October 15, 2023 Trinity 19 The Sunday of Forgiveness

Trinity 19
Matthew 9:1-8
October 15, 2023

“To the Heart and Soul of It”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In the book The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and company are brought to meet the great elf, Lady Galadriel. After some discussion, she spends some time staring at each one of them, gazing deep down into their hearts and souls and reading their inner selves to see if they are true to the quest. They talk afterward about how they felt naked before her piercing gaze.

Jesus is even better than Lady Galadriel as He doesn’t have to stare at people for a while to read their hearts and souls. He does it instantaneously. In this crowded house in Matthew 9, He stares into the heart of the paralyzed man and sees faith, into the hearts and souls of the paralytic’s friends and sees their faith, and He pierces into the hearts of the scribes and sees evil.

Jesus can see into the very heart and soul of everything. That includes you. At times we use this phrase, “Let’s get to the heart of it.” That’s what Jesus does and that’s our teaching we’re focusing on this morning. That the heart and soul of life, of your life also, is the forgiveness of sins. That’s what every one of you needs more than anything else in the world. You need forgiveness of your sins. You need it more than you need money, more than groceries, more than any you can buy anywhere. You need forgiveness of sins more than you need a laugh, more than you need time to yourself, more than you need “self-care”, more than you need exercise. Your kids need forgiveness of sins more than they need sports, more than they need friends, more than they need to be successful. Let’s get to the heart and soul of it! This is what you and I need to hear most of all and for sure on every Sunday, “Take heart, my child; your sins are forgiven.” You have paralyzing sin—Jesus has forgiveness.

That’s what Jesus says to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And he doesn’t object at all. He doesn’t cry out, “Forgiven?! What do I care about forgiveness?! I want to walk again!!” We don’t hear about any such fit. Nor would Jesus have healed him if he had thrown such a fit. When you’re laying before someone like Jesus, who pierces into your very heart and soul, you don’t object when He tells you that your sins are forgiven. You cry for joy. Because that’s what you need more than anything else.

Now consider this paralyzed man for a moment and consider that we don’t know his past at all. Why is he paralyzed? We have absolutely no idea. Maybe he used to be a drunk and he had a terrible accident of some kind. Maybe he has a bad temper and got into a fight that went very wrong. Maybe he was born paralyzed and has been angry and bitter about it all his life, taking it out on other people who love him, and his conscience eats away at him for it. Maybe he was a dirty, rotten scoundrel before he became paralyzed and now he thinks he’s paralyzed because God hates him and that God’s punishing him for all his sin. Whatever the case it, when he’s laying before the loving eyes of Jesus, gazing into his heart and soul, there’s only one thing he needs more than anything else, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” I can’t say it for a fact because neither Matthew, Mark, nor Luke records it, but I’m quite sure this man is crying. Jesus has reached down into his heart and soul and given him what he needs—the forgiveness of sins.

What is it that eats away at your conscience and my conscience even if we may not be paralyzed in the legs? What sins paralyze your heart, paralyze your soul? Is it your anger? It is things you’ve said in the past to loved ones? Is it a divorce in the past? What’s paralyzing your soul? Is it abuse—from you or from others? Is it your drinking? Is it vile thoughts you’ve had? Is it pornography you’ve watched or read? Is it your mouth that won’t ever stop talking? Is it your selfishness? Is it a grudge you’re nursing? You know what it is…

“Take heart, my child; your sins are forgiven.” Jesus sees into your very heart and soul. And He loves you. He knows what you need more than anything else in the world and it’s not working legs. It’s also not money, success, or entertainment. You need forgiveness. That’s the heart and soul of life itself. You need forgiveness. And that’s what Jesus gives.

Jesus does heart surgery; soul surgery. He doesn’t have to make any big incisions. But He goes into your heart, removes the cancerous tumor of sin (whatever that tumor all is…your anger, lust, greed, pride), and He puts into your heart His medicine of immortality, His prescription-strength forgiveness of sins. It’s Divine Service Surgery. Your standing appointment is at 10am on Sunday morning at Trinity Lutheran surgical center. And the good Doctor keeps office hours on the rest of the week as well when you need Him.

Now how do you know Jesus knows what He’s doing? How do you know Jesus really has the authority to forgive your sins? To erase them? To release them as far as east is from the west? How do you know? Because the scribes get angry with Jesus. He sees the evil brewing up in their hearts. He’d like to forgive them too but they don’t believe in Him. They don’t believe He really has the authority to forgive sins in the heart and soul. So how do you know?

Well, Jesus backs it up. For one, He also does Divine Surgery on this man’s legs and nervous system and whatever else it took to make him walk again. For two, He showed us numerous other miracles like changing water to wine, calming storms, casting out demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead. But most important of all, you know Jesus has the authority because He died on Good Friday and then rose from the dead three days later on Easter morning. That’s how you know, know. That’s how you really know without a doubt that Jesus really can remove that sin from your heart and fill you with His Holy Spirit. Because He rose from the dead for you.

And Jesus really does want you to know which is why He also gives us His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. He wants you to hear His Word as surely as this paralyzed man heard His Word saying, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” So He gives you that Word in the Holy Scriptures and the preaching, in the words of your Baptism into Christ, and in the Word of Holy Communion here at the altar in the bread and wine. That’s how you know. Your sins are forgiven.

Now, remember that we Christians know, thanks to Jesus our Savior, the very heart and soul of life itself. We know forgiveness of sins is the heart of it all. Because forgiveness of sins brings love and acceptance and heaven. There’s nothing more important than that. So we happen to know not only what we need more than anything but what everyone else in the world needs more than anything. Forgiveness of sins isn’t just for our hearts and souls but for everyone else as well. So, we need to take it to them.

In our Epistle today, Ephesians 4:25, Paul says, “Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another…don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” We have several things here to say. For one, we must tell it like it is—get to the heart and soul of it—with people we love and care about. We know what they need. They need the forgiveness of their sins. They need to be in the Divine Service Surgery every Sunday morning at 10am. They need to be hearing and receiving God’s Word and Sacrament. And so we must tell them. If you’re not in the Divine Service then you’re missing out on the one thing you need more than anything else—the forgiveness of sins. You’re the scribes with evil in your hearts thinking, “This man can’t really forgive sins.” But yes, He can and He does.

For two, we must check our own anger and speak the truth of forgiveness to other people. We must get to the heart and soul of it with people we care about and we must forgive them. Tell your wife she’s forgiven and you love her. Tell your husband. Tell your friends, “Take heart; your sins are forgiven.” Any time any person anywhere tells you they are sorry for something, tell them, “You’re forgiven!” Any time any person anywhere tells you they’re sad about something they’ve done and they’re telling you how stupid they are…tell them! “You are forgiven!”

I want to end today by putting into your hearts and souls some of the most beautiful words in Holy Scripture about the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is the heart and soul of life. The Bible tells us so over and over. Listen to these words:

Isaiah 43:25 “I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

Isaiah 44:22 “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist.”

Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

Psalm 51:7, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 26:28, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Matthew 9:2, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.