The miracle In Mark 2 is just amazing to me. Jesus forgave the sins of a paralysed man because of his friends.
(You may remember, they broke through the roof of the house Jesus was in so that they could lower their friend in)
Then, because of the religious leaders harrumphing in the crowd over the first miracle, Jesus also did a second miracle and healed the man.
The friends had Faith and brought their friend to the feet of Jesus… but Jesus knew what he actually needed: Forgiveness and the release from the bindings of his sin, and gave that to the paralysed man. (The man’s actual healing seems to be a side issue according to Mark and Luke…)
What I love about this is how friends can take you to the feet of Christ, and God will honour that, even though they were completely wrong in their reasoning!
Isn’t that just absolutely beautiful? Isn’t that perfectly in God’s Character? “Hey God, our friend is broken, can you fix his legs?”
Without rebuke, or correction, or even a challenge, He saw their heart and intention… He took their Faith, took their trust, and fixed the right thing, his sin, and bondage to sin.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
(Mark 2:5 NIV)
I think it fits…
Even if we come to God with the wrong thing, the coming to God is the right thing, because once there, God can shape us, and grow us, and show us a more excellent way…
“A bruised reed He will not break
and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out”
(Is 42:3, NIV)
