2/7/25 Bible Thought
Great Faith in a Greater Savior
We saw at the outset of Mark’s Gospel that the Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry with the proclamation that, “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:14) and immediately we read of some of the results of His coming. The inbreaking of the Kingdom has brought healing from disease and forgiveness of sins. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ began a reversal of the consequences of the fall, and eventually this will be complete when there is a new creation, “in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). Yet, that final day remains awaited and as such all of humanity throughout history has endured a world filled with imperfections. We see this throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry especially as there are many that are sick, dying, and spiritually lost.
In the midst of this broken world comes one of my favorite stories in the Gospels. In Mark 2, a group of men bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. As Jesus’ popularity spread, audiences grew more crowded. One day, these men with incredible faith knew that if they could just get their friend to Jesus, he could be healed. They had great faith in an even greater Savior. With standing room only and a full house, no one stood a chance at getting to Jesus by ordinary means, so they go for something extraordinary. Ascending the roof, they begin to dismantle the thatched roof in order to lower their paralyzed friend into the presence of Jesus before a watching crowd. We can certainly imagine that these guys would agree with the Apostle James’ conclusion that, “faith apart from works is dead” (Jas. 2:26). Their faith-filled response to Jesus left no doubt as to whether or not they’d believed His message of a coming Kingdom.
What is truly amazing though, is that these guys get more than they bargained for. They’re hoping to get their friend healed so that he could walk, but the man leaves with something far greater than working legs. He leaves with forgiveness from sin. In that day of Jewish thought, many would conclude, “the paralysis was a consequence of some sin.”[1] Now, we know from Jesus’ own teaching that this was not always the case (see John 9:3) but certainly it could have been. For we must remember that all sickness and suffering in the world are consequences of the fall.
In response to their great faith, Jesus displays that He isn’t just a miracle-worker, but He is a sin-forgiver. This is something the religious people thought was blasphemous. No one can forgive sins, except God alone! Fortunately, Jesus is no mere man. To prove His own divine authority, the Lord Jesus pronounces forgiveness and then heals the man. With this, the paralytic’s physical healing ends up becoming secondary to the spiritual healing he needed most. Truly, forgiveness of sin is a far greater miracle than physical healing. Doctors can help you feel better from all sorts of natural maladies. In the modern era, they can even do a natural heart transplant! But even this most amazing advancement in medicine is far surpassed by the spiritual transplant of a heart of flesh to replace what was once a heart of stone (see Ez. 36:26).
I’m sure all of us have something in our physical bodies that we would change if we could. An ache or pain, an illness or disease, or something far more serious. All of us live in a world suffering the consequences of the fall to some extent. Many people pray for physical healing from God. At times, in His grace, He answers these pleas, or He provides answers through the hands of physicians. But let’s not lose sight of the greatest healing that He accomplishes in us. With the coming Kingdom comes forgiveness of sins, which is the greatest need that we all have, no matter how sick or well we are naturally. We serve a Savior who came not just as a miracle-worker, but as a sin-forgiver and a lost-person-seeker.
[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 219.