Christ forgives the sins of the paralytic proving that He is God according to the “right” assessment of the scribes and Pharisees when they asked: “who can forgive sins but God ALONE?”

Forgiveness of sins is not just a little option, thrown in with the total benefit package of the abundant life. If the Bible’s message about death and eternal judgment is correct, then forgiveness is the main need of every person! People don’t primarily need their marriages fixed. They don’t primarily need their emotional problems resolved. They don’t primarily need economic help. People need to know with assurance from God that their sins are forgiven. All other needs are secondary. As Jesus taught on another occasion,

“What profit is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul?” (Matt. 16:25).

There’s something much more important than having a healthy body and plenty of money: Having God forgive your sins.

Sometimes a severe problem—a health problem, an emotional problem, a family problem, a financial catastrophe—can be the best thing in the world for us. Even this COVID 19 pandemic! This did not happen by chance or by accident! God is using this crisis, to help us understand what is really important in this life.

Later, this man would have looked back on his paralysis and thanked God for it, because if he had never been paralyzed, he never would have begged his friends to carry him to Jesus. He never would have heard those words, “Your sins are forgiven.” 

The same may be true of many today, at the end of this Coronavirus. Many are going to look back and thank God for it, because if it had never happened, they would have never had seen their need for a Saviour and  begged Jesus to forgive them of their sins, to reconcile them to God the Father.

Jesus Christ who is alive today, identifies and offers us the solution to our greatest need today, especially in the midst of this Corona virus pandemic.