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.

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