Matthew 9:2

Matthew 9:2

I. Sin its relation to the body. Sin, we know, is a "spiritual wickedness;" its sphere of action, accordingly, is in high places. Mere matter, whether it lie in an amorphous clod in the valley, or move as an organized living body, cannot sin. In those high places where a finite but immortal spirit comes in contact with the Spirit infinite and eternal lies the only element that is capable of sustaining either spiritual purity or spiritual wickedness; yet though sin draws its life-breath in those heavenly places, its members press the earth, and leave their marks indented deep over all the surface. Though sin lives secretly in the soul, it works terribly in the body. In the man sick with the palsy disease was the forerunner and symptom of the body's death. So far the man and his friends plainly saw, but Jesus looked through these outer effects to the inner cause. He sees not only the paralysis in the man's body, but also the sin in the man's soul. By passing over the obvious disease, and speaking of only the unseen sin, He shows clearly what His mission is not and what it is. His mission is not to perpetuate this life, but to lead all His people through the gate of death into the life eternal. His word, accordingly, is not, "Thy body shall not die," but, "Thy sins are forgiven."

II. Sin its removal by the Lord. (1) It is by a free pardon that sin is removed, and its eternal consequences averted. (2) The Saviour to whom this needy man was brought had power to forgive sins. (3) Christ has power to forgive on earth. The word limits the position, not of the Forgiver, but of the forgiven. (4) The Son of manhath power to forgive. (5) Christ the Saviour, in coming to a sinful, suffering man, desires not only that he should be saved hereafter, but also happy now. "Son, be of good cheer," was the Great Physician's first salutation.

W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life,p. 252.

I. Sickness is the witness to us of wrong that has been done. It is the handwriting on the wall wherewith a man's hand writes the word that tells us that we have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And in this sense it is a judgment; it makes known to us the curse of sin. But that is not all. The misery of sickness witnesses not only to the wrong done, but also to the right that has been lost. Sickness is the protest made by nature against the misdirection of her forces.

II. We know so well that the recovery of our sickness depends upon the stoppage of the secret wrong. And yet we find ourselves again and again doing the wrong that we purpose to stop. In discovering the misery of our sin we discover also our powerlessness to cease from sinning. We cannot do the things that we would; and the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away our inherent and ineradicable will to sin. There is but one hope. If only a new fire could be shot into our chilled and flagging heart; if only a fresh jet of force could infuse itself into our jaded and diminished will; if only a spring of living waters could be opened within that naked stone which we once called our heart that, and that only, can save us, for that, and that only, can cut off the supplies of sin which continually reinforce our habitual disease.

III. And it can be done it has been done by that beautiful law, so natural, so rational, so intelligible, of vicarious atonement. By that law, which is already and always at the very root of our human life, it is possible for God, without disturbing or traversing one atom of that natural order which He has Himself sanctioned by creating possible for Him to intervene, to break off the fearful entail, to shatter the chain that our sins have forged. The spirit of sacrifice is the creator of ethics, and God sanctioned and sealed the entire body of ethical verities by which human society is bonded and fed when He sent His Son, who knew no sin, to be made a curse for us, and to bear on His shoulders the iniquity of the world.

H. Scott Holland, Creed and Character,p. 205.

References: Matthew 9:2. J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church,2nd series, p. 283; R. Heber, Parish Sermons,vol. ii., pp. 262, 283; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,2nd series, p. 38; J. Keble, Sermons for the Sundays after Trinity,Part II., p. 218. Matthew 9:2. Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 167. Matthew 9:6. J. Vaughan, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament,p. 14; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 224; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 145; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 420. Matthew 9:9. R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons,vol. ii., p. 285; T. Gasquoine, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ix., p. 164; J. B. Heard, Ibid.,vol. xvi., p. 209; R. Heber, Parish Sermons,vol. ii., p. 248; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons,2nd series, p. 90; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. i., pp. 143, 154; Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts,p. 21.Matthew 9:9. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 190. Matthew 9:9. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 89; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 20; Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. ii., p. 69.