And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
(Mark 2:5)
The four men aggressively brought the paralyzed man to Jesus for a physical healing and Jesus forgives the man’s sins.
Can you imagine what a shocker this must have been?! The total bewilderment at Jesus’ words after this amazing act of boldness, audacity and faith (not to mention t
he destruction of private property by digging a hole in someone’s roof). Think of how awkward this moment in time must have been. The Pharisees are thrown immediately into a theological conundrum. I can imagine the disciples going into the usual “protective mode” by whispering to Jesus behind a cupped hand, “Uh…Jesus…the man’s paralyzed.” The crowd in the room, “What did he just say?” And then there’s the demolition squad and their immobile buddy looking at each other as if to say, “You’re kidding, right?” What an absolute lack of situational awareness…on every body’s part…except Jesus.Jesus heals the man’s spiritual infirmity before He heals his physical brokenness. He very clearly spells out the priority. He came to heal man’s cancerous sin first and foremost. His primary objective was spiritual, then physical. How often do we miss this personally and as disciplemakers. God is frying bigger fish in our lives. He is trying to get to the core issues and most of the time the physical is simply a vehicle. We must learn to look behind the veil of the physical and ask, “What is the Holy Spirit really after in these circumstances?” If we want to be like Jesus, we need to think spiritually in the midst of a very material world.
How to think spiritual before physical
· What are the eternal implications vs the temporal
· No suffering catches God off guard
· Providing physical needs is a means to the spiritual needs
· Sin is not a trifle to Jesus, it’s fatal
· Forgiving others is priority over my comfort
· I spend time with the Father before I eat (Mt 4.4, Job 23.12)
FJ58
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