Peter and his wife Jesse were walking up the walkway to a large house full of people. Music could be heard from the street and every light was on. The party looked well on its way.
Despite trying to look her best and wearing her nicest blue dress, Jesse was still nervous.
“Are you sure you want to go to this thing?” she asked.
“Hon,” he said, “the boss throws this party every year. It’s about time we went. Besides, they’ve never met you and some of the guys are starting to think I’ve just made you up.”
“OK, just remember I don’t know them either, so don’t you leave me.”
“Don’t worry,” Peter said reassuringly as he took her hand. “I love you and I won’t leave your side. Even if Conan the Barbarian asks if he can dance with you, I’ll whip him,” he said with a wink.
She laughed as they walked up the steps to the front door and let him know that fighting wouldn’t be necessary. “Besides, what would the boss think?”
“What if it is the boss?” he said in shock. She laughed again; he could always make her laugh.
“Stop making me laugh, you know I need to go to the bathroom when we get in there.”
The front door was opened by Peter’s co-worker, Steve and the two of them were quickly surrounded by the ongoing festivities.
“Hon, the bathroom’s over there. I’ll get us something to drink out by the pool.”
Peter goes and gets something to drink over at the punchbowl in the backyard when suddenly a voice calls his name. “Peter! Glad you could make it,” said his boss.
“Walk with me a minute would you.”
“Uh, sure thing.”
A few minutes later Jesse came outside looking for Peter and she couldn’t see him. Where is he, she thought to herself. Just as she turned to look somewhere else, she slipped in her new shoes and fell. Jesse’s knee took the brunt of the fall and it started to bleed. She fought back a few tears and looked around hoping no one had noticed. She saw a few stares and glances from some of the other women at the party. As Jesse started to get up, a man stepping away from the drinks didn’t see her and bumped her so hard that she fell into the pool.
Across the way, Peter’s boss heard the ruckus and turned to see what had happened. Seeing a woman getting helped out of the pool, he turned to Peter and shook his head. “That didn’t take long… every year someone has too much to drink and falls into the pool.”
When Peter turned to look the first thing he noticed was a blue dress. “Oh no.”
“Do you recognize that woman Peter?” his boss asked.
“No sir I don’t. I have no idea who she is. Excuse me though, I need to go find my wife.”
“Oh she’s here? Well, be sure and introduce me to her later.”
“Sure thing,” Peter said hurrying away.
By the time Peter made it back around to the punch bowl, Jesse was nowhere to be found. This evening was not going like he had planned. A few high fashioned ladies had been eyeing Peter as he came up. “Are you looking for that woman who fell in the pool?”, one of them asked. “How embarrassing,” said another.
“No, no, no. What makes you think I know who that was?”
As Peter was trying to push his way through the party and into the house, all he could think of was getting away. If only we could make a quiet exit.
But before he could make it to the house, he was grabbed on the shoulder by his co-worker Steve. “Well, it looks like you won the office pool after all… literally, right Peter! This guy is a genius—first he bets that someone would fall into the pool before 9, but the really great part,” Steve said turning to more of their friends, “it was Peter’s wife who did it!” Laughter began to ring out from his friends.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Steve,” said Peter.
“Dude, I opened the door to let you in remember? I saw you with her.”
Peter turned around and put his finger into Steve’s face. “Hey look, just give me the money I won and drop it. Whoever that crazy lady was, she isn’t my wife” he said, raising his voice.
Hoping to get away from his co-workers, Peter spun around to go back to the house. Less than a step later, Peter jerked backwards to avoid running into his boss, who was helping Jesse find her husband. Jesse looked straight into Peter’s eyes and he knew she had heard every word.
Peter hurried out of the party and drove away crying.
Peter did not see Jesse for 3 days. He was too embarrassed to go home and he was convinced she had left him. I know I would, he thought to himself. I must be the worst man on the planet.
Finally, Peter got a call. He recognized Jesse’s number, but he was afraid to answer it. When the voicemail came through, Peter told Steve, “I can’t listen to it. What if she tells me it’s over? What if she never wants to see me again?”
“Let me see your phone,” said Steve. “It says that she’s home.”
Immediately Peter jumped into his car and started making his way back to their house at full speed. Running up to the door, Peter fumbled with the keys, then stopped, suddenly fearful—would she take him back? How could he know for sure. But when he arrived, she was gone again. The only thing he found was the dress Jesse was wearing hanging on the back of the couch.
“What do I do now? How can she ever trust me or love me again?”
Over the next several days, Peter and Jesse ran into each other—but usually when
other people were around. They were never alone to talk about what had happened.
Peter’s anxiety grew and grew. Over a week later, they finally had a chance to talk alone.
Questions:
How do you think that conversation went?
How would you feel if you were Jesse, hearing your husband deny he even knew you?
Do you think Jesse should “take Peter back”? Why or why not?
If she did take him back, how would you describe Jesse’s love for her husband?
What would it take for Peter to be right with Jesse again?
What kind of marriage would they have?
If you were Peter’s boss, what would you think of him after hearing this story?
The Pursuit Life
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
My Favorite Thing About GMail
Gmail has a great feature in their spam filter called “delete forever”. It creates a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that a particular message from the Dubai Lottery, Viagra-on-line, or Ms. Cleo Wannabe will be gone and will never grace my computer or e-mail system again.
I got to wondering why they don’t have that feature in the regular mail section. There’s just “delete”. That’s because even though you delete it, they assume you might really want to get it back at some point. A deleted message gets put into a Trash file and is kept automatically for 30 days just in case you made a mistake and want to get it back.
Which kind of person are you? Are you a “delete” person or a “delete forever” person?
I as a human being, and I’m guessing this goes for you too, want to be treated by “delete forever” people. I want all of my mistakes, all of my offenses, all my stupidity to be put into the “delete forever” category so that it will never be remembered or brought up again. I hope and want people to forgive me completely.
While I want to be treated this way, I know that I do not act this way myself. In some cases, what comes naturally for me is to be a regular “delete” person. I delete an offense, I “forgive” but really, I just put it into the Trash file that gets held onto for a period of time. I confess, for some things, it’s longer than 30 days. It is possible to keep things on file in the Forgiven Trash section for over 30 years. Years of offenses are there to be mulled over or brought out as ammunition or defensive grenades.
Am I alone in this? Everyone wants to “forgive and forget” but we don’t. We want to be treated this way, but since we can’t do it, we know it’s not a real possibility.
That’s one of the amazing things about God. God doesn’t have 2 kinds of delete buttons. He has one kind and amazingly enough—it is “Delete Forever”
Jeremiah 31:34—“"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Psalm 103:12—“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:19—“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
Isaiah 43:25—“It is I who sweep away your transgressions, for My own sake and remember your sins no more.”
When the Blood of Jesus is applied to you and me—God no longer sees our sin, no longer sees our unrighteousness, instead He sees only the righteousness of Christ. We are moved from the category of a lawbreaker and given the status that the sacrifice of Jesus acquired-that His resurrection guaranteed.
As Paul says in Colossians 1:13—“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Later in 1:22—“but now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him”
When our sins are deleted, they are deleted forever—they are removed fully and completely. 1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I am so glad that my sin is not forgiven—only to be stored away and used against me later. Satan likes to play that game—he likes to remember our failures and remind us of them. Satan is the Accuser—but in reality—“no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus”
They have been deleted forever—never to be used against us.
Which kind of person are you?
How do you hope to be treated?
Have your sins been put into the “delete forever” category b/c you have received redemption through Jesus?
What are your thoughts?
I got to wondering why they don’t have that feature in the regular mail section. There’s just “delete”. That’s because even though you delete it, they assume you might really want to get it back at some point. A deleted message gets put into a Trash file and is kept automatically for 30 days just in case you made a mistake and want to get it back.
Which kind of person are you? Are you a “delete” person or a “delete forever” person?
I as a human being, and I’m guessing this goes for you too, want to be treated by “delete forever” people. I want all of my mistakes, all of my offenses, all my stupidity to be put into the “delete forever” category so that it will never be remembered or brought up again. I hope and want people to forgive me completely.
While I want to be treated this way, I know that I do not act this way myself. In some cases, what comes naturally for me is to be a regular “delete” person. I delete an offense, I “forgive” but really, I just put it into the Trash file that gets held onto for a period of time. I confess, for some things, it’s longer than 30 days. It is possible to keep things on file in the Forgiven Trash section for over 30 years. Years of offenses are there to be mulled over or brought out as ammunition or defensive grenades.
Am I alone in this? Everyone wants to “forgive and forget” but we don’t. We want to be treated this way, but since we can’t do it, we know it’s not a real possibility.
That’s one of the amazing things about God. God doesn’t have 2 kinds of delete buttons. He has one kind and amazingly enough—it is “Delete Forever”
Jeremiah 31:34—“"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Psalm 103:12—“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Micah 7:19—“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
Isaiah 43:25—“It is I who sweep away your transgressions, for My own sake and remember your sins no more.”
When the Blood of Jesus is applied to you and me—God no longer sees our sin, no longer sees our unrighteousness, instead He sees only the righteousness of Christ. We are moved from the category of a lawbreaker and given the status that the sacrifice of Jesus acquired-that His resurrection guaranteed.
As Paul says in Colossians 1:13—“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Later in 1:22—“but now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him”
When our sins are deleted, they are deleted forever—they are removed fully and completely. 1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I am so glad that my sin is not forgiven—only to be stored away and used against me later. Satan likes to play that game—he likes to remember our failures and remind us of them. Satan is the Accuser—but in reality—“no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus”
They have been deleted forever—never to be used against us.
Which kind of person are you?
How do you hope to be treated?
Have your sins been put into the “delete forever” category b/c you have received redemption through Jesus?
What are your thoughts?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Sermon-- Forgiveness Offensive?--Mark 2:1-12
The Audio for this message can be found here.
Mark 2:1-12
Forgiveness is Offensive?
Imagine for a moment—you’re a executive manager of a company—everyone looks to you. Scratch that, you’re a tenured professor and an important figure on your campus. You’ve helped set up the program and are conducting several important research projects. Then you get assigned a Graduate Assistant. And the students love it when you miss class and you GA has to teach for you. In fact, as soon as they see you’re not there, they call all their friends and class attendance triples—every seat is taken, some sit on the floor, others stand in the back of the room. To add insult to injury—while you were away defending your request for a grant, in the middle of one of your experiments, this graduate assistant comes in and reorganizes everything—“trust me, I know better then the Professor does”—he changes the procedure, changes the subject of the experiment, changes the objective—all because he insists he’s got a better way.
What do you say when you get back and see what’s going on?
“I don’t care how popular you with the students: Who gave you the right to make these changes? Who do you think you are?”
“Don’t worry Professor,” the graduate assistant says. “I’ve already finished all the experiments and processed the data—thanks to my changes, I’ve more than justifies your grant and may in fact revolutionize the field. You can thank me later.”
Welcome to the world of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law with Jesus on the scene. A young, upstart teacher who knows more than you do, is more popular than you are, and has an uncanny way of proving it.
As we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Mark—it only gets worse in ch. 2
1. Offending Crowds--Read 1-4
a. Standing Room Only—Once again, Jesus was attracting a crowd—unlike any crowd that ever came for one of the regular Saturday Sabbaths. Clearly Jesus was something different—He had some spark about Him that everyone was attracted to—an uncertainty that they were about to see God do something in their midst that hadn’t been done before. He was continuing to do what He had said was His purpose—Jesus was preaching the word to the crowds.
b. A little professional Jealousy would be understandable at this point—What’s He got that I don’t? He’s no better than I am. Heresy is always able to attract a crowd—if it’s popular, it must be wrong.
c. Into this crowd comes Desperation personified. Here was this man who was trapped in his own body—paralyzed—he could not go to Jesus on his own. Taking care of this man required others giving of themselves and their willingness to help. We have no idea how he got this way—whether he was born paralyzed or due to some accident. But he had friends and family that believed that if anyone could help him, Jesus could.
d. But there was a problem. There were many obstacles in the way. The crowds, the popularity, the limited space. I suspect there were even those who didn’t think someone like this paralytic deserved to be in Jesus’ presence—b/c he probably is so sinful that he deserves
e. Think about the obstacles you face in bringing people to church or bringing people to Jesus. What reasons do we give? “They work on Sunday”, “I’ve already asked them before and they said no.”, “I’m worried about what they will think of me.”
f. What if these friends had given up—“Oh well, there’s a crowd. I guess we should just take him home.” “These people are rude—can’t they see our friend needs to see Jesus.” “I really don’t want to dig through the roof—last time I checked, destruction of private property isn’t a good evangelism strategy.”
g. It is my belief that we give up too easily in seeking to bring our friends, family, co-workers to Jesus. They say “No” one time, and we tuck our tails between our legs and never bring it up again.
h. Determination and Persistence and realizing that Jesus is the only One who can truly heal and forgive—Jesus saw that kind of faith commendable and He responded to it.
i. Vs. 5—it was their faith, the faith of the men bringing the paralytic that Jesus sees and responds to. This man’s body was twisted and paralyzed physically, you would think that Jesus would address this problem first—but He doesn’t. Apparently, in Jesus’ mind, the man’s greater need was spiritual—maybe He saw that everyone else thought sin was the problem.
j. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Even if Jesus never healed his physical body—providing forgiveness for his sins was the greater miracle.
k. Here again, Jesus offends the teachers and leaders—this time by proclaiming forgiveness.
2. Offensive Forgiveness--God’s Territory
a. Why is forgiveness offensive? Why in this case would Jesus even bring up its need?
b. Our culture is not so different from theirs. Many times, when we see bad situation happen to someone, we try to figure out why. In many cases, we look at the things that person has done to bring it on themselves. Today, we just couch it in medical terms: “If he had just eaten better all those years, he wouldn’t have had that heart attack.” “She smoked at least a pack a day, it’s no wonder she’s got cancer.” “I can’t have too much sympathy for someone who risked his life like that—(parachuting, sex, rock climbing, speeding)”
c. This man must have been considered sinful—why else would this man be so paralyzed—He must have done something to deserve it. God must have been punishing this man for something. He was the type that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law would have counseled by saying, “brother, confess your sins, and God will heal you. Confess your sins, have faith—and if you are worthy—God will heal you.” Gee, you’re not healed—either you’re more sinful than thought, or you must not be worthy.
d. And with that—they could walk on by and never give him another thought. I hope you see from this passage that sometimes healing is not about your crying out, not about your persistence, but the persistence of those praying for you.
e. Son, your sins are forgiven.
f. How dare He say that— READ 5-7--forgiveness is the realm of God’s alone
g. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
h. Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
i. The audacity of Jesus is astounding. By saying this man was forgiven, Jesus was claiming to be able to do something only God could do—he was blaspheming. Only God had that kind of authority—Only God could forgive sin. These teachers understood the implication immediately.
j. Jesus was walking into a realm that the teachers of the law would never go—they could never pronounce forgiveness—but Jesus did and
k. He did it without the sacrifice—Jesus didn’t tell the man to get cleaned up, to go to the temple and make offerings. Jesus demanded no confession or repentance from the man. He responds to faith—and a desperation—He cleanses.
l. For some, this willingness to forgive and show mercy is unacceptable and offensive. They want to see the wicked get toasted—they look forward to the Fire & Brimstone. Jonah in the OT was hoping that Nineveh would be destroyed—James & John, the Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven simply because a Samaritan village didn’t welcome Jesus.
m. The thought of Forgiveness & Mercy Offends, especially those that think of themselves as righteous. To suggest that forgiveness was available without sacrifice drew into question the entire existence of the people, the law, the Temple.
n. Does Jesus offer forgiveness at no cost? Think about that? When someone wants to give you a gift, many times we receive it with suspicion—“what’s the catch?” or “what do you expect in return?” or “what’s this going to cost me?”
o. Jesus says, “you can be forgiven at no cost to you. All I ask is that you repent—stop going the wrong way—Trust & Receive.
3. Offensive Knowledge & Healing?—6-12
a. Jesus knew their hearts—sometimes there’s nothing more disconcerting to realize that someone knows exactly what’s going through your head—knowing exactly how you’re going to respond, what you’re going to say or do. How could they know me so well? Am I that transparent?
b. It’s disturbing playing a chess master when they can predict your moves in advance.
c. Of course, knowing someone knows you so well is also a sign of love and closeness—see Jesus knows your heart and mind because He shared in our creation—He loves us so much that He knows us. But our hearts are also like open books before Him—His word cuts to our hearts.
d. Which is easier? Some people claim a lot of things—that doesn’t make it true. Some people claim to be prophets, some healers, some mouthpieces for God—but just because they claim it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
e. Under other circumstances—with someone else—you and I would be right there with the teachers of the law—“excuse me? You can’t really speak for God!”
f. Jesus acknowledges it—anybody can make the claim—but not everybody can back it up. “Get up, take your mat ant walk.”
g. Jesus command over the physical condition—which they had likely attributed to sin—was proof that He had command over the spiritual condition.
h. He did this “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
i. Jesus had knowledge of their hearts. He proved to have greater authority than the teachers of the law. And that claim—that Knowledge & Authority was offensive.
j. Jesus claims to know more than you know—Jesus claims more authority over your body than you have—Jesus claims more authority over your sin than you have.
k. Is it any wonder that some of His listeners were offended? He didn’t sugar coat or gloss over this man’s need of forgiveness, but confronted it with the offer of forgiveness.
l. Many people are offended at Jesus—many people allow obstacles to stop them from coming to Jesus. And sadly many times we who are here—we the ones already before Jesus are the Obstacle—blocking those who are desperately coming to Jesus.
m. Are there any obstacles in your way today? Jesus has the authority to heal and forgive—to give purpose and meaning. See past all those obstacles, all those things that are between you and Him and come—just as you are.
Mark 2:1-12
Forgiveness is Offensive?
Imagine for a moment—you’re a executive manager of a company—everyone looks to you. Scratch that, you’re a tenured professor and an important figure on your campus. You’ve helped set up the program and are conducting several important research projects. Then you get assigned a Graduate Assistant. And the students love it when you miss class and you GA has to teach for you. In fact, as soon as they see you’re not there, they call all their friends and class attendance triples—every seat is taken, some sit on the floor, others stand in the back of the room. To add insult to injury—while you were away defending your request for a grant, in the middle of one of your experiments, this graduate assistant comes in and reorganizes everything—“trust me, I know better then the Professor does”—he changes the procedure, changes the subject of the experiment, changes the objective—all because he insists he’s got a better way.
What do you say when you get back and see what’s going on?
“I don’t care how popular you with the students: Who gave you the right to make these changes? Who do you think you are?”
“Don’t worry Professor,” the graduate assistant says. “I’ve already finished all the experiments and processed the data—thanks to my changes, I’ve more than justifies your grant and may in fact revolutionize the field. You can thank me later.”
Welcome to the world of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law with Jesus on the scene. A young, upstart teacher who knows more than you do, is more popular than you are, and has an uncanny way of proving it.
As we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Mark—it only gets worse in ch. 2
1. Offending Crowds--Read 1-4
a. Standing Room Only—Once again, Jesus was attracting a crowd—unlike any crowd that ever came for one of the regular Saturday Sabbaths. Clearly Jesus was something different—He had some spark about Him that everyone was attracted to—an uncertainty that they were about to see God do something in their midst that hadn’t been done before. He was continuing to do what He had said was His purpose—Jesus was preaching the word to the crowds.
b. A little professional Jealousy would be understandable at this point—What’s He got that I don’t? He’s no better than I am. Heresy is always able to attract a crowd—if it’s popular, it must be wrong.
c. Into this crowd comes Desperation personified. Here was this man who was trapped in his own body—paralyzed—he could not go to Jesus on his own. Taking care of this man required others giving of themselves and their willingness to help. We have no idea how he got this way—whether he was born paralyzed or due to some accident. But he had friends and family that believed that if anyone could help him, Jesus could.
d. But there was a problem. There were many obstacles in the way. The crowds, the popularity, the limited space. I suspect there were even those who didn’t think someone like this paralytic deserved to be in Jesus’ presence—b/c he probably is so sinful that he deserves
e. Think about the obstacles you face in bringing people to church or bringing people to Jesus. What reasons do we give? “They work on Sunday”, “I’ve already asked them before and they said no.”, “I’m worried about what they will think of me.”
f. What if these friends had given up—“Oh well, there’s a crowd. I guess we should just take him home.” “These people are rude—can’t they see our friend needs to see Jesus.” “I really don’t want to dig through the roof—last time I checked, destruction of private property isn’t a good evangelism strategy.”
g. It is my belief that we give up too easily in seeking to bring our friends, family, co-workers to Jesus. They say “No” one time, and we tuck our tails between our legs and never bring it up again.
h. Determination and Persistence and realizing that Jesus is the only One who can truly heal and forgive—Jesus saw that kind of faith commendable and He responded to it.
i. Vs. 5—it was their faith, the faith of the men bringing the paralytic that Jesus sees and responds to. This man’s body was twisted and paralyzed physically, you would think that Jesus would address this problem first—but He doesn’t. Apparently, in Jesus’ mind, the man’s greater need was spiritual—maybe He saw that everyone else thought sin was the problem.
j. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Even if Jesus never healed his physical body—providing forgiveness for his sins was the greater miracle.
k. Here again, Jesus offends the teachers and leaders—this time by proclaiming forgiveness.
2. Offensive Forgiveness--God’s Territory
a. Why is forgiveness offensive? Why in this case would Jesus even bring up its need?
b. Our culture is not so different from theirs. Many times, when we see bad situation happen to someone, we try to figure out why. In many cases, we look at the things that person has done to bring it on themselves. Today, we just couch it in medical terms: “If he had just eaten better all those years, he wouldn’t have had that heart attack.” “She smoked at least a pack a day, it’s no wonder she’s got cancer.” “I can’t have too much sympathy for someone who risked his life like that—(parachuting, sex, rock climbing, speeding)”
c. This man must have been considered sinful—why else would this man be so paralyzed—He must have done something to deserve it. God must have been punishing this man for something. He was the type that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law would have counseled by saying, “brother, confess your sins, and God will heal you. Confess your sins, have faith—and if you are worthy—God will heal you.” Gee, you’re not healed—either you’re more sinful than thought, or you must not be worthy.
d. And with that—they could walk on by and never give him another thought. I hope you see from this passage that sometimes healing is not about your crying out, not about your persistence, but the persistence of those praying for you.
e. Son, your sins are forgiven.
f. How dare He say that— READ 5-7--forgiveness is the realm of God’s alone
g. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
h. Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
i. The audacity of Jesus is astounding. By saying this man was forgiven, Jesus was claiming to be able to do something only God could do—he was blaspheming. Only God had that kind of authority—Only God could forgive sin. These teachers understood the implication immediately.
j. Jesus was walking into a realm that the teachers of the law would never go—they could never pronounce forgiveness—but Jesus did and
k. He did it without the sacrifice—Jesus didn’t tell the man to get cleaned up, to go to the temple and make offerings. Jesus demanded no confession or repentance from the man. He responds to faith—and a desperation—He cleanses.
l. For some, this willingness to forgive and show mercy is unacceptable and offensive. They want to see the wicked get toasted—they look forward to the Fire & Brimstone. Jonah in the OT was hoping that Nineveh would be destroyed—James & John, the Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven simply because a Samaritan village didn’t welcome Jesus.
m. The thought of Forgiveness & Mercy Offends, especially those that think of themselves as righteous. To suggest that forgiveness was available without sacrifice drew into question the entire existence of the people, the law, the Temple.
n. Does Jesus offer forgiveness at no cost? Think about that? When someone wants to give you a gift, many times we receive it with suspicion—“what’s the catch?” or “what do you expect in return?” or “what’s this going to cost me?”
o. Jesus says, “you can be forgiven at no cost to you. All I ask is that you repent—stop going the wrong way—Trust & Receive.
3. Offensive Knowledge & Healing?—6-12
a. Jesus knew their hearts—sometimes there’s nothing more disconcerting to realize that someone knows exactly what’s going through your head—knowing exactly how you’re going to respond, what you’re going to say or do. How could they know me so well? Am I that transparent?
b. It’s disturbing playing a chess master when they can predict your moves in advance.
c. Of course, knowing someone knows you so well is also a sign of love and closeness—see Jesus knows your heart and mind because He shared in our creation—He loves us so much that He knows us. But our hearts are also like open books before Him—His word cuts to our hearts.
d. Which is easier? Some people claim a lot of things—that doesn’t make it true. Some people claim to be prophets, some healers, some mouthpieces for God—but just because they claim it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
e. Under other circumstances—with someone else—you and I would be right there with the teachers of the law—“excuse me? You can’t really speak for God!”
f. Jesus acknowledges it—anybody can make the claim—but not everybody can back it up. “Get up, take your mat ant walk.”
g. Jesus command over the physical condition—which they had likely attributed to sin—was proof that He had command over the spiritual condition.
h. He did this “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
i. Jesus had knowledge of their hearts. He proved to have greater authority than the teachers of the law. And that claim—that Knowledge & Authority was offensive.
j. Jesus claims to know more than you know—Jesus claims more authority over your body than you have—Jesus claims more authority over your sin than you have.
k. Is it any wonder that some of His listeners were offended? He didn’t sugar coat or gloss over this man’s need of forgiveness, but confronted it with the offer of forgiveness.
l. Many people are offended at Jesus—many people allow obstacles to stop them from coming to Jesus. And sadly many times we who are here—we the ones already before Jesus are the Obstacle—blocking those who are desperately coming to Jesus.
m. Are there any obstacles in your way today? Jesus has the authority to heal and forgive—to give purpose and meaning. See past all those obstacles, all those things that are between you and Him and come—just as you are.
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