Mark 1-3

Good evening fellow Bible bloggers, we made it through the first book! On to Mark...

Mark 2: 1-12
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.  So many were gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.  Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that?  He's blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  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?  Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..."  He said to the paralytic,  "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."  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!"

I have always enjoyed this story in the Bible.  I can't help but wonder if the owner of the house gave these guys permission to "dig through" to make an opening in the roof of their house!  Seems like a pretty bold move to me.  But the faith of these men is incredible.  They would do anything to get their friend to Jesus, even destroy someone's roof.  Their faith of these men is something to strive for!  And then, after all that, Jesus' response was that this man's sins are forgiven!  I bet that was kind of a let down for this man, who was hoping so badly that if he could just get to Jesus, he would be able to walk again (little did they know just how important that statement actually was!)  Jesus had a plan though; he knew the thoughts of the teachers of the law, and that this was the best way to get through to them.  So to prove his authority, he then heals the paralytic.  Talk about good fortune for this guy,  he walks again AND his sins are forgiven!  There have been times in my life where I want something so bad, and I am  praying about it, but then it turns out differently than I expected.  Often I will get disappointed by this, but Jesus has a plan and just like the paralytic man and his friends, we need to have great faith that God's will and timing are much better than what we can conceive.