Scripture teaches that sickness, disease, pain, contamination, pollution, and death are the result of the presence of sin in the world. When sin entered the world, the world and humanity was, from that point, contaminated. Our human existence is characterized by pain, conflict, disease and death.
Jesus came into the world to solve this problem by taking all our sins and infirmities on Himself (Isaiah 53:4). He would give His life an offering for sins, and in the process as the sins of us all were to be laid on Him, He also took our infirmities.
In healing this paralytic and the pushback that results from the healing, Jesus asks, “Who can speak these words and show that His words actually accomplished what was said?” It is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, than it is to say, “Stand up and walk.” We can’t immediately see the results of the forgiveness of sin because that takes place in a person’s heart. But if Jesus were to say, “Stand up and walk,” He must either validate this by healing the man instantly, or He will have shown that His words are empty.
Jesus puts Himself to the test by what He says, but He does so in an ingenious way. He links His ability to heal with His authority to forgive sin. Logic led the scribes to reason that only God can forgive sins. Logic should thus lead them to conclude that Jesus is God if He can forgive sins. And now, Jesus has added a further logical link: If He is able to heal a paralytic—the harder thing to do—then surely, He can forgive sin—the easier thing to do.
The point is that if Jesus can take care of the effects of sin, He can therefore also take care of the cause of the illness—by forgiving sin. For Jesus, forgiving sin and healing disease are two sides of His mission, with the forgiveness of sin being the most important.
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