Forgiveness

Matthew 9:1-8

This scene rarely has dramatic music in movies, but it does send my heart rate up.
It's a moment one character asks another, "Will you forgive me?" Somehow I'm terrified that the person asking forgiveness will be told, "No." When I ask for forgiveness, I make myself so vulnerable that to watch even a fictional character denied forgiveness makes me shutter.

Remaining unforgiven by another human being is terrible, but just as bad is to remain unforgiven by God. Many of us (myself included) have what I can only call long term guilt. It could come from never getting a chance to apologize to someone, a sin that seems to fit into the too-big-to-be forgiven category, or a circumstance that despite our lack of real guilt we still feel guilty for (such as an accident that we might have caused where someone else got hurt).

Long-term guilt is spiritually debilitating. It distances us from God. It nags, festers, and wounds us. We long for escape from it, but somehow feel unworthy to be released from it.

When Jesus encounters the paralytic, he shows that he knows something about that man's heart (and our hearts as well). He doesn't heal the paralyzed man right away. No, he looks at that man and knows more than anything--this man must be forgiven.
He tells him, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2).

Yes, it's terrible to be paralyzed, but it's even worse to be unforgiven.

Jesus knows our need. He knows the things that we think can never be forgiven. He looks at us and tells us, "Take heart! Your sin is forgiven." This is heaven's stance. This is heaven's home: forgiveness.