label, find their "authority" to do what they do, absolve and cure, in the Son of Man's own prior "authority upon earth." (Mt. 9:6) Imagine if you can the history of healing in the western world without him, not only his historical influence but his winning for his followers a unique authority. He is the original Michael -- Micha-el, "who is like God" -- casting out dragons. And the motley healers I've just named are new evidence that he's coming back.

(rwb)

which is another word for "authority," as in the sentence, "Jesus has the authority, the right, to forgive sin." But he has that right not only as some distant deity, "up in heaven." That would pretty well leave us uninvolved. No, he has the right to forgive sin precisely as "the Son of Man," a Human among humans, "upon the earth," where his forgiveness makes earthly difference. For instance, his forgiveness heals a cripple of his paralysis. That raises a question, Does Jesus extend the same right to earthlings like us to do his kind of forgiving/healing, not just to receive it but to reenact it? Consider, please, the following interactive interview between the editor and Arndt B. Braaten, himself one of Jesus' earthy doers.

RWB: You've agreed to talk about this gospel lesson, Matthew 9:1-8. I can see why. It's the story of Jesus' healing of the paralytic. That part of the story reflects your interest in bodily healing as a soon-to-be physician. But the text is at least as much about a deeper healing, Jesus' forgiving the paralytic's sin. That dimension, I suppose, reflects your other calling as a pastor. I assume that in both roles, as doctor and as priest, you have the requisite authority: the right to heal, the right to absolve. More on that later.

Let's start where the text starts, verses one and two. "After getting into a boat [Jesus] crossed the sea and came into his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed."

What significance do you see in this initial, most obvious level of the man's problem, his paralysis? In a moment, I'm sure, we'll be getting into the more internal, theological depths of his problem. But now I'm asking only about -- what shall I call it -- his medical symptoms, like polio. Or does even that have theological importance?

ABB: Let me begin by thanking all of you from Crossings for the opportunity to work through this text with you. So often I've come away from our conversations renewed, as if vision has somehow been restored.

You ask about the patient in this story, How important is his physical ailment? I'd have to begin by asking, Important to whom? Important to the preacher who has to proclaim this text? Or important to the patient himself, who desperately wants to be sent home walking? Offhand, we might think these are two very different perspectives, since the patient obviously is very personally involved in the outcome -- in a way that the preacher seems not to be. But is that so? I might suggest, only slightly humorously, that the two perspectives -- the patient's and the preacher's -- are uncomfortably close together. For as the preacher is preaching, one of the hearers might come to believe -- someone, that is, who is sick. And she might just take a cue from this pericope and actually come forward after the service -- or during! -- and ask to be healed. Then what do I, the preacher, do? Suddenly I, too, have much at stake. As preacher I do.

When I'm preparing to preach I like to ask three related questions which I learned from reading a book by your teacher, Richard Caemmerer. What is the goal of the text? What is the malady which prevents us from reaching that goal? And finally by what means will the malady be overcome so that we might actually arrive at the goal? In this text the goal is plain. It is Jesus' own goal: that you (including preachers) might believe. More specifically, that you might believe that the Son of man has authority, authority on earth. Still more specifically, that you might believe that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. [RWB to reader: Having peeked ahead I predict that ABB will go still farther, namely, that you might believe that you share in Jesus' authority.] How can I as a preacher accept anything less than this as a goal for the hearers, of whom I am one?

Back to your question, Is it important to emphasize the physical healing of the man brought to Jesus? It is crucially important, because it underscores how wide is the scope of Jesus' goal, "that you might believe," how wide is faith's horizon. And how wide is that? As wide, to use Jesus' own term, as the "kingdom of God." "And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and [now watch] healing every disease and infirmity among the people." (4:23)

Once when John the Baptist was in prison he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus whether he was the one to fulfill their expectations or whether they