January 12: Mark 2

The healing of the paralytic in Mark 2(:1-12) is well known. I've read the story a hundred times, but today something caught my attention. The crowd was pressing in hard on Jesus, because he was "preaching the word to them" (2:2). Jesus was being mobbed because he was preaching, and his message was "repent and believe in the gospel" (1:15). The crowd's perspective was right: Jesus had the words of true life, and they were climbing on top of one another just to hear them. 

The fact that Jesus says to the paralytic, "your sins are forgiven," probably tells us something about the sermon Jesus was preaching. Jesus wasn't just telling the crowd to "repent," but was promising forgiveness too. And here he had the chance to make his preaching come alive with a real life example. "This man's sins are forgiven; the kingdom of God is at hand!" 

The Pharisees try to rain on Jesus's gracious parade, but he'll have none of it. His question to them (2:9) is rhetorical: of course it's easier to say "your sins are forgiven" because you can't see that. It's a lot harder to tell a lame man to get up and walk when there's a crowd, because they're going to expect something to happen. But he proves forgiveness with the miracle. The point isn't the miracle, but what the miracle points to: sin is forgiven! 

Forgiveness often feels humdrum to me. Miracles are rare, but forgiveness is always waiting for you. But Jesus's miracles flow from and point to forgiveness. Sin ruined the world and made miraculous healing necessary in the first place. Sin is THE problem at the root of all others. I can get caught up in fixing the surface problems in my life—bank account, kids' behavior, marital disharmony—but forget that what creates these problems is sin. And sin's antidote is Jesus. 

At the end of everything, Jesus will set everything right and heal all the paralytics because he has taken care of sin. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4). The former things are tainted by sin (and I live in the midst of them), but Jesus is "making all things new" (Rev. 21:5), and that started with forgiveness. 

I am forgiven. And in some way, that's connected to the elimination of cancer, the establishment of perfect social justice, the eradication of economic scarcity, the end of war, famine, disease and death. None of that could be possible without forgiveness. All is certain because of it.