Deep Healing

Deep Healing

Mark 2:2-12, NLT

Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” 6But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7“What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 8Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11“Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 12And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers.

Setting the Scene

Meditating on this story allows us to marvel over the ingenuity, friendship, and trust displayed by the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus.

It helps to know a little about house architecture in the Middle East. This was likely a mud-brick home with a flat roof made out of grass-reinforced mud laid over a lathwork of tree trunks and branches. Roofs in this part of the world often did double duty as elevated decks removed from the dust and heat of the street level. Faced with a wall-to-wall crowd in the house and limited access to the doorways, the friends devised a desperate plan. They would go up on the roof, figure out where Jesus was standing below, punch a hole through the rafters, and lower their friend in front of the Lord.

Imagine the scene indoors. Those listening to Jesus began to notice sounds overhead, and then pieces of the ceiling started to rain down. Moments later, an opening appeared and a stretcher was lowered. The crowd, driven back by the debris, had cleared a landing area.

Looking down at the man clearly in need of one kind of healing, Jesus chose instead to offer him first a deeper healing—the forgiveness of sins! Some religious experts accused him of blasphemy, since if he claimed to be able to forgive sins he claimed to be God. Of course, that is exactly who Jesus is.

Jesus added significance to his statement of forgiveness. He knew talk was cheap unless he could back it up with action—which he did by freeing the man to skip home joyfully!

Getting Personal

How have you personally experienced Jesus’ healing power?

At what point in your life did you understand that “your sins are forgiven”?

Jesus honored the faith of those friends. The paralysis of sin is the most debilitating human disease, and people all around us are walking by with the symptoms every day. How much trouble are we willing to undertake to get our friends to Jesus?

Talking to God

Express your gratitude to God for the healing you have personally received from him, sometimes at great cost to himself. Ask him to help you extend the grace you’ve received to those around you who also need his healing.