A paralysed man
| Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (Mark2:3-12) |
JESUS RESPONDS TO AN ACT OF FAITH
An act of faith is an act of UBUNTU. I would like to make the following observations:
- The paralysed man with no name had faithful friends. They showed their genuine love for him. They were not happy with his state of paralysis. They believed that Jesus could heal him. They did all they could to take their friend to Jesus: they carried him up to the roof top, opened the roof and lowered him down closer to Jesus.
MESSAGE. Get friends that will help you out of the state of paralysis, not those that bury you in a state of misery; friends that can bring you to Jesus for complete deliverance, even when your faith has collapsed. - Jesus saw their faith. It appears that these many friends had had an encounter with Jesus Christ. While many doubted Jesus, the many friends stood out and believed as Lord and Saviour. Jesus as the finisher and perfecter of our faith saw and responded to their faith.
MESSAGE. While individual faith is encouraged, it is good that we belong to faith communities, where we can see the concerns of our friends and do something about them. Hence, "we believe in the communion of saints". - Jesus gave the man the assurance of forgiveness. It is not stated what sins the man had committed. It is generally known that the society of the time considered that disability was as a result of sins, whether personal or parents' sins. Jesus did not analyse the sins, but granted the assurance that they were forgiven.
MESSAGE. Jesus undoes any negative description that the society gives to us. All sins are forgiven. - Get up, take you mat and go. While the crowd murmured over Jesus' authority to forgive sins, he took it a step further to heal the man completely. Still, it is not reported that the man professed his faith. Jesus acted on the faith of the faith community.
MESSAGE. Jesus came to bring healing, forgiveness and wholeness to us - individually and corporately, socio-economically and politically. The church as the faith community must lead friends without any discrimination to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Our societies are broken. The church has to be a life giving community. In the words of Tiyo Soga, "Bona izwe lakowethu uxolel'izono zalo" (See our nation and forgive its sins), we should intercede for a broken and decimated people, so that they are made whole.
Imbued with Ubuntu, we see the needs of others and help to get their unfortunate situation changed.
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Lungile Mpetsheni is the General Secretary of the UPCSA. He loves family and enjoys singing.
