Context for Matthew 8:23-9:8
We see more examples of faith in action in these verses. Our encouragement is to make our faith wholehearted, seeking God’s will whatever the cost for our own benefit.
The healing of the paralytic found in Matthew 9:1-8 is the same story also found in Mark 2:3-12 and Luke 5:18-26. From these three accounts, we see the incredible faith and self-sacrifice of the friends of the paralytic who brought the man before Jesus so that he could be healed.
We also see from this story the nature of Jesus Himself, the object of that faith. Not only did Jesus heal the man physically, but more importantly, He healed the man spiritually by the forgiveness of his sins.
We see from this story that our faith in Jesus is not misplaced now, just as the faith of the paralytic and his friends was not then. We find in Him both our Savior and our Physician, able to heal us spiritually from the curse of sin and physically from the consequences of that sin.
For all of us, the realization of our faith will be found in Heaven. There, we will be made whole in spirit and in body in a way we cannot be made whole now. It is for that promise of renewal that we struggle toward Heaven in the same way the friends of the paralytic struggled to reach Jesus that day, and on the Last Day we will just as surely be healed.
