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but going right to the center.—Will- cock. v. 24. That ye may know. The miracle done in the body is purposed to be a symbol of a grander miracle to be wrought in the soul. He heals the paralyzed body that we may know what He can do with a paralyzed soul. We are to reason from the less to the great er, from, the material type to the spirit ual reality.— Jowett. Son of man hath power.. Sin has to do with God only; vice has. to do with morality; crime has to do with human law. When re garded as sin, only He against whom it has been committed can forgive it. Jesus claims and exercises the divine prerogative of forgiveness. Had He been a mere man, His critics would have been justified in bringing the charge of blasphemy against Him. He recognizes their claim that God only can forgive sin but in effect says, “ I forgive sin.” Either Jesus was an audacious blasphemer or He was “ God manifest in the flesh."—Horn. Com. I say, Arise. The man knew that he needed healing and believed that Christ could and would heal him. If he did not yet fully admit that sin was at the root of his ailment, Christ’s words set tled that and he must have confessed it in his heart.—Hastings. Take up thy couch. At first the bed bore the para lytic but after the power of Jesus had entered into him, he bore the bed. So Jesus pours His energy into our anaemic natures and we master what had for merly mastered us.—Meyer. v. 26. We have seen strange things. (1) The claim to be able to forgive sins. (2) A miracle wrought in sup port of this claim. The thought must have existed in many minds that God would not have. given the power to work this miracle to one who had really been guilty of blasphemy or infringed the divine prerogative of mercy to sin ners.—Willcock, How a Sick Man Was Brought to Jesus. Luke 5:17-26. Memory Verse.— “And seeing their faith he said, Man, thy sins are for given thee.” Luke 5:20. Approach.^Have you ever been real sick, so sick that you could not get out of your bed or walk around? It was not a pleasant feeling to be so helpless
v. 21. Pharisees began to reason. It seems hard that the reverend doctors should be permitted to Interpose, but It was good for them that the cure was delayed till they had fixed on a test by which they would try Jesus until He had reduced their doubts to a single definite issue and then triumphantly en countered it. It was good for the para lytic himself. It gave him time to reflect on the gracious words of Christ. God will often delay to answer our prayers be cause He loves us.—Cox. Who is this? They did not call Him “ man” (note the word in italics in Matt. 9 :3). They did not know what to call Him even in their hearts. They mean, “ this upstart, this nobody, who is so great that we fear Him, and so good that we hate Him.” They were blaspheming Him by their agnosticism and yet these blas phemers charged the Lord with blas phemy.— Spurgeon. Speaketh blas phemies. Blasphemy in the Scripture sense is when unworthy things are ascribed to God, when the honor due to Him is withheld, and when that which is specially His is conferred upon those to whom it does not belong.— Bengel. Who can forgive sins but God? All sins are against God and Him only (Ps. 51:4). They may be injuries and cruelties to others but as sins they are relative to God only, and hence God only can forgive them.— Morison. What is forgiveness? It is God reconciled to us. What is absolution? It is the authoritative declaration that God is reconciled. Authoritative— that is, a real power of conveying a sense and feeling of forgiveness. It is the power of the Son of man to forgive sins, for He is God.— Robertson. v. 22. Jesus perceived. The super natural insight of Christ is plainly in dicated in this narrative. The secret thoughts of men lay open to Him.— . Burgon.. v. 23. Whether is easier? He does not ask, “Which is easier, to forgive sins or to raise a sick man?” for it would not be affirmed that the act of forgiving was easier than that of heal ing; but “Which is easier to claim, this power or that?”— Trench. Thy sins be forgiven thee. A man’s relation to God is the most important thing. If that is wrong, everything is wrong. The con sciousness that we have sinned is the source of all sorrow. Hence the pro found wisdom of Christ and of His Gospel, of not trifling with the surface
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