"And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men."
This lesson is not so much about the miracle Jesus performed for the leper, as it is about the hypocrisy of those Scribes.
It again demonstrates the authenticity of Jesus, His power, and how the Jews had come to make God's plan all about themselves while ignoring the true purpose of the Law that God had given them.
Those Scribes (Devout Jews) were so entrenched in the letter of the Law, as they defined it, so as to blind themselves to the intent of that Law. They didn't recognize that the Man standing in front of them was the Son of God, who, in essence, was the author of the very Law they were accusing Him of violating.
The intent of God's law was, and is, to uplift and better the lives of mankind while allowing him/her a path to redemption. What more powerful demonstration of love, and obedience to that law, could there be than to cure someone of a horrible disease? Yet, those Scribes defined what Jesus did as a sin against the Law.
Jesus very precisely defined sin in Matthew 22:35-40, "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Jesus said, in essence, that all sin is encompassed within these two commandments. ("the law and the prophets") The worldly things we do daily, that do not in any way violate either of these commandments, are NOT sins.
Jesus said, "On these two dommandmenst hang all the law and the prophets." Meaning that anything that is done within the limitations of these two commandments cannot be sin. On the other hand, anything that is done in violation of any part of these two commandments IS sin.
If our actions have the intent of exalting God, and are always done for the benefit of our fellow man, they CANNOT be called sinful, no matter what those actions might be.~
No comments:
Post a Comment