Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Forgives Then Heals a Paralyzed Man
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “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 this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 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!”
Jesus shows His unconditional LOVE and forgiveness to the man who is paralyzed...Jesus reaches out to the paralyzed man without judgment or any preconditions about man and what we have gone through or even what we have done....Jesus is unconditionally forgiving...The man who needed healing was a flawed man and sinner like all of us and Jesus heals Him...The man being paralyzed is still LOVED by Jesus and is a child of God...Jesus is teaching us to see everyone no matter what their condition, they are to be loved, shown mercy, and forgiven...
From the paralyzed man and his friends, we learn about faith in Jesus and to be persistent in our faith...There were obstacles for the friends and the paralyzed man to get to Jesus, but they persisted and got to Jesus so He could heal him...With their belief in Jesus and their persistence, they found that anything is possible with Jesus...God was and is with Jesus and gave Him His Authority...Jesus' Divinity shows in His miracles...
Before Jesus healed the man, He said: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”...This shows us that there is some-type of connection between the Spiritual and our physical well-being...Healing sometimes requires faith, hope, love, and belief in Jesus...This world and the Spiritual World are good things for our well-being...Looking to Jesus is a good thing to do each and everyday and even talking and praying to Him regularly throughout the day is good...
After Jesus had healed the man, he got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of all of them...This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”...The now healed man showed and praised God for the act that Jesus had just done...We like the man, should acknowledge God in our lives and share our experiences with God with others...They may be helped by our experiences with God and Jesus and they may be uplifted by our experiences...
We learn about fellowship and community with the the paralyzed man and those carrying him...Jesus wants us to love God and love neighbor...Jesus has forever tied God to man, with His comments about the Two Great Commandments...There is great importance in loving God and loving neighbor...It is good for our health...We should surround ourselves with positive people who believe in God...They will encourage, make us feel better, and give us hope, and help us when we are down...
We also learn about overcoming challenges as the paralyzed man had learned to do throughout his life and his positive faithful friends who would not give up, in getting him to Jesus -to be healed...
Jesus shows us the power of faith, forgiveness, and love and seeking Jesus is good for our lives and our journey through life...