Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your mat, and walk’?
With this question Christ brings the scribes before an important judgment. Outwardly it is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” because there is no immediate visible proof of it before people’s eyes. Yet in reality the forgiveness of sins is a far greater work than bodily healing, because it concerns a person’s eternal condition. And bodily healing becomes the visible sign by which Christ confirms His invisible authority. Thus He shows that the One who can raise a person’s body with a single word has just as real authority also over the soul. The question is not about which word is easier to pronounce, but about Who has the divine right and power to accomplish all this.