Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
– Luke 5:20-21
In a previous post I mentioned the show Undercover Boss. It is the show where corporate executives present themselves as new workers to do various entry-level jobs within their corporation. The show follows through a few focused encounters the “boss” has with low-level managers and other blue collar workers. At the end of the show there is a reveal. The workers are brought to corporate headquarters under some contrived scenario. In each case there is the eye-opening moment when the employee discovers that the half-clueless person they have been trying to train is the CEO of the corporation.
You can imagine the feeling: “I had no idea who this person really is.” In the early days of Jesus’ ministry, everyone was wrestling with some form of that question. Who is this guy? Or more precisely in this narrative, who does this guy think he is? Those who have already become his disciples have at least acknowledged the messiahship of Jesus, though they are still far from the whole picture. Crowds are talking and wondering about Jesus. And as we can already see, the religious leaders have taken a particular interest. The question is about to come front and center.
Jesus is teaching in a local home, and the crowds have gathered in significant number. The disciples are there, as well as the religious leaders. In an inventive act of faith, friends of a paralyzed man create a hole in the roof of the house and lower their friend into the presence of Jesus. The general population already had seen enough to believe that Jesus could heal the man. The disciples knew it as well. To make the man rise and walk would still have been a wonderful act, but the people would not be totally surprised; they had seen Jesus do these things before. Jesus, though, takes a different approach. His first words to the man were not, “rise up and walk.” Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” In doing so, Jesus turns the conversation in a problematic direction.
Let’s give credit where credit is due. The religious leaders were not wrong. Forgiveness of sin is God’s business, and it is good for us to remember why. Play out a scenario with me. Say you live in a rural area outside of town. You have several acres of land that you use to raise cattle. Now let’s say that your neighbor from down the road catches you away from home, loads up your cattle, takes them to the sale barn for a nice profit, and keeps the money for his own use. (Please, keep the violent reactions at bay for a moment.) Friends in the community hear about what has been done, and clearly see that you have been wronged. Now imagine you and I are in a conversation, and the subject of your stolen cattle comes up. I say, “You just need to put that in the past, because I have forgiven that man for what he did.” Your immediate reaction will sound something like, “Well, that’s easy for you to say; he didn’t steal YOUR cattle!”
Do you see the problem? Resolution of an offense first and primarily involves the offender and the offended. For Jesus to say, “your sins are forgiven” seemed much like me saying “I’ve forgiven the person who stole your cattle.” The religious leaders were not wrong, and even the crowds would have understood their objection. Why? Because God is always the offended party when we sin. I don’t just mean things like breaking the Sabbath or taking the Lord’s name in vain. I mean all sin, even the ones that might seem like they are no one’s business other than myself and the one I wronged. True, much of our sin is an offense against another person, but it always, no exceptions, is an offense against God.
We have the benefit of centuries of church history through which we have resolved very important Christological questions. We read a text like this and say, “Well of course he can forgive sins! Don’t you know who he is?” But that’s the point. They didn’t. How could they? Even with all the prophecies about Israel’s Messiah, it would have been an incredible feat to understand beforehand the true nature of the One they expected to come. That is why the inherent claim being made by Jesus was so radical. The question was posed: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” It is as if Jesus replied by saying, “No one—and I can.”
This would not be the last time the disciples would wrestle with the identity question. “Who is this, who can (fill in the blank)?” They knew he could make sick people well and cast out demons. But forgive sins? The disciples would have to ponder that one for a while. One thing is for sure: Jesus certainly raised the stakes on tensions surrounding his ministry. Unfortunately for the disciples, it wouldn’t be the last time.
See you along the winding path.
The Winding Path 