I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

Jesus is the Reader of Hearts

The First Sunday after Michaelmas – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 9:1-8 “Jesus is the Reader of Hearts”
October 6, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church

In Nomine Iesu
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O mighty and everlasting God, by Your Son Jesus Christ You mercifully helped the paralytic both in body and soul: We beseech You, for the sake of Your great mercy, be gracious also to us; forgive us all our sins, and so govern us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may not ourselves be the cause of sickness and other afflictions; keep us in Your fear, and strengthen us by Your grace that we may escape temporal and eternal wrath and punishment; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 163)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)

The sermon text for today is taken from the 9th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:

And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)

In Christ Jesus, who sees you in your paralyzed state, and announces to you to take heart, your sins are forgiven, dear fellow redeemed:

When you go to the fair, sometimes you will find this random looking guy in a glass cage. I’m sure most of us don’t pay attention to him, but for those who do, usually you will catch the name of Zoltar on the glass. He isn’t a real guy, but supposedly, he will read your future. As we get into more uncertain times, we can sometimes be curious about those who supposedly seek out the future. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a leg up? Now, we will never be able to see what is coming in the future, and with searching it out being demonic in nature, there is something that can be read. We can’t do the reading, and there are a lot of times we forget who sees it. What I’m talking about is in our text. It is our hearts. Our hearts can be read. Jesus is the Reader of hearts and as He reigns as judge, He has mercy, and He sees our pain, our grief, and our penitence.

Hearing these words only proves how infinite God’s knowledge is. God is not only reading hearts now. He has been reading hearts since the beginning of time. He had already known what Adam and Eve had done and He had known their sin was heavy on their hearts as they pointed fingers at one another. So, while times have completely changed, God continues to read them. He told us, He then sent prophets, and now in our text, He sent His One and only Son. And getting into a boat [Jesus] crossed over and came to His own city. And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” While we get into our routines, we can sometimes glance over those great words from our Savior. When it comes to the people of Jesus’ day, these words would have almost been foreign. They should have heard them in the temple, but as the religious leaders faltered in their duties, the people were expected to live lives of perfection.

And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” This won’t be the first time the religious leaders are going to charge Jesus with blasphemy. As they were talking to themselves and thinking in their heads these things, their thoughts are not baseless. They actually have shown their worth as it comes to being scribes. We can look to Isaiah and hear the words, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25). Only God can blot out transgressions and take away sins. So, if Jesus is only a mere mortal, then it “should” be a wild thing to say. Scripture doesn’t say that either. While God has mercy on us, He teaches us how we hear the forgiveness of sins. And of course, Jesus is no mere man either.

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? Jesus starts off by revealing how much He knows about the scribes. He knows their very thoughts. He then raises two questions that are difficult for most to answer. Which one do you think is easier? How easy is it to forgive someone who has sinned against you? How difficult is it to tell someone to simply, “Rise and walk?” They are both difficult to answer. The reason they are difficult is because they both need faith in order to be done. The writer to the Hebrews clarifies this when he writes, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). In order to forgive anyone their sins or to tell someone to rise, there must be faith. We won’t please Him or receive the blessings from Him without it.

You would think we should always have faith. Scripture reveals to us why we lose it. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:33-34). As God’s law dwells in our hearts and the blessings that come with it, we are quick to take the law in our hearts and reject it. In our rejection, we are like the scribes, forgetting that God can read our hearts. While our hearts are read and those questions seem out of reach, Jesus comes with healing in His wings.

This healing Jesus has is because He is not an ordinary man. A regular man can’t read hearts and tell you exactly what you are saying. Jesus continues, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” With Jesus being true God, He can make use of His divine nature reading hearts and healing the people. And He points out what is most important between the two. While this man needed physical help, he also knew he was a sinner and was not worthy to be in the presence of His Lord. Yet, he and his friends come into His presence with faith that Jesus brings restoration. He most certainly does as He tells the man, the beautiful Words we have come to know so well in our lives, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

What a relief for the man and his friends who had brought him to God. The people of Jesus’ day can rejoice just as Scripture tells them to. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed” Psalm 103:1-6). Redeemed and healed because Jesus is the Reader of hearts. He does the thing the people can’t do. He comes to them and in His presence, they are restored.

The man who is lowered to Him then is cured of his ailments. He then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. This man has the joy that you have. He is able to go home cured. Just as the man witnessed the power of God and is cured of his paralysis, he went home hearing the Words, “your sins are forgiven.” You are here today, and you hear those same special words. You are witnessing the power and work of your Savior. “Take heart, your sins are forgiven.” You will go home justified not because you could do anything for it. You are just like this man. Paralyzed by your sins. By the time this service ends, you will have received this message of the Gospel three times. You heard it after your sincere confession. You heard it as the primary message today. You will also receive it as it comes from the cross to the tip of your tongue. Forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation are brought to you in the sacrament of the altar.

As you hear this great message, there are times where you are probably wondering, “why don’t I feel great then?” It can be hard to come up to this rail and to kneel before the judge who sees your sins. The devil wants you to focus on how the law written on your hearts and you don’t follow it. If he catches you with a lack of faith, he will capitalize on it and say you aren’t worthy to come up here to this altar. In one aspect, he is right. You aren’t worthy to come up and receive it on your own. As you have penitent hearts, change created by the Holy Spirit, and crying out to the Lord above for His mercy, you can come to this altar assured your Savior reads your heart. He hears its cries like the man who is paralyzed and He says, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” “Drink of it all of you; this cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me”(ELH p. 54). This is not done in remembrance of your sins. This is done in the remembrance of your Savior’s death on the cross and resurrection for the cleansing of your heart.

While Jesus reads and cleanses your hearts, there is something to note in the beginning of our text. Jesus performs this miracle in His home town. You can also take heart because where you live Christ’s Word is taught in its truth a purity. You hear how you have failed and you hear how you are restored through confession and absolution with a clean heart. As the scribes’ mistake Jesus for a regular man instead of the Son of Man, it is through the Son of Man you hear the blessing of forgiveness when you forgive one another. Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23). St. Paul affirms this when he writes, “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). Your Savior is not only with you, but you hear His voice and when you hear His voice, you have faith, and you walk home with a clean heart. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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