Authority to Forgive

Jesus healed a paralytic in front of the religious leaders, which, perhaps unexpectedly, sparked a controversy. This is because Jesus healed the paralytic by saying, “your sins are forgiven,” which the scribes felt was a right only ascribed to God. Exactly. Jesus is clearly revealing that he is God, not just some teacher or healer. Moreover, we won’t see Jesus is God if we fail to believe that God forgives for the same reason he heals: out of mercy and kindness. His authority is not only powerful, but merciful. This also means that if you’ve experienced one form of God’s kindness, believing in Christ means you can depend on him to provide the other.