J 3 S U S R3NEGADE
Mark 2: The Paralytic Healed
Even before the outset of writing this, I was thinking through how Jesus ‘departs’ from the belief of the day, and even then He is quoted as saying that He did not come to abolish the law, but was to actually fulfill it. That thought alone then made me think that humans were the ones who depart from what was supposed to be intended, but when Jesus steps onto the scene his departing of the day’s beliefs is actually a coming back to what is supposed to be. Jesus being a Renegade sets the example for us to return to what works.
That was just a random thought process. Let’s look at Mark 2 and how Jesus addresses the entirety of the person and not just the physical.
We have the paralytic who is being carried by his friends to where Jesus is preaching which is in a house. That house is so crowded that the people carrying their friend can’t make it to Jesus in a conventional way.
Desperately trying to reach Him, they go to the rooftop where they then decide to keep digging until they breach the roof and give the owner a brand new and unwanted skylight.
They lower the man down to where Jesus is addressing the townspeople.
“Seeing their faith” Jesus honors them and rewards the faith of the paralytic in an unconventional way to meet what they did. Instead of putting his hands on him and saying he is healed, he instead addresses his spiritual state, his sins.
“Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Then commands the man to get up, pick up his pallet, and go home.
First, it was the man’s spiritual state that Jesus needed to heal. Keep in mind that all ‘sin’ means is ‘miss the mark.’
This can open a different debate on whether sins cause physical distress, which is not the focal point of this devotional, but apparently in this example whatever the paralytic did impact his physical health.
Here is what is interesting, is that it's the man’s mind that gets addressed.
When Jesus commands Him to “get up” the man had a choice. He could have chosen to not believe and just laid there. There was no physical evidence presented to the man who had not been able to move from his bed for what is assumed to be a long time.
Secondly, Jesus commanded him to pick up the pallet that he came in on. That man hasn’t been able to pick up his arms let alone his own bed. Again, there is another choice he had to make: believe or not.
Lastly, Jesus commanded him to go home. This is rather tragically hysterical which earns him the name “The Bad Leper.” He had a choice to do what Jesus said or not. Unfortunately, he doesn’t.
When Jesus encounters the man his physical state does not get addressed first, it is the last thing to get healed.
As we explore the people that Jesus heals, we’ll see long before the health industry came along to try to bring healing into people’s lives, Jesus was trying to show us that we were trying to draw a triangle with only one line.
Something that also bears addressing is the paralytic’s community. When the man was down and out he still had people around him to take him to Jesus. They carry him physically. No SUV, no Urgent Care, no ambulance. People who wanted the best for their friend.
Here are your challenges:
In what ways does your spiritual life need healing before your physical?
What choices are you making that are keeping you in the same place (ie keeping you on your pallet)? Are you believing in the same old thing, or are you willing to believe in someone new?
Who are the people that are willing to carry you when you’re down and out? Try to name 4 (one for each side of the pallet)
