The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:1-8

In Christ Jesus, who commissioned His Church after His resurrection not to take revenge on His enemies but to bring them His forgiveness, dear fellow redeemed:

What would you say is the most pressing need in the world today? There could be a lot of good answers to this question. The most pressing need could be food for the hungry, peace among nations around the world, accessible and advanced healthcare, the protection of our freedoms, lower prices on products and services, or an extra dose of compassion and care for one another.

But there is something we need even more than all those important things. We need forgiveness. That need transcends nationality and social status and cultural identity. There is no group or sub-group of people in the world today that doesn’t need forgiveness. The reason we all have this need is because we all share the same problem—we are all infected by sin.

Humanity has needed forgiveness ever since Adam and Eve listened to the devil’s temptation and willfully became sinners, transgressors of God’s perfect Law. That sin has been passed down through the generations all the way to us today; there’s no avoiding it. “For there is no distinction,” St. Paul writes, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). “[J]ust as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (5:12).

This total bondage to sin by nature which we are unable to free ourselves from, has not stopped us humans from trying to do this. Even right after the fall into sin, when God declared the consequences of sin but also promised a Savior from sin, Adam and Eve still thought they could make things right. Because of this temptation to reverse their sin by eating fruit from the Tree of Life, the LORD banished them from the Garden of Eden and set “the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24).

Adam and Eve’s descendants have not stopped trying since then to make up for their sins. We have said to ourselves, “If we messed things up, we need to fix it.” This has spawned multiple political movements like Communism and Secular Humanism which are about how we can overcome sin and build a more perfect society. Religions like Judaism, Islam, and Mormonism are primarily focused on how we must work to please God, so that we might improve our standing with Him. Even within Christianity, many think that the Christian faith is about the good we do for God more than it is about the good He does for us.

But the terminally ill patient is in no position to play doctor. The person serving a life sentence for fraud is in no position to purchase his freedom. The dead man cannot bring himself to life. Since we have broken the holy Law over and over again and sinned against God in every way, we should not think that we have the power or the ability to cancel that debt of sin. The paralyzed man in today’s reading is a good picture of our spiritual condition—by nature we are flat on our back and unable to do anything for ourselves.

This is why God had to save us if we were going to be saved. Because we broke His Law, He has every right to punish us for our sins. He does not owe us life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Since He gave all the blessings of Creation, He has the right to take them all away. But that is not His will. Even after Adam and Eve rejected Him and His Word, He still loved them and their sinful children. He loved the whole world of sinners, and He demonstrated this love by sending His only-begotten Son to take on flesh in the virgin Mary’s womb.

He sent His Son to save sinners, to do on our behalf what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus did not sin. He kept the Commandments of God in His actions, words, and thoughts. He did not slip or falter in any way. Because He lived a life of perfect righteousness, He could be a sacrifice acceptable to the holy God. His heavenly Father sent Him to do just that, to offer Himself on the altar of the cross for the sins of the entire world.

When Jesus announced to the paralytic: “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven,” this was in view of the fact that Jesus was gathering all sin to Himself, so that He could pay the penalty in full. God’s forgiveness of your sin and my sin is not His saying, “I’m going to overlook what you did—at least this time,” or, “let’s just act like this never happened.” God’s forgiveness of your sin is only possible because your Savior Jesus poured out His holy blood as the payment for all your sins.

This is why Jesus said about Himself that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He had this authority not just because of who He is—the eternal Son of God—, but also because of what He came to do—redeem all people from their sin. That redemption hadn’t happened yet when He absolved the paralytic, but it would. Jesus revealed His reason for coming more and more clearly as His hour of sacrifice approached. Not long before His triumphal entry to Jerusalem, Jesus said, “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luk. 19:10), and “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mat. 20:28).

His death on the cross ransoms you from each one of your sins. You might feel great shame for something you have done in the past. You might wonder if God forgives even that terrible sin that maybe no one else knows about. You might think that your repeated sinning disqualifies you from His grace. The first thing Jesus said after He was nailed to the cross was, “Father, forgive them” (Luk. 23:34). And one of the last things He said on the cross was, “It is finished!” (Joh. 19:30). The work to redeem your soul was not just started by Jesus; He completed it. You might not always think you are forgiven. You might not always feel forgiven. But your sins are forgiven. Jesus says so.

It is His Word that brought both forgiveness and healing to the paralytic. He proved that His Word of absolution was good by telling the man to get up and go to his home, which the man did. When the crowds saw this, “they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” They knew God could forgive sins, but here was a man—the Son of Man—standing before them, announcing this forgiveness, and then proving that what He said was true.

So Jesus certainly had this authority, but the people glorified God for giving “such authority to men” (plural). What they said is right. God has given the authority to forgive sins to His followers. This became clear on the evening of Easter, the day that Jesus rose from the dead. He appeared in the locked room to His disciples and said, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Joh. 20:21,22-23, NKJV).

With these words, Jesus gave the gift of forgiveness to His Church to proclaim. This is what He did with His authority as the Son of God and Son of Man. Soon after this, He gathered His disciples together again and said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:18-20, NKJV). His grace is for all the nations. Jesus Wants Forgiveness Proclaimed to All Nations. He wants all sinners to know that their sin is paid for; their sin is forgiven.

That does not mean all people believe this. Some don’t think they are that sinful, so they don’t think they need forgiveness. Others think they still need to earn favor with God by what they do, so they see His forgiveness as only the first step in their salvation journey. Many deny that Jesus is God, so they refuse to believe that His sacrifice could have secured their salvation and eternal life.

It is true that Jesus died for all and conquered death for all and won forgiveness for all. But it is also true that unless the Holy Spirit works faith to receive this forgiveness, the sinner is not saved. The inspired Word of God tells us, “we have been justified by faith” (Rom. 5:1), and “by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). The first thing we are told when people brought the paralytic to Jesus is that He “saw their faith.” By the grace of God, these men believed in Him. They believed that He could help and heal. Jesus gave the paralyzed man what he needed most: the forgiveness of sins.

He looks upon you with the same understanding and the same compassion. He knows what you need the most, and He gives it to you. You hear it in the words of absolution that I declare, you sing it in the hymns and in the liturgy. You receive it in the Lord’s Supper. If you go home after the Divine Service without hearing that your sin is forgiven, either I didn’t do my job, or you weren’t listening very well.

It is true today just as it was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow, as true as if Jesus were standing here Himself saying to you: “your sins are forgiven.” So “take heart,” dear child of God! Jesus earned forgiveness for you. He speaks forgiveness to you. He has more than enough forgiveness to cover you and all sinners from Adam and Eve to the end of time.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(woodcut from “The Healing of the Paralytic” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)

(audio is not available for the sermon this week)