• "The Relationship Between Physical Healing and the Forgiveness of Sin"
• Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
• October 26, 2003
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

"[Which] is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." (from the gospel, Matthew 9:1f.). The gospel today makes two primary points. Jesus has power, or authority, that belongs to God. And there is a relationship between physical healing and the forgiveness of sins. The notable thing about the gospel miracle is not just that Jesus is a conduit for healing and forgiveness-it is not unusual for God to use human mediators to communicate these things. The notable thing is the way Jesus heals and forgives.

When a merely human mediator ministers healing, he does so with a prayer directed towards God with the intent that God will heal a given person. In our customary prayer for healing we anoint the sick person "beseeching the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ." When a merely human mediator ministers forgiveness, he does so with reference to the authority that God has given. In the communion form of absolution, the priest pronounces forgiveness in the name of "Almighty God, who hath promised forgiveness of sins..." But Jesus says simply, "Your sins are forgiven" and "Rise and walk." He issues commands from the authority of his own person.

In debates about the divinity of Christ, it is sometimes objected that Jesus never says, in so many words, "I am God." I take issue with this objection. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30) and "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). I don't know what more Jesus could have done than claim for himself the unity of God from Deuteronomy 6 and the divine name from Exodus 3.

Nonetheless, quite apart from any explicit claims, the ministry of Jesus is full of implicit claims. By his own word and command, Jesus casts out demons, heals the sick, raises the dead and forgives sins. The only being who possesses authority to order the Creation by his word is God. Therefore, the inescapable conclusion is that Jesus is God-or, as we know, the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

The second point of the gospel is that there is a connection between healing and forgiveness. Jesus says that the statement, "Thy sins be forgiven" is the same as "Rise and walk." This suggests that the man in the gospel was paralyzed as a consequence of some sin he had committed. Forgiveness was a necessary prerequisite for healing.

We need to be clear about what this implies and what this does not imply. There is a general connection between all sickness and sin in general. That is, there is sickness in the world because of the fallen condition of man. Sin brought corruption into the human condition that led to a defect in our bodies. We all get sick and we will all die. Our resurrection hope is that we will be given new bodies that will not be subject to sin and, thus, not subject to sickness. Sometimes there is a specific connection between a given sickness and a specific sin that a person has committed, as in today's gospel.

However, there is not always such a specific connection, and we must be careful in our assessment because we seldom have enough information to know. This is illustrated by the story of the man born blind who Jesus healed in John's gospel. The disciples asked Jesus, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him" (John 9:3 NKJV).

The book of Job is a meditation on this theme. Job was afflicted, not because of any personal sin, but precisely because he was righteous. In the end, God rebukes Job's friends because they were wrong to insist that Job was suffering as a consequence of some specific sin he had committed. The possible connection between a specific sin and a given malady should be used as grounds for self-examination. It should not be used as grounds for accusing other people of sin.

Because there is a general connection between sickness and sin, and sometimes a specific connection, it is important that we link healing with confession of sin. The epistle of James makes this connection. James writes, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven" (James 5:14-15).

The Book of Common Prayer mandates confession in the Visitation of the sick. A rubric at the bottom of page 313 says, "Then shall the sick person be moved to make a confession of sin...." Sickness should lead us to examine ourselves to make sure there is no unconfessed sin in our lives that might be a contributing cause of our physical ailments. Sickness should remind us of our mortality and lead us to reflect in penitence upon our fallen condition and its consequences.

I believe it is part of the plan of God that weakness and illness in the body, which are consequences of sin, should lead us to reflect upon our fallen spiritual condition and, thus, lead us to grace and salvation. As Psalm 103 says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities." Since we will all die of our last ailment, our physical infirmities should fill us with resurrection hope. In our weakness, we look forward to the day when Jesus will come again and say in that full and final way, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," and "Rise!"