Thursday, September 30, 2010

Which is easier?

What did Jesus mean when He asked this question? And what is the answer?  Matt. 9:2-8

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 
For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 
But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house.
Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

4 comments:

goe said...

it be a trick questin folks!!...i chewin it...and I knows da annser, but I gone give da oder peeples a time ta study da wuid...den i make da final pronoucerment...heeheeeee!...dese skipchure riddles be feet stompin FUN!!!

when it my time ta proclamate i gone pweach da wuid in da season an outta da season!!! Hear ye hear ye!!!...heeheeeee!!!>>>>>>>>>>

Sanctification said...

Hey everyone, let me introduce my beloved brother, my kinsman! :D

Todd Saunders said...

Sanc,

Greetings!

I suppose, but that we may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, that it would be easiest for Him to say, "Your sins are forgiven you".

To get the fellow moving it appears He then needed to add, "Arise..."

I also suppose then that some of the scribes got sort of quiet.

Sanctification said...

Hi Todd,

Good comment - the "arise" was the turning point in the case He presented.

I think the scribes were totally taken off guard. They thought Jesus was blaspheming and using a sickly man as an opportunity to do so. Except, the man actually rose and walked home. Small krick in their belief-system.

You might enjoy Tim Nichols' latest post on biblical narrative and whether we may derive our doctrine from it. I don't know how to answer the question I asked in the post... but I was hoping someone could answer it from such a perspective.

"Descriptive, Not Prescriptive," Part 1

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