Roof Diggers #2
| 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. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 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? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 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!" (Mark2:4-12) |
And yet, when the paralysed man's amazing friends take the bold action of digging open the roof, Jesus identifies a different priority.
- Not the fact that he couldn't walk
- Not the fact that he needed his friends to help him with everything
But his need for forgiveness.
Now we don't know the man's heart. Was he resentful and bitter from his illness and had that consumed his heart? Was there some guilt from his past that he believed had caused his paralysis? Or was his paralysis psychosomatic?
We'll add this to my long list of interviews for heaven.
I'm going to go and meet with this man and get the whole story.
But when Jesus sees him, He discerns that before this man can be healed of physical paralysis, he needs to be healed of guilt that paralysed his soul and so Jesus, the sinless Son of God and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, forgives him.
The teachers of the law are incensed and, if it had been anyone else pronouncing forgiveness, they would have been right to be incensed. Their theology is correct: "Only God can forgive sins." It is their hearts that are malfunctioning - they can't recognise that Jesus is the Son of God.
And so Jesus heals the man. The healing of a paralytic was unheard of - only God could do it. It is definitive proof that Jesus is the Son of God and that He can forgive sins.
In one beautiful moment Jesus heals the man - INSIDE and OUT.
Hallelujah!
