Forgiveness of sin

Matthew 9 : 1 - 8

"Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven"

Jesus demonstrated his authority as 'Son of Man' over sin in this episode. The religious authorities, seeing themselves as guardians of the law, felt threatened as usual. The crowd who witnessed the physical healing however, are filled with awe and they praised God. I wonder how the paralyzed man felt when Jesus declared him free from sin. I wonder how he felt when his once useless limbs regained strength to carry him. I wonder if we can remember how we felt when the bonds of sin loosened and fell away, the moment we received Jesus into our lives. Perhaps for some of us, that moment of conversion was a starting point for a process that would later on involve emotional and physical healing as well. For many of us the forgiveness of sin we received on conversion was just the start of an often lifelong process of being freed from various blocks that keep us from fully living the abundant life. Like the paralyzed man, there are many things that keep us from walking upright, from freedom of movement. We may not be immobile, but we may be bent over by the emotional and physical burdens we carry. I have been bent over before, with emotional burdens I carried from childhood. Being forgiven from sin and having Jesus in my life made a big difference, but there was still an inability to walk freely. The emotional paralysis although not obvious to others was a painful one. It was Jesus, the 'Son of Man' who healed me, as I opened myself to his healing touch. The dear friend who prayed with me used a method described by Rosemary Green in her book 'God's Catalyst'. In this form of prayer, visualization is used as a tool to bring Christ into various situations that need his healing touch. This prayer brought the truth about God's love from theory into my lived experience. The Lord showed me aspects of himself that I was blocked from receiving because of the emotional wounds. In a sense I was able to grasp through my imagination the truth about God's desire to heal me and set me free. To this day, I can recall certain images that brought comfort and still bring comfort, when I am tempted to doubt God's healing love.

Many Christians are uncomfortable with the use of the 'imagination' because it seems to them something 'imaginary'. Our Christianity is often too cerebral, while Scripture is full of imagery and poetic language. Our imagination is part of our God given attributes, one that helps us appreciate the creativity that is demonstrated through poetry, art and music. Imagination as any other faculty may be misused. We need not dismiss it as unreliable but we can pray for God to sanctify our imaginations even as we prayerfully seek healing in this manner. Indeed, we can trust that the One who has authority to heal and forgive will pleased to come to meet us.