It can be a real bummer when some folks see and actually take notice of the work of God in the world and yet miss God being a part of that work.
Worse yet is when someone gets upset by the fact that another person—even Jesus—is being used by God all because it is assumed that they can't possibly be doing what God has called them to do. And, unfortunately, this is exactly what we see happening in Matthew 9.
There in Matthew's Gospel is the famous story of Jesus both forgiving and healing a paralytic who was carried in on his bed. He was brought there by some folks so that Jesus would heal him. That's all they wanted. Jesus, however, does something different with the man, at first. Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw the faith of that group of people (including, I think, the man on his bed), he said, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Mt 9:2b, NIV).
Excuse me, they had to be thinking, this isn't why we've brought him to you. We brought him to you because we believed you could make him walk.
Why would Jesus forgive a man who was obviously in desperate need of physical healing? Our answer comes immediately from Matthew as he writes, “At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, ‘This fellow is blaspheming!’ ” (Mt 9:3, NIV)
Boom. Some people bring in a paralyzed man to be healed. Jesus forgives his sins. And the scribes who saw all this go down complain that Jesus has blasphemed.
They have missed the work of God because of the one through whom the work of God was being done.
Jesus, being Jesus, knows their thoughts and so asks them, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (Mt 9:4b-5, NIV). You see, the scribes had this idea that Jesus could not possibly be someone who could be doing the things he was doing—especially forgiving people—because, of course, only God could do those things. And, to be honest, they were not totally off-base here. They were way off-base in not seeing Jesus for who he was, but they were not off-base in their understanding that only God can forgive sins.
When David did the terrible thing he did with Bathsheba, he prayed to God after coming to his right mind again in repentance and said, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight" (Ps 51:4a, NIV). And we're supposed to say hold on a second. What do you mean you only sinned against God? You sinned against Bathsheba—you took her as your own even though she was already married. You sinned against Uriah—you had him killed. You even sinned against their parents—you took advantage of their children. Not to mention what happened to the baby because of your sin. You sinned against a whole bunch of people—not just God.
And, up to a certain point, this is true. David's sin was expansive in the lives he touched, but when it comes to the sin in his life—and ours—the most offended person whenever you and I miss the mark of how we have been called to live as image bearers of God, is God himself. And this is why David was 100% correct when he said he sinned against God alone.
Only God can forgive sins. And in this story in Matthew 10 we're shown the incredible truth that this God who can forgive sins has revealed himself to the world in the person of Jesus. Our task then is to not miss the work of God that was done then and is being done now because of the one through whom it is being done.