14. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “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’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins....” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew, 9: 1 to 8).
15. What could these words signify, “Yours sins are forgiven?” And how could they help the cure? Spiritism gives the key to them, as well as to an infinite number of other sayings misunderstood till now. It teaches us, by the law of the plurality of existences, that the evils and afflictions of life are often expiations of the past, and that we submit in the present life to the consequence of faults that we have committed in an anterior existence; the different existences being connected with one another, until we pay off the debt of our imperfections.
If, then, the malady of this man was a punishment for evil which he had committed, by saying to him: “your sins are forgiven,” was equal to saying: “You have paid your debt. The cause of your malady is effaced by your faith; consequently you merit to be delivered from your malady.” He therefore said to the scribes: “It is as easy to say, Your sins are forgiven, as to say: arise, and walk;” the cause ceasing, the effect must cease also. The case is the same with a prisoner to whom they would go and say: “Your crime is expiated and pardoned;” which is equivalent to saying: “You can leave prison.”
