The Great Physician's Diagnosis Text: Matthew 9:1-8
Introduction: Getting to the Root
We live in an age that is allergic to first principles. We want to treat symptoms, not diseases. We put a fresh coat of paint on a rotting structure and wonder why the walls are still crumbling. We see a man with a severed leg and offer him a very sincere and empathetic aspirin. Our entire culture is built on this kind of superficiality. We see crime and talk about poverty, not sin. We see family breakdown and talk about economics, not rebellion against God's created order. We see despair and talk about chemical imbalances, not alienation from the God who is life itself.
In our text today, Jesus confronts this shallow mindset head-on. A man is brought to Him with a clear, undeniable, physical problem. He is paralyzed. His friends, with their commendable and rugged faith, have one thing on their mind: they want Jesus to fix his legs. And Jesus, in His infinite wisdom, looks at the man and addresses a far deeper, more catastrophic paralysis. He looks past the withered limbs and diagnoses the withered soul. Before He says, "Get up and walk," He says, "Your sins are forgiven."
This is a profound disruption of our expectations. It is a theological earthquake. Jesus is teaching us, in this compact and dramatic scene, that the ultimate problem with humanity is not our circumstances, our bodies, our economies, or our psychologies. The ultimate problem is our sin. All the other miseries of this life are downstream from that one polluted spring. And any solution that does not deal with the sin problem is no solution at all; it is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
This passage is a direct assault on the therapeutic gospel that is so popular today, the gospel that wants a Jesus who only affirms, who only heals the body, who only improves our lives, but who never confronts our sin. But the Jesus of the Bible is not a life coach; He is a Savior. He is not a cosmic therapist; He is the great Physician. And a good physician does not just pat you on the back and tell you you're fine. He finds the cancer and cuts it out. Here, Jesus puts His divine finger on the cancer of the human condition, and in doing so, reveals His own divine identity with breathtaking clarity.
The Text
And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city.
And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.”
And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?
For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”, then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”
And he got up and went home.
But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
(Matthew 9:1-8 LSB)
Faith in Action (v. 1-2)
The scene opens with Jesus returning to Capernaum, His base of operations.
"And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.'" (Matthew 9:1-2)
Notice the first thing the text highlights: "Seeing their faith." Whose faith? The faith of the friends who brought the paralytic. The other Gospel accounts tell us they were so determined they tore a hole in the roof to lower their friend down to Jesus. This is not a passive, sentimental faith. This is a working faith, a muscular faith, a faith that carries stretchers and climbs on roofs. It is a faith that believes Jesus is the only answer and will not be deterred by obstacles. This is the kind of faith that pleases God, a faith that acts on what it believes.
And what is Jesus' response to this display of faith? He does not immediately address the man's legs. He addresses his soul. "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven." This is stunning. He calls him "son," a term of tender affection and authority. And then He pronounces the absolution that every human heart, whether it knows it or not, is desperate to hear. He goes right to the root of the problem. While it is not true that every specific sickness is the direct result of a specific sin, it is absolutely true that all sickness, all decay, and all death are the result of The Sin, the original rebellion of Adam in the Garden. Sickness is a trumpet blast from God in a fallen world, reminding us that things are not the way they are supposed to be. Jesus, the second Adam, has come to undo the curse. By forgiving the man's sin, He is dealing with the ultimate cause of the paralysis, not just the physical symptom.
The Silent Accusation (v. 3)
Jesus' declaration immediately provokes a reaction from the religious establishment.
"And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, 'This man blasphemes.'" (Matthew 9:3 LSB)
The scribes were the theological watchdogs of Israel. And in one sense, their logic was impeccably correct. They reasoned, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). This is good Old Testament theology. Forgiveness of sins is a divine prerogative. To claim that authority is to claim to be God. So, they concluded, since this man Jesus is just a man, He must be blaspheming. Blasphemy was the highest crime, punishable by death. Their premise was correct, but their conclusion was catastrophically wrong, because they had misidentified the man standing in front of them.
Their accusation was silent, "said to themselves." They were muttering in their hearts, stewing in their own self-righteousness. They were not seeking truth; they were looking for a charge that would stick. This is the nature of unbelief. It is not an intellectual problem; it is a moral problem. It is a heart that is committed to its own autonomy and therefore must find a reason, any reason, to dismiss the claims of Christ.
The Divine Mind-Reader (v. 4-5)
Jesus now demonstrates that He is not just another teacher. He is the one who searches hearts.
"And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, 'Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?'" (Genesis 9:4-5 LSB)
Jesus knows their thoughts. This is another claim to deity. The Scripture says that only God truly knows the heart of man (Jer. 17:10). By exposing their silent, internal deliberations, Jesus is proving the very point they are denying. He is not just a man. He then poses a brilliant question, a divine dilemma. "Which is easier to say?"
Now, on one level, it is obviously easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven." Why? Because it is an invisible, unverifiable claim. Anyone can say it. You could say it to me, I could say it to you, and who could prove otherwise? But to say, "Get up and walk" to a man who is genuinely paralyzed is to put your authority to the ultimate, immediate, and public test. If the man does not get up, you are exposed as a fraud and a charlatan in front of everyone. So, Jesus is setting up His argument. He is about to do the harder thing (healing the body) to prove that He has the authority to do the thing that is actually impossible for any mere man (forgiving the soul).
The Son of Man's Authority (v. 6-7)
Jesus now connects the visible miracle to the invisible reality.
"But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”, then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home." (Matthew 9:6-7 LSB)
Here, Jesus uses His favorite self-designation: "the Son of Man." This is a direct reference to Daniel 7, where the Son of Man is a divine figure who comes on the clouds of heaven and is given everlasting dominion, glory, and a kingdom. It is a title of both humanity and divine authority. Jesus is saying, "I, the divine ruler prophesied by Daniel, am here on earth, and I have authority." Authority to do what? To forgive sins.
And then comes the proof. The command is issued: "Get up, pick up your bed and go home." The word of Christ is creative. It does what it says. Just as He said, "Let there be light," and there was light, He says, "Get up," and life floods into dead limbs. The man doesn't just get up; he picks up his bed, a sign of complete and total restoration. The physical healing is the undeniable, visible evidence of His invisible, spiritual authority. The miracle is a sermon in action. It is God authenticating the claims of His Son.
The Crowd's Confused Conclusion (v. 8)
"But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men." (Matthew 9:8 LSB)
The reaction of the crowd is a mixture of right and wrong. They were afraid, which is a proper response to a display of divine power. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And they glorified God, which is also correct. God was indeed at work. But look at their conclusion: they glorified God, "who had given such authority to men." Plural. They saw the power, but they missed the identity. They saw this as God giving a remarkable gift to a human prophet, perhaps like Elijah or Elisha. They did not yet grasp what the scribes, in their hostile way, had understood perfectly: that the man making this claim was claiming to be God Himself.
They were standing on the right street but stopped at the wrong house. They were close, but not there yet. This is a picture of many people's view of Jesus today. They see Him as a great man, a moral teacher, a miracle worker. They are willing to praise the God who sent such a man. But they are not yet willing to bow the knee to the man who is God. The scribes were wrong in their conclusion but right in their theology. The crowd was right in their awe but wrong in their theology. The only right response is to see that this man, Jesus, is God in the flesh, and to worship Him accordingly.
Conclusion: Your Deeper Paralysis
This story is about more than a paralyzed man in Capernaum two thousand years ago. This story is about you. Every single person born into this world is born with a spiritual paralysis. We are, by nature, unable to walk in the ways of God. Our will is bound, our hearts are sick, and we are lying helpless on a mat of our own sin, utterly unable to get up and come to God.
And the message of the gospel is that friends have brought you to Jesus. The evangelists, the preachers, the parents, the authors who have shared the truth with you have, in effect, carried your stretcher and laid you at the feet of the Lord. And He looks at you in your helpless state, and He does not begin by trying to fix your external problems. He does not offer you five steps to a better marriage or seven keys to financial success. He looks at the root of your paralysis, the sin that has crippled you, and He offers the only cure.
He says to all who will hear, "Your sins are forgiven." This is a declaration based not on our merit, but on His work. He has the authority to forgive sins because as the Son of Man, He would go to the cross, and on that cross, He would pay the penalty for every sin of every person who would ever believe in Him. He absorbed the wrath of God that we deserved, so that He could offer us the forgiveness we do not.
The proof that His forgiveness is real is the resurrection. Just as the healing of the paralytic proved His authority on earth, the resurrection from the dead proved His authority over heaven and earth. And now He issues the same command to you. He says, "Get up. Pick up your bed and walk." He does not just forgive us and leave us lying on the mat. Forgiveness is the root, but new life is the fruit. He commands us to rise and walk in newness of life, to live as those who have been healed, to obey Him out of gratitude for the great salvation He has accomplished. The question is, will you listen to the scribes in your heart, who tell you this is all blasphemous nonsense? Or will you, by faith, hear the voice of the Son of Man, receive His forgiveness, and get up and walk?