The
gospel stories weren't penned just for our entertainment. They were written to
teach us about Jesus, His life, and His ministry. Each story reveals something
about who He is, about His character, and about His heart. Each story gives us
glimpses of how He related to people and our reactions to the stories reveals
stuff about our own hearts and our relationship with Him. One of the stories I
have been pondering lately is the story about a paralyzed man found in Mark 2.
Word of
Jesus and His miracles had spread and when Jesus and his disciples came to
Peter's house, a crowd soon descended there to see the miracle-working Teacher
- the Teacher whose words were a soothing balm to some and a strong irritant to
others. The large crowds made it difficult for the neediest people to get close
enough to Jesus. One of the neediest that day was a paralyzed man who lived
life on a stretcher, but he had four loyal friends who picked up his stretcher
and headed to Peter's house. However, because of the crowd, they could not get
near the Teacher. So, the men devised a plan and carried their friend up the
stairs to the roof and began digging through tiles and dirt, making a hole
large enough that they could fit their friend and his stretcher through it.
I find
myself wondering what the man thought as they approached the house. Did his
heart sink when he saw the crowd? Did his anger rise as he was reminded of his
limitations? Did he feel hopeless and immediately resign himself to living from
the perspective of the stretcher? What did he think when his friends began to
climb the stairs and dig through the roof? Did he feel loved or was he
embarrassed by their actions? Did he believe he was worth the hassle or would
he have preferred they not to make a scene? Was his friends' faith beginning to
take root in his heart? I don't know the answers to the questions, but I
do know that I want to be the kind of friend this man had. I want to be the
person who sees beyond the hopelessness of a situation. I want to be one who
believes that the more hopeless the situation seems the bigger the opportunity
to bring someone closer to Jesus. I want to be that friend who persists and
persists until I have done all that it takes to help a friend land at the feet
of Jesus.
I also
find myself wondering what Jesus thought as the men began to dig through the
roof. Did He raise His voice to be heard above their digging or did He stop and
wait patiently, knowing the roof-digging crew was providing His sermon
illustration that night? Did He need to calm Peter and remind Him that holes
could be fixed? Did He smile as He brushed away the dirt that was settling on
His shoulders? Did rise and help lower the man in or did they drop him at His
feet?
The Bible
makes it clear that not every illness is a result of sin. It may have been in
this case that something he had done to another had resulted in his paralysis.
It may have been that Jesus knew the crowd usually associated illness and
handicaps with sin and was exposing their belief. Or it may have been that
Jesus could see the burden of regret and the shame that was residing in the
man's heart and knew that the man needed to be spiritually healed more than
physically. So, He told him sins were forgiven.
Jesus
then turned his attention to the religious leaders--the skeptics who thought He
was a blasphemer for telling the man his sins were forgiven. I love it that
Jesus both exposed and confronted their thoughts by asking, "Which is easier
to do--tell a man he is forgiven or tell him to take up his bed and walk?"
He then turned back to the man and said, "Get up, take your stretcher and
go home."
What ran
through the paralytic's mind when the Savior commanded him to walk? Did he look
around at the crowd that wouldn't let him through the door? Did he glace at the
religious leaders who disapproved of what Jesus was telling him and feel
conflicted? Did he immediately respond in faith and jump up or dance a jig? Did
he look down first, expecting to see atrophied legs and find them healthy and
strong? Or did he have to do the impossible and try to stand up on atrophied
muscled legs for the miracle to take place? I don't know, but I can relate to
having to demonstrate faith and obedience in the face of people who opposed me
and what God called me to do. It was terribly hard and it sure didn't feel
safe. However, choosing God in the face of that opposition strengthened my
faith, gave me opportunities to see Him work in new ways, and opened a new
direction for me to do the ministry God had called me to.
That day,
Jesus graciously chose to do a deeper work in the heart of the crippled man so
not only his body was healed, but his heart as well. Jesus used the opposition
He faced to publically affirm His deity as he exposed the hidden thoughts of
men, established that He had the authority to forgive sin, heal a broken body,
and called Himself, "The Son of Man."
I fear
that we often view the hard as proof that God doesn't love us and we let the hard
paralyze us. What if the hard--our past traumas, our broken hearts, the
adversity we experience, the weaknesses we have, our struggle to fully trust,
the sin that trips us up, the people and the demons who come against us--is
what the Lord will use to reveal Himself to this broken and fallen world? Would
not our faith and our joy grow exponentially if we just believe God is good and
that the opposition we face is nothing more than disguised opportunities for
Him to do His greatest work?
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