Jesus is a Straight Shooter, For Our Joy
- Grace B-P Contributor
- Mar 7
- 2 min read
By Joni Eareckson Tada
And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
— Mark 2:4-5
What great friends this helpless man had to have gone to such great lengths to get him before Jesus! Ostensibly, they seek his physical healing. And Jesus delivers that, but not at first. Jesus says to the man first, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Why? Is it because the man’s sin was the cause of his paralysis? I don’t think so. Jesus himself speaks against such notions elsewhere (John 9:1-3; Luke 13:4).
Why? Is it because the man’s sin was the cause of his paralysis? I do).
Think of how many times in prayer or study we bring a problem or issue to the Lord, and they are not things he won’t deal with or address, but they amount to subterfuges, conscious or unconscious, on our part from the real matters of our hearts. We often present things for Jesus to
heal other than what he really means to get at in us. We love for Jesus to fix our circumstances and our pains, but we often don’t want him doing the invasive surgery his gospel is designed for. So we pile up the fig leaves.
What Jesus first says to the paralyzed man presented before him tells us that there are far worse things than being paralyzed all your life. And there are far better things than being healthy all your life.
Jesus gave the man the greatest gift he could receive: eternal pardon. The rest was gravy. Suppose Jesus had only healed the man’s body but not his soul? He might’ve danced until his dying day and then suffered for all eternity. Now suppose Jesus had not ladled that circumstantial miracle upon the eternal one, what would have happened? The man would have lived out his days still paralyzed, only to die and emerge in the resurrection to come with dancing legs he could never imagine.
When Jesus heals us physically and blesses us circumstantially, he is providing signposts to the scope of his atoning work, to the resurrection to come and the infinite bliss of the Lamb-lit new heaven and earth. He does not want us to terminate on the signs but the Signified. And this is also why he often denies us these circumstantial blessings.
The lessons Jesus teaches are hard, as they often involve great suffering, but they are for our joy, as they involve eternal life.
Article excerpt taken from The Gospel Coalition (U.S. Edition).
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