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Is it Easier to Say "Your Sins are Forgiven", or "Take Up Your Bed and Walk?"

 

 

It has been recorded in the Gospels that, when Jesus healed a man with palsy by saying "Your sins are forgiven", the scribes accused Him of blasphemy because only God can forgive sins (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:5-12, Luke 5:17-26). Of course, we now know that Jesus is also God and He has the power to forgive sins, but in order to quiet the scribes, He said again to the man, "Take up your mat and walk", while leaving His observers this following question,

 

Which is easier to say to this paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? Mark 2:9

 

I believe most ministries would prefer to say "Your sins are forgiven", because no immediate evidence is required of them! However, Lord Jesus clearly indicated that saying "Your sins are forgiven' is harder. It is only because the crowd reacted so strongly that Lord Jesus changed to use the other words - "Take up your bed and walk" to quiet them down.

 

So, why is it more difficult to say "Your sins are forgiven?" This question was answered beautifully in Matthew 8:17

 

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Matthew 8:17

 

By saying "Your sins are forgiven", Lord Jesus is actually saying that He has committed himself to bear all our sicknesses, infirmities, and all the consequences of the sins that we have committed. This means crucifixion, sufferings, humiliation, and all the pain that He was going to endure for our sake! So, which is more difficult?

 

 

An Analogy

 

To illustrate with an example. an employee has stolen 10,000 dollars from a Company and was fired. Desperately in need of a job, the employee begged his company Director for forgiveness. The Director had compassion on him, and decided to give him a chance. To do this, he can either give a command to the Personnel Manager: "Restore his position!", or he can restore the stolen money from his own pocket.

 

Which is more difficult? Of course the second method! In the first method, the Director simply uses his given authority to give a command without considering the consequences, which may include imbalance in the accounts, injustice to other employees, etc. On the other hand, by restoring the stolen money in the second method, the Director takes up all the consequences and punishments in place of the employee.

 

In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy, has chosen the more difficult path to bear all our debts so that God's blessings to us can be restored.