Your Sins are Forgiven!...So...
Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven."
"Blasphemy! This man talks like he is God!" some of the teachers of religious law said among themselves.
Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why are you thinking such evil thoughts? Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Get up and walk'? I will prove that I, the Son of Man, have the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, take your mat, and go on home, because you are healed!"
And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen right before their eyes. They praised God for sending a man with such great authority.
- Matthew 9:1-8
Say the word "saved" today and most American Christians will hear "go to heaven when you die." But that's not the picture we get when we read the Gospels. Actually, it is so far removed from that picture that it is somewhat baffling how it has come to be so widely accepted. In the Gospels, people were “saved” from specific, life-destroying, image-of-God-erasing circumstances. The question about how that particular salvation would affect their eternal, postmortem destiny is rarely addressed. It’s not the point.
When John the Baptist sent a question to Jesus from prison, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we expect another?” Jesus responded: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Where is heaven here? Where is the hereafter? These are the acts of salvation by “the One who is to come,” the One who is to be Israel’s savior, which are the very evidences that He is the One who is to come. The blind are not given access to heaven, they are made to see. The lame are not guaranteed eternal life, they are made to walk. The lepers are not saved from hell, they are saved from leprosy.
A few nights ago, around a charcoal fire, Peter had spat in his friend’s face by denying that he even knew Jesus. Here, with the smell of another charcoal fire burning in the air (these are the only two instances of the word “charcoal fire,” anthrakián, in the whole of the New Testament), he was facing the friend that he had so cowardously betrayed.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
A word of forgiveness? Or a call to a vocation?
Both, I think. It's always both.
Are we content with our sins being forgiven? Or do we also hear the voice of our King telling us to "Get up and walk!"
Are you saved?
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
yep and amen.
I wonder if a more robust understanding of being "saved" would head off some of the things I find on TBN? By which I mean the health and wealth gospel.
I also wonder what your thoughts are in regards to the lack of physical miracles - to which you refer - or when we do hear of them they come from less than trustworthy people in Lakeland.
The Gospel is more than a social program - by which I mean you cannot just say that we act as Jesus by bringing physical healing vis-a-vis doctors to poor people (although this is certainly part). But how do you see this played out today?
Just thinking and wondering.
Big questions, Mofast.
Regarding the post, I guess I was trying to stress the this-worldly significance of salvation, as well as the interconnectedness of forgiveness and vocation. No, the gospel is not a social program; but nor is merely a private program; it's both. It's always been both.
Regarding healings, well...I guess I'd point to this post.
Grace and Peace
Raffi,
Just so I'm clear - I'm totally with you on this post and on the post you link, and I don't think that you're advocating only a social gospel.
I guess I understand things as you are suggesting in the post - that the Kingdom of God is physical, spiritual, emotional, etc. This would suggest, I think, that the forgiveness of the lame man's sins was also connected with his walking again in the sense that Christ was making him whole.
So anyway, I didn't throw those out as disagreements, just thoughts and questions - since we are charged to live this out. Perhaps the question of what does this look like is one that we are meant to wrestle with and not simply answer. I don't know.
Yah, I didn't take them as disagreements. I've always figured that a disagreement from you would be much more direct. Perhaps one day we'll actually disagree about something and see.
I like your penultimate sentence, though I'd probably use "live into" rather than "wrestle with," though much wrestling will be involved. (Was that a disagreement?)
Good chat, brother.