Help my Unbelief

5 July Midweek Communion at St Giles

Gospel Matthew 9.1-8

When the Gospel is announced the reader says

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 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, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Jesus comes home. Crosses the sea of Galilee. Other side gentile territory. On way across, stilled storm – then healed 2 demon possessed men. “Gadarene demoniac” (KJV). Presence of pigs (swine) marks the place out as non Jewish land. Demons begged Jesus to be allowed to enter pigs, which then rushed down steep slope into lake and all drowned. Not surprisingly, local populace asked him to leave.

So comes back to Nazareth, when people bring him a paralysed man for healing. To be told his sins forgiven not what paralytic wanted to hear.

Sometimes Jesus acts in a way people don’t expect. They want one thing, and get another. The sick man was focussed on his illness, as were his friends. Jesus identifies his greatest need as different from what he expected.

Perhaps also he had another purpose. To demonstrate to those who heard him pronounce forgiveness of sins his power over evil itself. To provoke his hearers and critics into a charge of blasphemy. Note that the teachers of the law were not bold enough to make their accusation public. They kept it to themselves. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, brought them out into the open.

Jesus went on to demonstrate his power over physical infirmity (visible to all) and thereby show his power over sin (hidden in our hearts – not visible to all). For those who accused him, his reply was that performing a healing miracle was easier than forgiving our sins. Throughout the middle east there were miracle healers doing the same as he did. But they could not perform the harder task of addressing our deeper needs. Only he could do that.

Not without our cooperation. The man who came to him on his bed had to have faith in Jesus’ power to make him whole again. So it is with us. In another gospel account, the teacher in his home town could do nothing. Could perform no miracles. Why? Because of their lack of faith. They thought of him as a small builder, whose family they knew, who grew up in their midst. This was a bar to their faith, and Jesus was amazed he could perform no miracles in that place.

So our faith is needed, if we are to be saved. All we can do is rely on God’s grace, as we pray for an increase in our faith. As the father of the sick boy said in Mark 9:24

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Amen