Monday, April 10, 2017

new life - inside and out

 
"But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Mark 2:10-12

The power of Jesus over the worst affliction of humanity is shown for us in this account of the healing of the paralyzed man in Capernaum. There were five men with an unstoppable faith in Jesus that day. The paralyzed man wanted to see Jesus. And four friends found a way to literally break through the crowd to get him there. They broke through the roof of the house where Jesus had a crowd around Him and lowered their friend down to meet Jesus. He would never be the same after that.

Jesus saw not just a paralyzed man in need on that mat, but He saw great faith despite huge deficits. And Jesus chose to address the man's biggest paralysis first: his need for salvation from sin. Jesus matter-of-factly issues forgiveness to this man based on his faith and the faithfulness of his friends. This started to cause a stir among the few religious leaders in the room, so Jesus "backs up" His authority to forgive sinful paralysis by unilaterally healing the man's physical paralysis. And as the man got to his feet, pulled up his stretcher, and made his way out the door that once was his obstacle to Jesus, the healed man's new life was testimony to all the power of Jesus to heal body and soul as God can do.

The crowd has witnessed the new life-giving power of Jesus. No wonder they are amazed. No one has ever been able to do what Jesus just did... forgive sin without conditions, and heal broken people completely. The praises rang out to God as Jesus brought new life. And this still happens today as people come to Jesus and believe the gospel. They are given new life. They are no longer crippled by sin, but free to follow the commands of their Lord and Savior, walking in a new forgiven life!

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