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Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Paralytic

I just read the part where the paralytic is lowered through the roof. When Jesus sees this guy, he says, "Your sins are forgiven." The way this section is organized is that Jesus is doing miracles and the people are amazed and keep following him, so much so that he has to stay out in the 'lonely places.' I wonder why this guy wanted to get to Jesus. Was it because he wanted his sins forgiven or because he wanted to be healed? We talk about being urgent with this story, but was this guy urgent to know Jesus or urgent to be healed? The paralytic believed Jesus could heal him but did he or was he following any of Jesus' teachings? And this guy also got his sins forgiven. So i guess he didn't need to be baptized or was that just for his past sins? I guess too Jesus was just making an exception for him like he will later with the thief on the cross.

6 comments:

Teena Phamster said...

Good question Justin. I believe there are two very important lessons learned here: Faith and the True miracle of forgiveness.

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.” (Mark 2:1-5)

Wow - can you imagine?  If you were raised as a Jew, you knew that the only way you could be “right” with God was to follow every law, and when you committed a sin, to make sacrifices to God to atone for your sin as prescribed by the law.  But here is a man whose sins were forgiven just by a spoken word!  But interestingly, there’s no response from the crowd.  Instead, the only reported response is this one from a few pharisees who happened to be present:

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?” (Mark 2:6)

So Jesus responds by doing something far simpler…

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. (Mark 2:7-11)

Did you notice that as soon as Jesus did something the people could see and feel, then, and only then did they get excited about it?  They didn’t respond at all when Jesus did what no one else could do…forgive them of their sins…but when he cured a man’s paralysis, all of the sudden, they were amazed?

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:7-12)

How many times do we look right past the truly miraculous things God is doing in and through us…the things only He can do (like changing us from the inside out, into a mirror of His Son’s image)…but then praise Him for the smaller things (like providing for our physical needs)?

So to give further insight to your question, I speculate through these passages that the paralytic and his buddies came to Jesus to be healed, but Jesus knowing their hearts wanted to teach them a more powerful and deep lesson...that He can forgive yours sin and impact hearts from inside out (yes, very amazing indeed)!!

Teena Phamster said...

Not sure why parts were cut off. Let me try again from the parts which were cut off. :)

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.” (Mark 2:1-5)

Wow - can you imagine?  If you were raised as a Jew, you knew that the only way you could be “right” with God was to follow every law, and when you committed a sin, to make sacrifices to God to atone for your sin as prescribed by the law.  But here is a man whose sins were forgiven just by a spoken word!  But interestingly, there’s no response from the crowd.  Instead, the only reported response is this one from a few pharisees who happened to be present.

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?” (Mark 2:6)

So Jesus responds by doing something far simpler…

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. (Mark 2:7-11)

Did you notice that as soon as Jesus did something the people could see and feel, then, and only then did they get excited about it?  They didn’t respond at all when Jesus did what no one else could do…forgive them of their sins…but when he cured a man’s paralysis, all of the sudden, they were amazed?

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:7-12)

How many times do we look right past the truly miraculous things God is doing in and through us…the things only He can do (like changing us from the inside out, into a mirror of His Son’s image)…but then praise Him for the smaller things (like providing for our physical needs)?

Teena Phamster said...

Haha. Don't know why this is happening. This copy n paste function on the iPhone is a bit wacked. :) lol.

Well, hopefully third time is a charm. If not, I just have to show or read it to you u it in person. :) literally!

Good question Justin. I believe there are two very important lessons learned here: Faith and the True miracle of forgiveness.

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.” (Mark 2:1-5)

Wow - can you imagine?  If you were raised as a Jew, you knew that the only way you could be “right” with God was to follow every law, and when you committed a sin, to make sacrifices to God to atone for your sin as prescribed by the law.  But here is a man whose sins were forgiven just by a spoken word!  But interestingly, there’s no response from the crowd.  Instead, the only reported response is this one from a few pharisees who happened to be present:

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?” (Mark 2:6)

So Jesus responds by doing something far simpler…

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. (Mark 2:7-11)

Did you notice that as soon as Jesus did something the people could see and feel, then, and only then did they get excited about it?  They didn’t respond at all when Jesus did what no one else could do…forgive them of their sins…but when he cured a man’s paralysis, all of the sudden, they were amazed?

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:7-12)

How many times do we look right past the truly miraculous things God is doing in and through us…the things only He can do (like changing us from the inside out, into a mirror of His Son’s image)…but then praise Him for the smaller things (like providing for our physical needs)?

So to give further insight to your question, I speculate through these passages that the paralytic and his buddies came to Jesus to be healed, but Jesus knowing their hearts wanted to teach them a more powerful and deep lesson...that He can forgive yours sin and impact hearts from inside out (yes, very amazing indeed)!!

Haha, well...let's hope this works. :D

Teena Phamster said...

Halleluah!! Amen! Jesus said, 'Your sin Tina of pridefulness and meticulous habits of perfection is forgiven!' haha! Enjoy this crazy 3-4 comments! Haha!

Justin Seibel said...

yeah i don't know what was going there. I clicked on the posts link and it shows all the comments and read the first one. thanks for you diligence. I guess the physical is more real to us. The spiritual is more important but harder to see, especially at first. Good points.

Mitchel Thomas Gonzalez said...

Interesting points about the paralytic's intention, I think Tina nailed it.



Regarding the question about getting baptized for his past sins, our current baptism is based off the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Obviously in this scripture that hasn't happened yet. Although John the Baptist did baptize people, it was so that they repent and believe, it was not until after the Cross did people get baptized and received true forgiveness of their sins though Jesus sacrifice and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul address this in Acts 19:1-6 when he goes to preach in Ephesus