Three Reasons to Be of Good Cheer
A Thanksgiving Meditation
Cheer is somewhat of an old-fashioned word. It has the idea of encouragement, of seeing things in a better light, especially when circumstances change for the better. At this time of Thanksgiving, here is a reading from Book 11 (Old Houses, New Houses) in The Big Book of Coffee Cup Meditations. Enjoy reading it!
Three Cheers from Jesus
From God’s Word, the Bible…
So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
Matthew 9:1-2
But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
Matthew 9:22
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
Matthew 14:27
The Gospel of Matthew reports three occasions on which Jesus said: “Be of good cheer.” On each of those occasions, Jesus was speaking to an individual or a group who were beaten down and on the verge of despair. On the first occasion, Jesus spoke to a man who had been paralyzed for a long time. On the second occasion, He spoke to a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a hemorrhage. On the third occasion, He spoke to His disciples who were trying to pilot their little boat through a stormy sea.What are the truths that we can draw from these situations? The first is this: We can be of good cheer because Jesus forgives sin (9:1-2).
In this passage we have a paralyzed man lying on his bed, and Jesus says: “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
What does this say to us? The answer couldn’t be plainer. It affirms that Jesus regarded this man’s spiritual condition as being more important than his physical condition. That’s not to say that Jesus wasn’t interested in his physical condition. He was, and He proved it by healing him. But that’s not where Jesus started. No one had said a word to Jesus about forgiving this man’s sins, but that is where Jesus began.
Jesus put the emphasis in the right place. We all have to leave this world and meet God. No one will be able to stand in God’s holy presence unless his sins are forgiven. The good news that emerges from Jesus’ dealings with the paralyzed man is this: Jesus can and does forgive sins. He came to this earth for the express purpose of providing the way for our sins to be forgiven. He did so by dying on the cross. There He received the penalty for sinners so that all who come to Him in repentance and faith will never receive that same penalty but will rather receive forgiveness.
The second truth we see from the three cheers of Jesus is this: We can be of good cheer because Jesus values imperfect faith (9:22)The woman who had suffered for twelve years with “a flow of blood” (9:20) quite obviously had imperfect faith. Her faith that Jesus could heal her was mixed up with some superstition. She seems to have regarded Jesus as something of a magician who exuded power to those who touched Him. So, she managed to work her way through the crowd around Jesus and touch Him. And that touch was rewarded as Jesus healed her.
We can and should be thankful that the Lord doesn’t require us to have perfect faith before He saves us. Weak faith is still faith. What a consolation that is! J.C. Ryle writes:
Our faith may be feeble; our courage may be small; our grasp of the Gospel and its promises, may be weak and trembling,—but, after all, the grand question is, Do we really trust only in Christ? Do we look to Jesus, and only to Jesus, for pardon and peace? If this be so, it is well. (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1995, p. 89.)
The truth we discover from Jesus’ third cheering statement is very comforting, namely, We can be of good cheer because Jesus is with us in the storms of life (14:27).
After feeding a multitude of five thousand, Jesus told His disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee. They soon encountered a ferocious storm. The boat “was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by waves, for the wind was contrary” (14:24).
Jesus came to His disciples by walking on the sea. His first words to them were: “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
Jesus did marvelous things in that storm. He enabled Simon Peter to walk toward Him on the water and then rescued him when, after a good start, he began to sink. Jesus then stepped with Simon into the boat, and the wind immediately ceased (14:28-32).
We have our storms, too. And they can be very threatening and frightening. But the Lord Jesus has promised to be with us all through this life (Heb. 13:5), and that includes the storms. With Him beside us, our fear can give away to cheer.
These three passages put the Lord Jesus on display. We see His perfect knowledge, His abounding sympathy, and His sovereign authority and power. Our response should be to worship Him as His disciples did when He stilled the storm (14:33).
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