Spoken and eternally blessed

Mark 2:1-12

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Lately, I’ve been arrested by the statement in verse 5. I’m sure we’ve heard it all before that the paralysed man’s sins were not the reason people brought him before Jesus, but his sins were the real reason he needed to be in the presence of Jesus. But we shouldn’t let the weight of this statement pass us by; sin removal in an Old Testament framework is ritualistic, with multiple steps and appropriate times.

For Jesus to come out and say this in one step is wild. It also makes sense for the teachers of the law to get upset, he’s upstaged them in one sentence! But words don’t seem as powerful as taking the life of another being, right? Well, words from God are.

As I said earlier, this weight should not be lost on us. God in Jesus wiping the slate clean just like that. And this story isn’t just about one interaction with one man; it is a taste of the heart of God to wash us clean and make us white as snow in an instant. That is so powerful and profound, we shouldn’t lose the impact of this eternal blessing.

Written by Nick Molteno