One of the most astounding statements that the Lord Jesus Christ made when He was on the earth was ‘the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’ (Matthew 9:6), speaking of Himself. He claimed that He had both the power and the authority to forgive the sins of others. It was a bold claim and a claim that no other man dare make. He didn’t mean that He had would simply overlook wrongdoing or pretend something never happened (which is what we might mean if we say we forgive someone) but rather He meant that He had the power to completely remove an individual’s guilt due to their sin and change the course of their eternal destiny from everlasting death and judgement to everlasting life. It’s an astonishing statement and one that completely rocked the religious establishment of His day, as here was a Man saying that He could do something that only God can do. Was He mad? Was He an outrageous liar? Or was He telling the truth? To answer the question we need to look at the context in which He made that statement and we will see three pieces of evidence that He was telling the truth. A man who was completely paralysed had been brought to Him on a stretcher by His friends in the hope that the Lord Jesus would be able to heal him. He had healed many people of all sorts of diseases simply with either a word or a touch. The Bible tells us that He healed ‘all [that were brought to Him] that were sick’ (Matthew 8:16). This is our first piece of evidence that when He said He had the power to forgive sins He was telling the truth, as only God could heal people in the way that He healed people. Here was a Man who fully demonstrated the power of God. He was able to heal instantly and completely and so the paralysed man was brought so that Jesus could do the same for him. We are told that when He ‘saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you”’ (Matthew 9:2). The religious leaders were appalled and although they sat in silent outrage they ‘said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”’ (Matthew 9:3). This did not go unnoticed, as we are told that “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?”’ (Matthew 9:4&5). Our second piece of evidence that He was telling the truth was that He knew exactly what they were thinking. He could see straight into their hearts and He knew that they were disgusted and offended by what He had said. Again, we see that He was able to do something that only God could do. 1 Chronicles 28:9 tells us that ‘the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts’. It was exactly the same in this situation. Our third piece of evidence follows on from the question that Jesus asked the religious leaders: was it easier for someone to command a paralysed man to get up and walk or to forgive his sins? Both are of course impossible for an ordinary man. Anyone could say he could forgive sins but how could he prove it? Jesus then commanded the man to stand up and walk and he did! This was the proof to all that were there that the Son of God was in their midst and as Son of God He had the complete authority to forgive sins. He still has the same authority today and we all have the same need as the paralysed man. He did have a physical problem but he also had a spiritual problem which is what the Lord Jesus dealt with first. The man was a sinner and he needed his sins forgiven. The Bible tells us that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). The reason that the Lord Jesus came into the world in the first place was to deal with our problem of sin by taking the punishment for it when He died on the cross. He rose again from the dead three days later and He is alive in Heaven able to save all those that believe He died for them and trust in Him for forgiveness. He still has the power on earth to forgive sins today and He can be your Saviour if you trust in Him.