Our Greatest Need

“And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’” + Matthew 9v2

This passage never ceases to increase my fascination with Jesus. Here we have some friends who have presumably heard of Jesus and the miracles he has done. They have heard of the many ways he has healed the sick. Out of faith, these fellows take their paralytic friend who his stricken to his bed, to see Jesus. It is obvious that what they desired was for their friend to walk. With their friend on his bed, it could not be more apparent to everyone watching that this man needed a physical healing. Yet, when Jesus fixes his eyes on this paralytic man his first reaction is not to heal him physically, but to forgive his sins. What a puzzling thing this must have been. Was Jesus blind? Did Jesus not realize that this man had a much more urgent need than forgiveness of sins? No, Jesus was not blind. In fact, Jesus could see more clearly and could perceive more deeply than anyone standing (or lying) there. Jesus looked straight through this man’s paralytic body and peered into his heart. It was there where he saw this man’s greatest and most urgent need: forgiveness of sins. As Jesus looked into this man’s heart he saw more than just a sickness, disease, or disability; he saw a heart dead in sin. Jesus provided exactly what this man needed, life through the forgiveness of his sin.

As with the paralytic, our greatest need is not something outside of us to be fixed or changed. Our most urgent need is not physical health or a change of circumstances; it’s forgiveness of sins. Until we realize the deadly power of sin we cannot begin to grasp this. We aren’t just sick people who need healing. We aren’t just hurt people who need comforting. We aren’t just broken people who need fixing. We aren’t just sad people who need cheering. We dead and depraved sinners, steeped in the wickedness of our hearts, and we desperately need the supernatural miracle of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.

Later in this passage Jesus goes on to heal this man physically. It is quite a miracle. But the fact that Jesus gave this paralytic the ability to walk isn’t the greatest miracle in this passage. The greatest miracle is that Jesus forgave this man’s sin. Jesus shows us here that not only is the forgiveness of sin a miracle, but it is a far more miraculous act than causing the lame to walk. This is because the power of physical disability is nothing compared to the destructive power of sin. In Christ, God meets our greatest need. Happy is the man whose sins are forgiven. Jesus has far more power and authority than the ability to heal you; He has the ability to forgive you.