As I’ve been going through the book of Matthew for my quiet times, it’s really amazing to see the authority wielded by Jesus Christ. The first several chapters attest through genealogy and prophecies that he is the Messiah, the awaited one. After his baptism (where the Father himself vouches for him!) and the 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus begins his ministry. From the get go his power is staggering. He goes around healing afflictions, casting out demons, calming storms, and even raising someone from the dead! This is some incredible authority. It is by his very word that he is able to heal and change.
Can you imagine? Say you broke an arm playing football, and you just spoke, “Heal” and it was as good as new. Incredible. Just the way Jesus spoke exuded authority. After the Sermon on the Mount, it says in 7:28 “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” He wasn’t just repeating things known… as was the tradition of the day. He is speaking as if he has authority. The gall!
I mean this common man, with words, rebukes a storm and it calms down. Even the demons recognize him and call him, “Son of God” before very few even had an inkling of who he was.
But the passage I read today, chapter 9, took the cake. From all this authority comes the greatest authority of all. Some friends lower a paralytic through the rooftop, them having heard that this guy Jesus has been healing all sorts of afflictions. But do you know what Jesus says after seeing their faith? “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” How unexpected! How incredible. How much greater must it be to hear that your spiritual state is healed over your bodily state. But as the scribes are reeling and fuming at what Jesus is claiming (who can forgive sins but God?), he shows again his authority by speaking the words, “Rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” Jesus claims authority over sin. A walking, breathing, fleshly man, essentially claims to be God and shows his authority over all things.
And here’s what it says in 9:7, “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” They probably don’t know much of what’s going on, but they know something out of the ordinary when they see it.
Friends, this is Immanuel. Sit back and ponder it. In the Old Testament God was with his people through the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant. But what a glorious plan to himself come down in the form of man… God with us. God the Creator himself came down to created earth in the form of creation (in a filthy manger no less) to be mocked, ridiculed, and crucified by creation. The very people he came to save. It says in 9:36 that “when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.” Oh man, this is grace. This is patience. This is love.
We’re like dumb, helpless little sheep who don’t know anything, who essentially end up nailing our very shepherd to the cross. We are evil to the core and helpless. But God loves us despite all of that and has compassion on us. We can’t just gloss over those words… he has a deep, cutting to the heart, compassion for us. In all his authority over afflictions, demons, nature, death… Jesus chose to die on the cross for us. In his authority over sin, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
No wisdom on earth could have conjured up this absurd type of love, this crazy of a story. And all this for the ultimate purpose of bringing HIMSELF ultimate glory. He is to be eternally glorified as is, He is to be eternally more glorified for His incredible love and mercy on wicked creation. What a God we serve.
If you don’t know God, seek Him. Knowledge of sin only comes in light of seeing Him in His perfection.
Fall to your knees in reverence, awe, and worship. Fall to your knees and love Him with all your mind, soul, strength, and heart.
