But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--then He said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home."I have to admit, I'm confused in a way I don't recall being before. Jesus has just been criticized for forgiving the man's sins rather than healing him. So now, to prove He can forgive sins, he...heals him? I feel like there's a disconnect in this somewhere.
I guess there are two possibilities that come to mind. The first is that by healing him, Jesus proves He has power, and that would extend to forgiveness of sins. That doesn't quite make sense to me, though; it seems like a logical leap. The second, and more disturbing possibility, is that the man sinned somehow, and that sin resulted in his paralysis. But that sort of thinking is rejected elsewhere in the Gospels, so I have a hard time believing it fits here. In the end, I just don't know.
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