The only offering [Trinity 19; St. Matthew 9:1-8]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Jesus is speaking to you, from His own Gospel, saying,

“And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed.”

So, today have you come as a Scribe or as a paralytic? Have you come to have it your way or have you come not caring? Maybe you hope to find healing or some other great gift that God may leave behind just for you?

Today there is a gross misunderstanding of what Church is and by Christians, no less. There is no one who can articulate why they come to church. Best as they can tell, its because mom would get mad or you would disappoint your grandparents. But, you don’t know the prayers and you definitely don’t know the songs. In fact this place makes you feel so uncomfortable, you surprise yourself at staying here for an hour and 15 minutes.

So why are you here? Everything that it looks like goes on here can be done at home, with style and substance more to your tastes, and probably with a better boost of pleasure for yourself.

To help answer this question, we look to the paralytic. Why was he brought forward? What did he hope to gain by being brought before Jesus? While we ought to and do pray for our own health and healing from the Lord, we are not promised it. We are promised to be heard, but we should not think that God is at our beck and call.

Consider the paralytic. He did not ask to be brought to Jesus, as far as we’re told. He did not say any magic prayers or disappoint his family by not being in church, thus finding himself paralyzed because of it. He was forced to come to Jesus and Jesus was busy gathering and preaching. He was announcing that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand and repentance was needed, in order to greet it properly.

And, as Jesus stood there, having preached and forgiven sins, some men started moving towards Him, holding something in their hands. It was a simple bed full of a man who could not use any of his limbs. He lay there, lifeless, as Jesus stood over him.

In like manner, some men here hold things in their hands after forgiveness and preaching have been given. They also approach the Lord and offer up what has been laid in their hands. Lifeless pieces of paper offered up as Jesus stands over them, at the time of the Offering.

If you were ever in doubt to how biblical your actions are in the Divine Service, let today lay those doubts to rest. In these men offering up the paralytic to Jesus, we see mirrored our own offerings brought towards the Lord of Life during the Service.

This means that each and everything you do in this space, at this time, echoes in eternity. What you do here, how you act here, what you offer here will go with you after you die. For here, heaven meets earth and what is performed here will be the actions performed forever and the first thing accomplished is Jesus coming down to you.

He comes down and first sees the faith of the men that brought you here. Without pastors and the Church, all poor sinners would die and perish in their sins. For, like the paralytic, powerless and without works, you need to be helped; you need Christ to be preached to you and the many faithful pastors in your life have endeavored to do this.

Secondly, Jesus comes and finds dead and impersonal faith. Jesus is not content with another’s faith. Another’s faith can and should certainly bring sick and sinner before God, but in order to be truly healed, you must believe for yourself. Also, you must be alive, for Jesus demands a living faith. You can not remain a paralyzed sinner, if you desire forgiveness.

Repent. The time to be slothful, petty, and half-hearted has passed. The sun is rising. The daylight has come. Either you are with Christ or you are against Him. Either you are offering your best or you are giving it to someone else. Either you are repenting or you are comfortable in your sins.

The paralysis of sin impairs your judgment. In sin you find right and wrong switched. You find good and bad swapped and you find that good enough is good enough. In God’s eyes, this is not good enough.

Jesus forgives the paralytic for sins such as these. In fact, Jesus encourages this man, still in his paralysis, to take heart in the forgiveness of sins. Not just because that forgiveness of sins is the most important thing in life, but because the forgiveness of sins is given and also comes in the form of an offering being brought to an Altar.

In Palm Sunday, we see a different kind of offering being brought by some men to the front of Christ’s Church and that is Christ Himself. Jesus ascends the hill of the Temple mount surrounded by many faithful men. He rides through the gate, ascends the steps to the holy of holies, and is arrested, scourged, and crucified.

Bringing your own offering imitates Christ offering Himself for the sins of the world. This is why such pomp is afforded this time in the Service. We sit silent. We are reverent. We bow, etc. Your action proves that you hear the Word of God and believe. Your offerings, brought as a sacrifice, show you that Jesus has worked His faith in you so that you now offer, not 10 %, not half, but all. For faith cries out, “All or nothing!”

Jesus does not desire nothing, so He creates everything. He comes to nothing in you, paralysis and sin, and makes you a full-fledged saint. He does not accept a dead faith, so He freely gives true living faith to you. Jesus can not stand half measures and half offerings, so He gives you His full, complete offering. You now get to bring the sacrifice and offering that Christ made, for you, at God’s Altar this very day, which is you, with your sins, prepared to be forgiven.

What you offer today is not something for God, but something for you. God is not served by human hands, but you serve the Faith given to you in offering all you have. That is, all of your sins. You are the one who benefits from your offering, just as you are the one who benefits from the Divine Service. All of this is happening for you so that your paralysis may be taken away and you be free from sin, death, and the devil.

This is because no matter what you offer, no matter how you pray, and no matter how many times you are here or not here, Christ has already worked out all good things for you, especially the forgiveness of sins. You do not buy this. You do not wish for it and you definitely do not earn it. But, you can not be here without it and you can not be with Christ for eternity without it.

Before the paralytic even thinks about worship or thanks; before you even considered God’s almighty handiwork, Christ had already offered Himself on the cross for you and by that single offering for all, you have gained the eternal inheritance and true everlasting life.

This is your hope. In the cross, you have good reason to hope in God in all your concerns and should not doubt that He will help you. You must also come to the aid of your neighbor or not be able to stand before God. Just as pastors have carried you along, so you too should bear your neighbor to your pastor and church, so that you may thank, worship, and glorify God with all His people.

Dear Christians, you have come here today as paralytics. Truly, it was the Holy Spirit in you, that brought you here, not so that you could walk again on your own, but so that you could live again in new life before God. For your one purpose in life is to be forgiven by Jesus and you are brought to this place because it is the only place in the world where this Word is preached in its purity and the Sacraments are administered according to it, for the forgiveness of sins.

You are here today by faith alone and grace alone. You are forgiven by Christ alone, through His holy Scriptures alone. It is this day that the Lord has made for you to hear His Word spoken just for you saying, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”