However, the author puts more detail into each healing to highlight Jesus’ divinity through his ability to heal others. Although each healing is described in more detail, two events stand out among the rest. The first one is when Jesus is accused by the scribes of dishonoring God’s name when Jesus states “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matthews 9:2) to heal the paralyzed man. This event is important because this is one of the significant events where Jesus further certify his identity as the Son of God by proving his detractors wrong. The scribes criticize Jesus because of how he implies that he can forgive the sins of others just like God, but Jesus’ success in healing the paralyzed man by stating that his “sins are forgiven” (Matthews 9:2) proves to both the scribes and witnesses that he is indeed connected to God. The author manages to empower his argument that Jesus’ control over life and death signifies Jesus as a divine figure not only through healing, but also through the use of Jesus’ opposition and proving their accusations …show more content…
Jesus resurrection is a powerful for the author to use to defend his argument that Jesus is the Messiah through his ability to manipulate and death. The author addresses the counterarguments to his argument by framing the resurrection to his advantages which results in his effective defense and powerful persuasion of his argument. The author first builds his counterargument against his detractors by showing to his readers that after the death of Jesus, the Pharisees and the priest become fearful of whether Jesus is telling the truth of his own resurrection. “…went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone” (Matthew 27:66) this effectively shows the paranoia of the chief priests as they make Pilate order to soldiers to watch the tomb of Jesus. The priests argue in the text that they send the soldiers to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesus’ body and spread the news that Jesus has resurrected. By adding guards outside of the tomb, the author can nullify other counterarguments by showing that if Jesus does come back to life, his resurrection is real and his body is not stolen as the priests claim because the guards act as witnesses. The author confronts this counterargument by illustrating the descent of the angel of the Lord and the angel’s proclamation to the crowd of women that Jesus has resurrected