Seen Faith – Mark 2:5

Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Sometimes I get lost in conversations. This is especially true when someone brings me into the conversation part way through. I don’t know the topic, I don’t know who is being talked about, and I have no context. As a result I am lost. I could smile and just give little verbal nudges that move the conversation along, but all the while I am desperately listening for clues that will lead to the lightbulb moment.

When I read a novel, It takes me a while to put the names together with the character. I often have to ask myself, “Who is this speaking?” After a few chapters I usually get them sorted out. And so reads the saga of someone with ADHD. Those details just seem to slip from my mind. It takes repeated bombardments for them to stick.

Sometimes when I read Scripture I get lost as well. Like with today’s text. Where does Jesus get forgiveness of sins from being lowered through the roof on a sleeping mat? I don’t hear that request at all in those actions. I seems as though Jesus misses the mark on their request.

So let’s back up and let ourselves hear this passage in a new way. Jesus has returned to His own part of Israel. He has ventured to the Jordan River for baptism and then to the desert for the temptations. Mark’s Gospel is action packed, so all the birth narratives and other details included in the other Gospels are left out. But Jesus has returned “home.”

The crowds have gathered again, this time packing the house where He has chosen to meet. It is so packed, no one can move in or out. Shoulder to shoulder, everyone straining to hear and get a glimpse. They all want to be in on the excitement that they know will happen.

But then comes some unnamed men carrying their friend. They know Jesus can help, so their faith compels them to get creative. They scope the place out and they can’t do a direct entry, so they climb the outside stairs of the house and get up on the flat roof. Then they start digging through the mud and sticks. Can you imagine the dust filling the room below. Yikes!

Jesus has probably had to stop talking as the dust falls, sticks and bits of straw as well. And then the mat is lowered with the man on it. This was not a pretty operation. The man was paralyzed, so he didn’t have control over his legs. They probably flopped as the mat was lowered.

And the first thing Jesus says isn’t about his physical condition, but about the man’s sin. I might have turned to those gathered and said something like, “You see this effort these men are making on behalf of their friend. This is the kind of effort I am making on your behalf. I will die for your sins and come back to life.” But Jesus didn’t say this.

But Jesus knew there were those in the audience who were determined to reject what He said and did, so He points His interaction in a certain direction. He nails them to the wall. Jesus does the seemingly harder, the actual physical healing, in order to demonstrate that He has the ability to do the invisible, the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus always seems to be one step ahead of His opponents. We should be one step ahead as well. We know the outcome. We should be able to direct our lives in that direction. We should be saying “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to the LORD. We can know what God’s will is, so we should be inclining our hearts in His direction, even when circumstances seem opposed to His will.