Sunday, Feb 1- Matthew 9:1-8

1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
-Having had to leave the area because of healing the two demon possessed men Jesus finds himself boating again and going home.

2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
-A paralytic man was brought to Jesus. The man obviously needed help getting to Jesus because he couldn't move. It's nice to have friends like that.
-Jesus recognizes that they believed in him. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't see their faith and heal the man. Instead he forgives his sin. I don't know how I'd feel if I were the men or the paralytic at this point. Maybe he was paralytic because of his sins and this would've meant a great deal to him. Or maybe he was disappointed that he wasn't healed at this point.
-The reality is there's no greater miracle than the forgiveness of sins.

3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
-The blaspheming was because only God could forgive sins so Jesus was declaring to them that he was God because of the words he spoke.

4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
-What evil thoughts could there have been? Murder, envy, judging, etc.
-God knows whats in our hearts. There's no use hiding it, but bringing it out to God can help us.

5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
-This is a good question. Given the amount that Jesus had to go thru to forgive our sins I would guess sins is harder.

6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."
-So in the end Jesus does both.
-He declares himself as the Son of Man. As God.
-He does this so we can know his authority.

7And the man got up and went home.
-Man obeyed. I'm sure there was a lot more to the mans story than this, but in its simplicity it is what it was.

8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
-All appropriate reactions to seeing something so miraculous. I doubt they were so awe struck just being forgiven. We need to realize that the forgiveness of our sins is just as great if not greater than healing a paralytic. This is something that we can be extremely thankful for, in awe, and in praise to God.