Which is Easier?

Jesus said that it is easier to heal the sick than to forgive sins.

Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home (Matt 9:5-7).

When we preach the gospel, we expect our hearers to accept on trust that God can forgive sins. Jesus proved to his listeners that God could forgive sins by healing the sick.

We have turned the message round the other way. We preach that forgiving sins is easy, but healing the sick is hard. That is a problem. If we do not have faith for something that Jesus said is easy, how can we expect people to believe something Jesus said was harder.