Today’s
Scripture Reading (June 11, 2019): Psalm
103
For me, order is important. Why do I eat my salad and
vegetables first? (And yes, I am endeavoring to eat more of those things.) I eat
them first so that they don’t foul up the rest of the meal. I understand that
that is not the way that all of you feel. But eating my vegetables might be one
of the rare areas where I start with the things I don’t like. In other areas, I
try to prioritize according to what is important. If I can get what is essential
done first, then I can put off what is less important to another time if that
becomes necessary. Order is important.
So Mark tells the story of the paralyzed man who is
brought to Jesus by his friends. A crowd has gathered at the place where Jesus
is, and so the men take the unusual step of climbing up onto the roof, digging
through it so that they can lower the man down to Jesus. I heard a sermon
preached on the passage some years ago where the speaker dramatically described
the scene, including the dirt that must have been falling into the room as the
men prepared a hole big enough to lower their friend. The intention of the
friends seems clear. They value the paralyzed man’s and feel that he deserves to
be healed. They would have probably said that healing was their friends
greatest need. Jesus was a miracle worker and a healer. So the men brought
their friend who needed healing to the one who had experience at healing
people.
The man is lowered down in front of Jesus. Jesus looked
at the man in front of him, and then up at the four men standing by a hole in
the roof. Mark says that Jesus saw the faith of the four men on the roof and
said to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Now, I wasn’t there. But I am pretty sure that what
was going through the minds of the paralyzed man’s friends was something like
“we didn’t bring him to you so you could forgive his sins. We wanted you to
heal him.” They didn’t get a chance to voice their concerns because some of the
religious elite also had doubts. Who was this rabbi who believed he had the
authority to forgive sins? I think Jesus heard the unspoken concerns of all of
them. When the friends looked at the paralyzed man, what they saw was someone
in need of healing. But when Jesus looked at the man, he saw someone whose
greatest need was for forgiveness. Here is the end of the story.
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 this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “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” (Mark 2:8-12).
Order
is important. Whether the man knew it or not, the thing he needed the most was
forgiveness. And then he needed healing.
David
agrees. God forgives our sins first, but he is not done with us. Because after
he forgives us, he heals us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 109
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