Bible Story: Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26
Throughout the entirety of Jesus’s ministry, people were curious about him. He quickly gained a reputation for being an excellent teacher with an uncommon ability to heal people. Because of Jesus’s reputation, crowds were known to gather around him when he began to teach. In this context, the account of the paralyzed man takes place.
The Bible says that four men carried a paralyzed man on a mat. They intended to get close to Jesus so he could heal the man. However, the crowd that surrounded Jesus made it nearly impossible for the paralyzed man’s friends to get him close to Jesus. If the paralyzed man were going to get to Jesus, they would have to get very creative, which is exactly what they did. The man’s friends carried him to the top of the house, tore a hole in the roof, and lowered him down in front of Jesus.
The Bible says that Jesus saw their faith through their actions. They wanted the man to be healed, but Jesus did something unexpected. Instead of healing the man, Jesus told him that his sins were forgiven. This made the Pharisees furious because they believed that only God could forgive sins. Even though the Pharisees were angry, they said nothing, but Jesus knew what they were thinking. He called them out for their unbelief and the evil in their hearts.
Jesus knew there were many believers in the crowd, but he also knew there were many people who were critical of him. So he took this opportunity as a teaching lesson to show everyone just how powerful he was. He did not heal the man instantly but told him that his sins were forgiven. That got everyone’s attention, even though some doubted. But then, Jesus proved that he had the power to forgive sins by healing the man as well. He told him to get up and walk, and immediately the man regained feeling in his legs and started to jump around and praise God.
In one single act, Jesus proved to everyone watching that he had authority over everything, physical and everything spiritual. Up to this point, Jesus’s followers only saw the physical side of his ministry, but Jesus wanted to reveal the spiritual side as well. This is another example of how Jesus wants us to look past the physical and see the big picture spiritually. Yes, healing a paralyzed man is amazing. The formerly paralyzed man would live the rest of his life able to walk and do things just like everyone else. But that was not the biggest miracle in his life. The biggest miracle is that his sins were forgiven. Because his sins were forgiven, he would reap those benefits for eternity, not just a lifetime. The physical healing is nice, but the spiritual forgiveness is much better.
The amazing part of this story is that Jesus offers us the same forgiveness he offered the paralyzed man. We all have sin that makes our life dirty, sin that paralyzes us spiritually. But Jesus offers forgiveness. There is only one thing we must do to receive Jesus’s forgiveness. It is the same thing the paralyzed man did; we must put our faith in Jesus to save us. When Jesus sees our faith in him, he not only heals us physically but also forgives us spiritually.
Key Takeaways:
Jesus Heals
Jesus Forgives
Jesus Gives Eternal Life
Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be learning about Jesus healing the paralyzed man this Sunday, both in-person and online.
Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.
To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit