tied: sinfree = health…

Jesus would either speak on the physical defect (‘what do you want Me to do?’) or directly to the sinful state of the person (’…your sins are forgiven…’); sinse some scribes that witnessed this particular healing (most likely involved with the Sacred Writings) objected to Jesus’ claim on forgiveness of sin (interestingly enough Scriptures note that it was only in their thoughts) Jesus rendered their objection void by demonstrating that they should have paid attention to the very act of the healing rather than formulating an objection to His usage of words…

…so Jesus called them to attention and demonstrated that the prophecy about the Messiah was in full effect as he used the machanism of the physical body: “rise and walk” (instead of “your sins are forgiven”)… either way God’s Forgiveness came to the man and the visible proof was that he, a quadriplegic, was able to have full use of his body while the onlookers stood in awe! Jesus made it known that by restoring the man physically God had given the people a sign that the man’s sins had been Forgiven… and since Jesus could make it happen either through a direct Command to the human body or through a direct Command to the human soul/spirit, He, Jesus, had the Power to Forgive Sin (Jesus was demonstrating His Divinity).

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[Glacies]

According to St. John Chrysostom the passage means that while healing the soul is a greater act than healing the body, the former cannot be verified by human eyes, wherefore Christ proceeds to prove his power by a lesser miracle which is visible. The source of this statement is from the Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas which consists of Patristic comments on the Gospels and in general is a good source for guidance on delicate Bible verses. Cf. veritasbible.com/commentary/catena-aurea

 

[juliamajor]

Try to think of an analogy- it becomes clearer if you do.
Say a fisherman says"I caught100 fish". It is very easy to say that you’ve caught the 100 fish.should you take what he said as the truth? Or do you need proof of some kind? If the fisherman showed up with a 100 fish still in his net, then you would believe him.
Saying you can forgive sins is easy. But where is the proof?. Jesus’ authority, His power over body and SOUL will be shown by a deed of power. If he can heal this cripple with a few words that means that God has given him greater power to heal souls. He shows that he is indeed Messiah, and God 's agent because he can to the same things that YHWH CAN DO.

 

[kkollwitz]

“Hey y’all, what is this story we’re about to do? When Jesus heals the paralyzed man! That’s right! So you’re the paralyzed man, lie down. But I’m a girl! Yes I know…you’re light so these two friends of yours can pick you up…”

How we cover this in Catechism class: platytera.blogspot.com/2011/01/right-through-roof.html

 

[AT_Cross]

It’s a syllogism (hope I spelled it right). When Jesus said the man’s sins were forgiven, it was blasphemy. The Jews were thinking: only God can forgive sins therefore this man is committing blasphemy. However, when Jesus healed the man, there was a new syllogism. The Jews were now thinking: only God can heal, therefore Jesus is God, therefore He can forgive sins. Cool, huh?