Bulletin- Trinity 19 – 2024
↓ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Grants Pass, OR
↓ Faith Lutheran Church, Medford OR
Sermon:
Matthew 9:1-8 MIRACLES & FORGIVENESS STILL
PRAYER O mighty and everlasting God, Who by Your Son mercifully …
GREETING In the Name of the One Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, dear fellow redeemed;
[Button in a tourist shop: To err is human, to forgive is out of the question.]
POOR, MISERABLE You confessed it this morning: “I, a poor, miserable sinner….” In our “feel good” age, many find those words offensive. But just because we do not feel particularly miserable does not get us off the hook. C.S. Lewis writes, “I do not think whether we are feeling miserable or not matters. I think it [the liturgy] is using the word miserable in the old sense – meaning an object of pity. That a person can be a proper object of pity when he is not feeling miserable, you can easily understand if you imagine yourself looking down from a height on two crowded express trains that are traveling towards one another along the same line at 60 miles an hour. You can see that in forty seconds there will be a head-on collision. I think it would be very natural to say about the passengers of these trains, that they were objects of pity. This would not mean that they felt miserable themselves; but they would certainly be proper objects of pity” [God in the Dock, p.121]. You see, it is not a question of how we feel, but the reality that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, we are paralyzed by our sin, unable to save ourselves.
GRAB A CORNER
paralyzed. He could not get up and walk to Jesus. He had to be carried to our Lord on a stretcher by his friends. This man’s friends did for him what he could not do for himself – they carried him to the LORD. They didn’t let pressing crowds prevent them from getting their friend to Jesus. When they couldn’t get through the crowds to the door, they climbed up on the roof, removed some tiles and lowered their crippled friend to the place where the LORD was preaching. There’s an urgency to their action. They wouldn’t let the throng of people OR the architecture of the building get in the way of getting their friend to Jesus.
GO TO THE SOURCE Forgiveness of sins is where Jesus IS. Where Jesus is, there is the forgiveness of sins. And to the man lying on that pallet the LORD Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Jesus is the Son of Man who has authority on earth to forgive sins and that is exactly what He does for the paralytic.
TWO THINGS RE: F.o.S. Now there are two things for us to understand about the Forgiveness of Sins:
The poor man in today’s Holy Gospel was
1. First, the forgiveness of sins was acquired by our LORD Jesus Christ for us by His obedient life and His holy death in our place. In other words, Jesus is our Substitute. He took our sins in His own Body and paid for them with His Blood. His Blood covers our sins. God doesn’t wink at our sins – He fully and completely punishes those sins in His Son. That is why St. Paul says that Jesus was made a curse for us. Or Jesus who knew no sin was made sin for us. On the Cross the Son of God died the death that we deserved. On the basis of that death – the death of the One who is both God and Man in one Person – the Father declares the sins of the world to be atoned for, forgiven. That is why we Christians glory in the Cross of our LORD Jesus Christ!
LUTHER STORY In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther’s sins and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, “Is that all?” “No,” came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more. “You’ve forgotten something,” Luther exclaimed triumphantly. “Quickly write on each of them, ‘The Blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sins.'” K. Koch, p. 10.
2. Second, the forgiveness of sins which Jesus won for us on the Cross is delivered to you in Holy Absolution, that Word of the Gospel which actually forgives you all of your sins for Jesus’ sake. That Word is spoken to you here and now, in time and space. The Jews of Jesus’ day thought of forgiveness as a verdict that God would announce on the Last Day. Forgiveness was far off and hidden. Here in time one would have to live in a state of uncertainty, waiting and hoping for vindication at the end. Some people still live like that, ignorant of God’s forgiveness in the Cross of Jesus Christ and unsure of whether or not it is for them.
WON, SEALED, DELIVERED Our LORD Jesus Christ not only won forgiveness of sins for us but He also delivers that very same forgiveness into our ears and our lives through His Word. And He does that on earth. Right here and now He gives to you the forgiveness of sins. Our LORD has the audacity to say through His servants, [pastors] “I forgive you all your sins.” Faith says, “Amen,” not doubting, but firmly believing that this forgiveness “is as valid and certain, in heaven also, as if Christ, our dear LORD, dealt with us Himself.” You see, the forgiveness is not just up there in Heaven, but down here on earth!
ONLY GOD CAN… To such an earthy forgiveness the Pharisees object: “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Well, the Pharisees are right – only God can forgive sins, but they miss the fact that the One Who stands in their midst forgiving the sins of the paralytic IS God. He has
the authority to forgive sins because He is God. And this Man who is True God exercises that authority by stooping down to die our death and be raised to life again for us. He has authority over your sin and He forgives it. And where sin is forgiven it no longer has the authority to condemn you and hold you captive.
DOES WHAT IT SAYS When it comes to the LORD ‘s forgiveness, there is no need for the spiritual gymnastics that try to jump over sin or deny it, because the Lord does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He forgives us full and free. He says, “My son – my daughter, your sins are forgiven you.” His Word does what it says – it actually dispenses forgiveness. Faith clings to that Word. Believes it. Lives by it. For the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
HERE AND NOW On earth is where we live and where we sin. If there is to be forgiveness for our sin it must be here on earth. And here on this earth, where our Savior suffered and died and rose again, there is forgiveness of sins. Our Lord locates that forgiveness in Holy Baptism given to wash away our sins. He locates that forgiveness in His Body and Blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins and in the words of absolution which pronounce God’s own verdict: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Here. Right now. Today.
THOMAS EDISON STORY Thomas A. Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a “light bulb” and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You’ve probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one. That’s true forgiveness. That’s how it is with God’s forgiveness to us.
AN AMAZING THING When God announced the forgiveness of sins to His people in the Old Testament, He said to them, “For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you” [Exodus 34:l0]. When the people saw the LORD’s gracious dealing with the paralytic, they said, “We have never seen anything like this.” Indeed, it is an awesome thing that the Mighty God would have mercy on us poor miserable sinners who deserve death and hell. But that is what He has done. And He puts that mercy on display here today in this Divine Service as He gives you the forgiveness of ALL your sins. IJ’N, Amen. SDG