Mark 2:1-12
I’ve not been on
many mission trips, but most of the time they are long days and very rewarding,
but when getting back home one looks for some downtime. As we begin the
second chapter of Mark, Jesus is returning to Capernaum and He has been home
just a few days when the word gets out that He is back.
It was not reported
that the people said he was drained from preaching, healing the sick, and
casting out demons, let’s not bother him. No, that is not the account
Mark gives us, go to verse 2, “And many were
gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he
was preaching the word to them.” Can you imagine this setting;
these town folks invaded the home where Jesus was staying to the extent no one
could come or go, and no one else could get in the house.
That’s when four
guys showed up, Scripture only tells us it was four men, would you want four
friends like these men. They have a friend who is a paralytic and the
four of them picked up his bed and brought him to Jesus, but they had a
problem, no one was going to give up their place to let him in to see Jesus.
Now I bet these
guys were in sales, the key to being good at selling is persistence, if one
knows a door closed they then look for other ways to get to the man, often the
buyer is referred as, “the man.” One thing I know I want friends like
these guys, they put action to their faith and were not going to take no for an
answer. This is Mark’s account; “And they
came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not
get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when
they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And
when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
The religious guys
in the room said to themselves, he said what? No one but God alone can
forgive sin, and they were right on, with one small problem, they did not know
God or that His Son was in the room with them. Let’s examine verses 6-12,
“Now some of the scribes were sitting there,
questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is
blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus,
perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to
them, “Why do you question these things in your
hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or
to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed 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 say
to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them
all so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw
anything like this!”
How often are we
like the scribes, when God shows up and does something that does not fit our
religious expectations? Let me
clue you in, no matter what place your finite mind has put the LORD in, He is
never going to fit, for He is bigger and grander than one's mind can imagine.
From the Back
Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment