I've been so helped this morning reading Tim Keller's thoughts on the healing of the paralysed man in Mark 2 (from his book King's Cross). This is what Keller says,
What were these men so determined to get from Jesus? Well, it doesn't seem at first that Jesus understands. Jesus turns to the paralysed man, and instead of saying, "Rise up, be healed," he says, "Your sins are forgiven." If this man had been from our time and place, I believe he would have said something like this: "Um, thanks, but that's not what I asked for. I'm paralysed. I've got a more immediate problem here."
But in fact Jesus knows what the man doesn't know- that he has a much bigger problem than his physical condition. Jesus is saying to him, "I understand your problems. I have seen your suffering. I'm going to get to that. But please realise that the main problem in a person's life is never his suffering; it's his sin."
I feel a constant tension in my interaction with refugees here. It can feel awkward talking about their spiritual needs when what they so obviously need is food, money, jobs, education, decent living conditions. I'm so thankful for this passage- Jesus goes deeper than their immediate needs and I shouldn't be ashamed to either!
Keller continues:
Jesus is confronting the paralytic with his main problem by driving him deep. Jesus is saying, "By coming to me and asking for only your body to be healed, you're not going deep enough".....Everyone who is paralysed naturally wants with every fibre of his being to walk....In his heart he's almost surely saying, "If only I could walk again, then I would be set for life. I'd never be unhappy, I would never complain. If only I could walk, then everything would be right." And Jesus is saying, "My son, you're mistaken." That my sound harsh, but it's profoundly true. Jesus says, "When I heal your body, if that's all I do, you'll feel you'll never be unhappy again. But wait two months, four months- the euphoria won't last. The roots of the discontent of the human heart go deep."
What were these men so determined to get from Jesus? Well, it doesn't seem at first that Jesus understands. Jesus turns to the paralysed man, and instead of saying, "Rise up, be healed," he says, "Your sins are forgiven." If this man had been from our time and place, I believe he would have said something like this: "Um, thanks, but that's not what I asked for. I'm paralysed. I've got a more immediate problem here."
But in fact Jesus knows what the man doesn't know- that he has a much bigger problem than his physical condition. Jesus is saying to him, "I understand your problems. I have seen your suffering. I'm going to get to that. But please realise that the main problem in a person's life is never his suffering; it's his sin."
I feel a constant tension in my interaction with refugees here. It can feel awkward talking about their spiritual needs when what they so obviously need is food, money, jobs, education, decent living conditions. I'm so thankful for this passage- Jesus goes deeper than their immediate needs and I shouldn't be ashamed to either!
Keller continues:
Jesus is confronting the paralytic with his main problem by driving him deep. Jesus is saying, "By coming to me and asking for only your body to be healed, you're not going deep enough".....Everyone who is paralysed naturally wants with every fibre of his being to walk....In his heart he's almost surely saying, "If only I could walk again, then I would be set for life. I'd never be unhappy, I would never complain. If only I could walk, then everything would be right." And Jesus is saying, "My son, you're mistaken." That my sound harsh, but it's profoundly true. Jesus says, "When I heal your body, if that's all I do, you'll feel you'll never be unhappy again. But wait two months, four months- the euphoria won't last. The roots of the discontent of the human heart go deep."
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