Daily Reading: Matthew 9
Matthew 9:2 “And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”
I’ve heard this phrase taught on before but I just think there’s more to it than what I’ve heard. “Seeing their faith.” What did He see? What was it that made him say…thy sins be forgiven? I think what most people would explain is that in this particular story, though Matthew doesn’t include this detail, the man was lowered into the room from the roof because there were so many people who were thronging the door that he couldn’t get in. They literally took the roof apart in order to get to Jesus. In my opinion this isn’t what he saw when He saw their faith. It’s just my opinion and I don’t expect anyone to agree with me. I think since it’s written in Matthew without the explanation of the whole roof ordeal something else is meant when it says “seeing their faith”
I wonder who “they” were too. Was it his brothers or his father; was it his friends and what made them so passionate toward this sick man? What is faith? Hebrews says it is the substance of things hoped for…the evidence of things unseen. Faith is not necessarily an action. We interpret it that way because of scriptures like “faith without works is dead” from James. I think faith is simply a resignation to the deity of Christ. I wouldn’t doubt that these men who carried the sick man were carrying his shoes too so that he could walk home. Were they talking to him and telling him that he could carry his own bed home or was it that they were so anxious to meet Christ that he saw in their eyes the confidence that He would be their redemption? I don’t know. I find this verse so intriguing though and I wish so badly that I could have been there. That’s another thing…Matthew wasn’t there apparently. He tells the story here but he relates in the following verses how Jesus called him to follow him. I would assume that means he had not yet begun to follow Jesus when this story took place. He heard about it…did Jesus tell him about it? Wouldn’t that be something if Jesus told him about it but left out the roof part?
I’m going nuts with this. I need to stop typing and move on with my day.