15. Who Can Forgive Sins [Matthew] - Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

so Matthew chapter 9 here's another one another story about how Jesus is amazing and awesome and does things that surprised us in wonderful ways we we have been well actually let me just say that Heather read the story what's the story about you don't have to be like super smart or a scholar or anything to read the short story and figure out what it's what it's about it's a fairly simple story isn't it some people bring a man with the broken body paralyzed we don't know how much of his body is for sure at least his legs he's lying on a mat and right he's brought to Jesus by his friends that's interesting detail and Jesus speaks to him really kindly says his sins are forgiven and that makes some people angry doesn't it did you see that makes Bible teachers makes them angry and they think Jesus is blaspheming right and so then he has this dialogue with them Jesus does not diffuse the situation right Steve it actually makes it even more volatile and he makes this claim at the end of it all he says here's why I'm doing this and why you shouldn't you know be disturbed by what I'm saying look over six it's just kinda he brings it all to a point he says I want you to know that the son of man me that I have what was he saved I have authority to do this to forgive this man sins and then he heals the man that's remarkable and then look at look at how the story ends look at the last sentence of the story is it crowd the people around they see this and they're filled with what so the New International Version says ah any other translations of that last sentence they're so awestruck or they were afraid they're freaked out at what has happened but then that fear turns into praise and gratefulness and they praise God for what why why are they praising God because God does something it fit to give what authority to two humans to this human Jesus what's the story about you guys it's a short story the keyword gets repeated twice that key moments in the story what's the story about about Jesus and Jesus has what yeah you did it good it's not hard to understand a lot of the Bible it's just there you go it's anytime the author repeats the word at key moments in the story there you go Jesus has authority so we've as we've been going through the Gospel according to Matthew we've had Jesus bringing the kingdom announcement that was Chapter four we've had yeah he brings the kingdom and all these people are flocking to Jesus he's claiming that the story of the God of Israel the creator and Redeemer he's taking back his world from what we've done to the place and he's setting things right in Jesus then we had teacher Jesus write chapters 5 through 7 and he's brilliant and amazing and he's talking about the transformation of the heart and then we had compassionate Jesus the healing of the man with the skin disease and then we had Jesus who's surprising and includes the outsider right like his Roman soldier and so on and now here last week then we had Jesus calming the sea and that's Jesus doing something that you know in a Jewish mindset only the God of Israel can do calming the Seas and we also learn he's confronting evil and then now here do you see how it's kind of like ramping up and now we have authority figure Jesus that's what the stories about the stories about how Jesus has authority to do things that nobody else can do this is about Jesus the authority figure now I don't know why that's not a face to just I need to be to and here's why that's all I rely love teacher Jesus and brilliant merciful Jesus and so on really resonated with that you know and then here's a story the whole purpose is dedicated to setting up Jesus as an authority figure now whose heart is warmed by authority figure Jesus merciful Jesus teacher Jesus authority figure Jesus and so what's going on they're not in the story but inside right and and so this may be happening at only half the room right now it happens it happens with me there is something about the word authority when we hear it it's not flowery happy associations that come into our minds my guess is for most of us and maybe for some of us you know we were reading the story my god yeah Jesus he's cool and he's authority Authority you realize whoa the stories about Jesus's authority Authority yes he is an authority figure and my hunch is that for some of us at least if we would spend time with it we would sense this little allergic reaction inside of us right so I guess this authority figure Jesus so what's going on with that there why does this appeal to us in a different way than merciful compassionate brilliant teacher Jesus what's going on there well first you know majority of us in the room here you're American so just like Authority is a happiest word and you know the the birth of our culture is like don't tread on me or tell me what to do you know I mean like that's where our country was birthed right and so there's that second of all you live in Portland where Authority is like a cuss word but I'd like someone's an authority over you or I have authority like that just you don't talk about that kind of thing so there's that going on too and so here's the deal it's it all has is very subjective really some of you don't have any problems with this Authority and Jesus as an authority figure some of us though just language makes us nervous and I have to do with our stories right the kinds the kinds of people in your life at your fort in your formative years and on through who were authority figures in your life and so whether it was parents and whether they did a really bad job or a good job and then you add teachers and then you've had supervisors and co-workers and managers or something like that bosses and all of that shapes our view of authority Authority and and I'm it's just objective for me to write so just sharing very personally why I have a little allergic reaction to a authority figure Jesus and if it's objective for me - if this part of part of my story so the most the formative years of my life here in Portland were spent in absolutely immersed in skateboard culture right so back when the Pearl District was like half empty warehouses everywhere right and when East Portland was like seedy and sketchy and the action was in Beaverton in Gresham that's where people actually wanted to live and so and well there we go that whoa that was crazy my microphone so but there you go that was that was Portland you know twenty eight twenty years ago and and so for skateboarders paradise right the core of the city was paradise and so in the in the in the movie the low there's a little movie playing in the head of a skateboarder at all times and how about the main star is yourself and then how that movie goes is like you're caught you're skateboarding all the time and trying to gain all these new tricks and skills or whatever because one day you're going to make it and you're someone's going to pay you to skateboard right for until you're 30 and your body's totally shattered is that and so and then also in this movie the Pearl District is just a paradise ride all the loading docks and ledges and so on but also in that movie there is an authority figure and those authority figures are your arch nemesis right it's the two-headed dragon right and what who is your arch nemesis skateboarders security guards right who think they have authority and then a police officers who actually do have authority right and so again it but it's still a but still this was in the movies and skateboard videos and magazines and so on lysa those are the bad guys those are the bad people but ah they're always portrayed right and so they're and it's silly it's so salt it's such a self-centered view because like you're down there and you're actually ruining someone's property and then they have these people come as authority figures to tell you to stop and you get offended right at skateboarders you're like how dare you tell me what to do with your property that's that is the logic because it's going on in the mind of a skateboarder and it's illogic right it doesn't make any sense at all but there you go that's what that's what's going on that's my formative world growing up and so if I'm not this is not a respectable character trait in me I'm just telling you I just have this stick it to the man kind of thing it's my default I have to actively choose to not respond to Authority figures in that way you have your own story but you guys get what I'm talking about here and so here's a story whose sole purpose is to establish Jesus as like a supreme of cortex figure so what do you do with that well there's a number of things you do with it first of all you you have to check yourself and you say I you and I all have different ideas of what it means for a person to be an authority those are subjective because they're based on our experience and our life story because most of our experiences of authority or of someone who has their will their purpose and their they impose that from some kind of distance or an elevated distance and then there's the threat of some kind of punishment or negative consequences that threaten if you're not going to comply with their will and submit to their authority in some way that's how it's gone for most of us and most of us have along the way had really negative experience with somebody who loves to do that and so then we come to the Bible and we read about God's Authority or about Jesus right here having authority and we just fill in what authority is and what it means we just read that into the story is somehow our life experience actually determines the meaning of authority and so what it means to be a Christian is always to come to these stories about Jesus and to let them redefine everything for us so with your view of God you we don't believe in some other God and then Jesus we believe that Jesus is the revelation of who God is and so if we have ideas about God we let them be challenged and corrected and undermined by and by the stories and with the same with our view of authority and so here's a here's a question I want to put to the story as we work through it is what what kind of authority does Jesus have and what does Jesus do with his authority and what are the kinds of people that are threatened by his authority and and then what kinds of people are are liberated they're healed by Jesus's authority and once you read through the story you realize this is a completely different category of authority it's an authority where when I grasp it I'm eager to surrender to it so let's dive into the story and we'll just kind of see see where it leads us you guys with me okay so chaps just first sentence chapter 9 Jesus stepped stepped into a boat he's on a boat he crossed over and came to his own town see if you're here last week he had crossed the lake in he had the whole scene with the cemetery and the two crazy guys and so now he's back coming back to his side of the lake and some men brought to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat and Jesus saw their faith and then he responds to them so let's pause for a second here so some of you actually might be familiar with this story and you'll notice something how many of you know the story where Jesus is in a house there's crowds around the door and there's some guys who have a friend who's paralyzed and they can't get near Jesus so do you remember what they do they crawl up on the roof of the house flat roof house and they just start like shredding the roof the piece of try they just tear it apart they're so desperate and then they lower the guy on the rope down in front of Jesus in house you guys remember that story that's the story that's the story if you go read this story is found in Matthew but also in the Gospel according to Mark and Luke and if you compare them all what you'll see is Matthew is giving you like the super condensed version so he knows you can go find you know a fuller version of this story here he's not telling this story without there's no house there's no destroy of the roof there's no crowds or anything he's he's abbreviated his story down to emphasize the things that you so easily picked up Jesus as an authority figure for him that's what this episode is about but that's the story right here the house and so on so some men approached him we know in a house but he's not concerned with those details so you have these guys and they bring their friend who's paralyzed right this body doesn't work now just look at how this initial scene goes is the opening scene the guys these guys bring the paralyzed man he's lying on the mat look what look at Jesus response what does Jesus notice he sees the scene happening in front of him what does he notice was it say their faith now that's interesting that's active that's interesting for a lot of different reasons first of all in English we would almost never say I see your faith would you ever say that to people you like I see your face what wonderful faith I see so no we don't for us faith is religious faith we see that if we say someone has religious faith what we're talking about is their beliefs are they a person of faith which means do they believe in God do they believe some of the implications about that for human beings and how we should live or something like that that's how we use the word faith that is not what faith means right here what is Jesus actually seeing what does Jesus see in front of him he sees four guys carrying their friends who can't walk that's what he sees but what Maddie says is he's seeing their faith so did Jesus have some side interview with them to find out about their religious beliefs there's nothing like what does that mean of course not he's looking at their behavior he's looking at their actions and so this is a very simple little detail in the story but it's profound what is faith in this story faith is the dis it's the mindset of these guys presumably it includes the guy the paralyzed man he's not and screaming like now don't take me to Jesus like he clearly wants this too so there's five of them carrying him and and it's this mindset that there's something wrong with me and Jesus can do something for me that I cannot do for myself I have to get in front of Jesus I have to get to Jesus that's it that's it they will not be deterred they have to get in front of Jesus because of this deep visceral conviction their friend has this need that cannot be fixed by anybody else I have to get to Jesus that's faith in this story and so yes it has to do it's something they believe about Jesus namely that Jesus can do something to heal and transform our friend but it's not just a belief it's it's their behavior and it's very simple right if you in the world of the Bible and in the teaching of the Bible Faye's if you want to know what you really believe if you want to know what you have faith in don't pay attention to your words first of all what you say you believe right because that changes depending on the audience and who you're looking to impress all right and actually don't even look at what you think you believe because that's tickle - have you had your coffee yeah you know like it you have you been eating right and fun and who's your friends and so on so that's subjective - if you want to know what you actually believe look at how you live look at how you behave that will tell you the truth about what you actually believe about God about yourself and about other people and so Jesus looks at their behavior and their choices reveal this desperation to get in front of him because they believe that only Jesus can do something for their friend that's faith first and notice also whose faith is Jesus looking at is their face he sees their face and it's their faith so and this is remarkable who is Jesus going to go on to talk to here not all of them do you see that who does he say what does he say his words - he said to the man to the paralyzed man and then he'd just addresses him throughout the rest of the story so there's another layer here there's there this is what we call a community of faith this is why we have as our second pillar that door of Hope community and it's just this basic belief that not just following Jesus even trying to believe in Jesus and live out the implications of that it's it's just impossible to do that by yourself and here's this beautiful illustration of a case where there's a paralyzed man and for one for one reason or another he doesn't have the ability to get himself in front of Jesus it's actually the community of faith around him that carries him into this transformational encounter with Jesus it's what is this wonderful narrative illustration of what a community of faith does there are times when my faith I may have faced to get me in front of Jesus but it's not actually motivating me to get where I need to get in front of Jesus sometimes it's somebody else's faith in Jesus that's going to help move me and get me in front of Jesus to do what's necessary you with me here this is so profound you need people that's what I'm telling you right now you need you need other disciples of Jesus in your lives because you're your faith won't be sufficient all of the time and that's just part of being human so Jesus sees their faith and he says to the man and then here's the one-liner he delivers take take heart or take courage son this is not John Wayne speak right here my son you know this kind of thing he uses the word little boy and this is not a little boy there's a man he calls him a little boy and he tells him not to be afraid and then he says this one your sins are forgiven now let's just let's pause and reflect on this because the story moves on to talk about the religious leaders and what they think about what Jesus just said your sins are forgiven now just put yourself in the scene right put yourself in that moment in front of Jesus the four friends came they set him down it's this paralyzed man and of Jesus and he says little little boy don't be afraid your sins are forgiven now if you're the if you are the paralyzed man how are you feeling right now let's be honest don't like be religious right like how do you feel right now is it ever bad to have your sins forgiven in person by Jesus no that's rad so you know like it's it's a good day already the has s happened but right it's like a Jesus I got this thing with my legs it's fairly obvious you know like I was hoping you I'm here because I want that to be dealt with you with me here like what's going on here what no Jesus is going to heal his leg he's going to but it's not what he says first what's that about that's interesting um does Jesus not think that that's as important is Jesus implying as maybe some people have read the story that he thinks the spiritual the state of one's soul is more important than the state of one's body is that we're supposed to take away from this is it that it's only after dealing with the spiritual element that he thinks it's like what's happening here and it raises other questions to life so this man's body is broken is Jesus implying that his broken body is the result of his sins somehow and so if sins need to be forgiven before he can visit that kind of thing going on like what's happening here and I think this this is why is the story is in the Gospel of Matthew I'm I'm sure this is why as the disciples were around witnessing this this clearly stucked in their memory right this powerful moment in the story why does Jesus talk about forgiveness first and then heal so part of it I think it's for us as Westerners we just have this huge disconnect with our view of our bodies and ourselves and somehow we think that our emotional spiritual health is totally disconnected from our actual physical existence so that's just a really distorted view of the world right there right somehow like we're not all whole and that this isn't all interconnected so is that that's a very different view of the human self that's just assumed in the Bible that comes from a different culture of deniers but second is that the Scriptures really do have a nuanced way of talking about the relationship of sickness and bad health and sin and it's not it's not a simple connection so you have you have stories you have stories like this in the Bible about say like a character named Miriam Moses's sister and at this key moment as the people of Israel are wandering in the wilderness she starts bad-mouthing Moses and undermining his leadership in front of everybody it's just really bad etiquette you know and it's just it's a crucial moment and she just undermines everything and so as a result she gets a skin disease she like gets a skin disease yeah and then she was like holy cow and she confesses and Moses intercedes on her behalf and she gets better but there you go that's a story about someone getting sick as a result of really stupid selfish sinful decision so that's in the BIOS in Jesus's Bible and then there's also Psalms and prayers in in the bite in Jesus's Bible we're like psalm 32 it's a psalm of confession and the poet is saying man I I there's this horrible thing that I did and I didn't tell anybody and I didn't tell God I didn't confess it or own up to it and he talks about the physical effects that it has it drained his body of energy it's like he's talking about anxiety and stress and worry and it just ruined his body he said so there's it's not God sending a to punishment or something like that it's just the effects of sin and guilt when we don't get them out they ruin the human body but then you also have in Jesus the same Bible a whole book of the Bible about a man who's very very sick and what did he ever do wrong AB what am I talking about what book at the Bible the book of Job right the book of Job and whole point of that book is just because someone is sick does not mean necessarily that they've done anything wrong where the God has ticked at them in any way so all three of those views exist in Jesus's Bible okay and here's what's really interesting is there was another occasion when someone with a broken body is presented to Jesus and look here is in John chapter 9 you'll just see where I'm going here this is really interesting Jesus was going along and he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this this guy or his parents that he was born blind no just stop right there do you see their logic here so they're ignoring the book of Job they are not paying attention to the nuance of psalm 32 and they're just going for the story of miriam right right so they're appealing to a story in their Bible in a mindset while ignoring other parts of of the Bible and look at Jesus response he's just like wrong question why are you obsessed with that question but neither this man nor his parents sinned why are you why are you so seven speculating about why and the cause as if you want to like be God and understand the cause of everything in the universe he says listen well don't think about why think about the result that this is going to have it will result in the work of God being displayed through him so here so here's the deal let's keep that up there and think about the story right here can can you as a Christian assume that when your body breaks down or so a loved one their body breaks down something happens can you assume that they've done something wrong and that God sending this is punishment answer no you with me here let's just be very clear about that no right the Bible recognizes the complexity of human behavior or our moral decisions the effects of our moral decisions and there's a whole host of explanations and we are not prophets with divine insight to always know why and second of all Jesus that's the wrong question what he thinks is that having a broken body create an environment where someone when they come to Jesus that suffering all of a sudden has a chance to transform that person their experience of hardship has the ability both to display God's mercy and grace but also to change that person whether it's their body is healed or something else that's how Jesus views the situation and so I think that that's where I would encourage us to go here so I don't think Jesus is implying that this guy is a horrible man that he's been punished all these years and paralyzed knows the whole point is don't let your mind you don't know why and you're not ever going to know why what I do think we should ask is why does Jesus say this first why does he say it first so Jesus has some insight and he always has insight into people he always treats people as individuals never with formulas or categories he treats them as individuals and he says precisely what people need to hear we'll see this time and again as we go through the Gospel of Matthew and so Jesus discerned but for this guy so this guy grew up in this culture there's a paralyzed man who grew up in this culture where everyone he knows everyone stares at him and conclude oh yeah he did something right and and how could you not begin to believe that as the years go by like so and then you begin to believe that about yourself and then what does that do to your view of God as you're not getting better well if I'm in this mess and I'm my body's like this because I did something to offend God and I'm not getting better it must mean that he is perpetually angry with me and what is it that I did wrong like that's where this guy lives because this is where Jesus decides their default category and so Jesus discerned that there's something going on in this man where this is what he needs to hear first Jesus discerned that if he were to heal this man's body but were to never address this issue of his view of God and his view of himself and where he stands with God Jesus discerns that he will not have actually have fully healed and helped this man it's not that he thinks that spirit is more important than body it's that he's discerning that this man needs to hear first and foremost that God's not angry with him and that he's not being punished are you with me here look at how he addresses him he's not giving a lecture these tender tender words little boy don't be afraid you are right with God God's not angry with you you're forgiven I mean just just very personal and compassionate and so this is this is the first thing it should do to remake our view of authority is what does Jesus do with his authority he doesn't maintain elevated distance he moves right towards people and says is them precisely what they need to hear that's what Jesus does with his authority very different than a security guard this is totally different category right it's also a very dangerous thing to say in Jesus culture look at the response of the these guys here verse 3 that some of this at this some of the teachers of the law and therefore law think Jewish categories Torah which is the first five books of the Bible and then all of the discussion of the rabbis about how to live faithfully to God and follow the laws of the Torah these are these are Bible teachers they're mean they're like your local Bible teacher that's what these guys are up in Galilee and what are they doing they are talking amongst themselves saying oh my gosh this guy right this fellow's blaspheming he's blaspheming now I think Matthew just assumes that you're going to know what what that means or what that implies what does Jesus said he's only said two things really so he said you know don't be afraid little boy is that blasphemous nope okay that's not a good candidate so your sins are forgiven that must be it that's what Jesus said this is blasphemous and some of you might put that together for others of us we need to connect connected the dots more so if if you're if you're living in Jesus is dead how do you experience and know that you have forgiveness for some wrong that you've done from the God of Israel how do you know so but it is you do pray like the psalm psalm 32 you do confess your sin there's this very personal moment but forgiveness is never a private affair in jesus's culture it's a public matter so it begins with this this confession of the heart but then there actually is something concrete and real that you go do and it has to do with it building an actual building that's in Jerusalem and so I'll show you a picture of it a reconstructed picture of it from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem just look at that so awesome so this is a this is one of the coolest maps it's this fully it's this large-scale reconstruction of Jerusalem in Jesus's time period in the first century in Israel Museum in Jerusalem it's about half a football field the size of this model it's so awesome you can spend hours there cruising around and so from this vantage point right here it's as if you're standing on the Mount of Olives to the east and you this is what you would see and so on the left there that red roof structure there that's called the the colonnades or the portico of Solomon it's called in the book of Acts so this is where all the money changers would be when people come this is where they would exchange their money and come by animals and so on and and buying animals is really key to enacting God's forgiveness on your behalf so here's I mean you're up in Galilee and you steal your neighbors donkey or something like that right and so what do you do you do I confess and pray but then you get on your donkey you know and you go to Jerusalem and you go you know if you don't want to carry lamby with you you could do that but if you didn't want to you could just bring some cash exchange it right there and buy it an animal and then you'd go from the red roof structure across the courtyard let's zoom in we can zoom in once more on that on the temple yeah and so then you would come and you would come that little gold door and there would be a line there because there's a hundred people in front of you that stole their neighbor's donkey or put her face off so they're all there and so it's a very public the very public experience is doing this and so your turn would come up and then a priest a priest would greet you and what are they doing right through that gold door is an inner courtyard and that's where the large like this tall huge big altar is and since you're coming midday the the priests they start their day with white clothing but by this point the day it's just bloody because it's it's like a like a butcher shop right and what are they doing there they're slaughtering and they're sacrificing animals and so you come to the altar these priests guide you you have this conversation before the God of Israel whose presence dwells in the temple you name what you've done the priest takes this lamb and slips its throat and pours its blood into a bowl now just just think about how visceral this experiences right you're watching this animal die because of the wrong that you have done right you'd made a stupid central decision you've contributed once again to why this world is such a screwed up place and so you're watching you this is a symbol that's meant to to help you understand the gravity of our decisions that our decisions matter and they create real ruin in the world and so this animal dies on my behalf and then his body is burned is burned on the altar Tournament is made my sin is covered then the priest says to me your sins are forgiven there you go like I could have read Leviticus chapter 4 to you but instead I did this ok so there you go that's how it works and and if you are an Israelite in Jesus day this is not legalistic this is not oppressive to you this is awesome right because you stole your neighbor's donkey and although I can just say I'm sorry to God like it still leaves this chasm in this rift in the relationship and God and His grace and mercy has dwelt among us despite our sin and selfishness and he's provided a very clear way for my sins to be covered and for my guilt to be dealt with and so you leave the temple praising God and singing Psalms that you grew up memorizing and it's an experience of grace and and so here look at what Jesus is doing here Jesus he's 70 miles north up in Galilee and Jesus hears this man who may or may not it doesn't matter be you know paralyzed because of his sin that's not the point what Jesus does is he says you are right with God and Jesus just pronounces what the priest would pronounce and has this man gone to Alfre sacrifice and Jerusalem like no like Jesus just asserts his authority to declare that this man is right with God completely apart from ever going and doing this so you listening here this would speak loud and clear to everybody who's standing right there we need to connect the dots for us because this is not our culture and so on but D do you see how real and concrete of a scandal the Jesus is opening up here and in and it makes about as much sense as like I I have my we live in a neighborhood with a lot of dogs and they poop in each other's yards and stuff like that and so there's these few feuding battle lines on my street about like a you know they know clean up their dog or whatever and so here I we don't have a dog and so here's what I can't do is like my neighbor the dog poops on the other person's yard across the street what I cannot do is just waltz into the middle of their issue and be like you're forgiven right for that person yeah and my neighbor here is just going to be like what it's not your dog or your yard you know like how do you have the right to forgive them you see what I'm saying here that's what Jesus is doing in the in the Bible teachers Minds there's this paralyzed man and then there's God and Jesus is just putting himself right here in the place of the priest and in the place of the temple and saying you're forgiven he's off he's offering God's forgiveness as if it's his to offer do you see what Jesus is doing here now again Matthew could have just written a story and just said hey dear reader Jesus is Emmanuel God with us he is the very human embodiment of the God of Israel the creator of the world he could say that but what a boring book that would be read right and so the disciples this experience just rocked them and it's absolutely scandalous absolutely scandalous and Jesus knows it and instead of diffusing it he turns up the heat look he says verse 4 he says knowing knowing their thoughts Jesus could perceive that's what these Bible teachers are thinking Jesus said what why are you entertaining these evil thoughts in your heart which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk which is easier to say to someone you are right with God or to to transform their bodies which is easier so can can any kook sit by the entry to the New York subway station and just yell at people you're forgiven God forgives you you're forgiven you're good with God like can anybody do that can you waltz around and say like yes of course you can anybody can say that how do you fact check it you know is there a website you go to like you look up like am i forgiven I don't know I need to find out like how do you do you see it so it's much easier and he knows his words and him asserting his authority is the issue and so he says all right if you don't believe this then let me give you a real demonstration of what my authority does which is new creation to heal this man's body which is exactly what he does he says I want you to know that the son of man that's Jesus favorite term for himself that the son of man has authority right here right now to offer God's forgiveness to forgive sins he said to the paralyzed man get up take your mat go home the man got up and went home if Jesus which is easier to say the sins forgiven or to transform his body let me just do that real quick for you boom right and so if that just happened what does it say about the forgiveness issue you get it right he doesn't even answer their question right he lets he lets the the scenario and the man getting up to what a powerful response to their question look at how the story closes when the crowd saw this is everybody standing around what's their first response we talked about this early their first response is fear they're awestruck right they're filled there's something scary it's very similar to the story about Jesus calming the sea and the disciples instead saying yay hurray Jesus you saved us they're just like oh my gosh like get me off the boat like who is what kind of human is this remember that was a response what kind of human is this Who am I in the boat with right now and that's exactly what these crowds they're first respond with fear just like oh if what just happened really means what it means then Jesus is who he's saying he is and what that means is that he he is the very meeting place of heaven and earth Jesus is not saying that the temple is bad just like he wasn't saying that the Torah and the Old Testament is bad he's saying they were pointing forward - ASA filmand he said I've come to fulfill them so the temple was this meeting place of heaven and earth and of God in humanity and of God's holiness and grace and human sin and it's the place where God is committed to forgiving and transforming his relationship with people and Jesus just inserts himself right into the middle of this equation and he says that he is this new temple he is this new priest he is God offering forgiveness to people just declaring it and it freaks people out because they have no categories for this but that's not how it ends first they're filled with fear for the implications about who Jesus is and his authority but then look what happens their fear is converted into what into worship they begin to worship God because God's Authority has been given to and it finds expression through this human Jesus which means this they've had a conversion of their view of authority this what is what kind of authority figure is Jesus he's not whatever a category you have from your own growing up experience like don't impose that on Jesus Jesus is a different category altogether he's his own category and so what does let's ask our questions again what does Jesus do with his authority what he does is he doesn't maintain a distance he actually meets this broken man right where he's at and what kind of authorities does Jesus have he has authority to both name and deal with the deepest brokenness and sin and flaws and failures of the human heart and mind and and what kinds of people are threatened by that kind of authority people who are more interested in preserving religious traditions than encountering the Living God and a transforming personal encounter that's who's threatened by Jesus and who finds themselves liberated by the authority of Jesus people with faith people who just have this deep conviction there's something really wrong with me with my friend I can't do anything about it I have to get in front of Jesus and people who are willing to come to Jesus and just surrender it all and just say I need your help Jesus they find Jesus's Authority absolutely healing and transformative are you with me here this is this a great story this is so profound this is so profound what does this mean for us what does this mean to you I can't claim to know that right but I think for many of us if it it reveals the Jesus who these words are our word of comfort deep comfort because there are a whole bunch of us who labor under this false idea about who God is that he's like you're like way you know like wound too tight parent or teacher or whatever this just never pleased enough with you always pointing out your failures and faults you'll never measure up this kind of thing and you begin to believe those things about yourself and those beliefs can actually can actually have negative physical consequences on someone's body over over the decades of a human life those negative self-loathing kinds of thought patterns and so for people who are in that mindset and I think that that likely the mindset that Jesus is addressing here and why he addresses that issue first Jesus meets this person right where they're at and he just he just says little child don't be afraid God is not angry at you the fact that Jesus is here doing what he's doing means that God has made a decision to meet this man despite his flaws and failures to meet him right there and to pronounce that he is on good terms with God and some of you need to hear that and you need to know it this morning you need to and at the same time it speaks a word of comfort it also it also speaks a word of challenge and and that's because grace is a scandalous thing right because there are some people that can walk away from being forgiven like this and they can think whoa like wow this is actually not a big deal that I behave in these ways and that I do these things that hurt myself and other people or whatever and so like it must be God's over Jesus is overlooking it so I just kind of and that's just a dangerous mindset like just trust me you don't want to play that game and so grace actually increases the demand for response it increases our accountability to respond to this generosity that's in front of us not because like God the jerk but because what does that say about me in the state of my heart that I look such generosity in the face and then just take advantage of it right that's it's actually hardening myself in those same patterns that Jesus is trying to free you from and so there might be some of us today who we hear these words of Jesus to you little child stop being afraid you're forgiven and you need to hear those words that as words that shake you awake to the reality of the decisions that you've been making and the way that they affect people remove the way that they affect yourself and that they're wrong and that God's not angry with you he's moving towards you he's trying to heal you if you'll let him and so which of these two that this story speaks to you I have no idea that's not my job that's the Holy Spirit we welcome the spirit into our gathering with the whole song and so during this time of prayer and worship and reflection I just encourage you to just discern what Jesus is saying to you with his authority this morning as we gather let me close in a word of Prayer you

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

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Length: 48min 33sec (2913 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 19 2017