17 One day Jesus was teaching in a house, and the healing power of the Lord was with Him. Pharisees and religious scholars were sitting and listening, having come from villages all across the regions of Galilee and Judea and from the holy city of Jerusalem.
18 Some men came to the house, carrying a paralyzed man on his bed pallet. They wanted to bring him in and present him to Jesus, 19 but the house was so packed with people that they couldn’t get in. So they climbed up on the roof and pulled off some roof tiles. Then they lowered the man by ropes so he came to rest right in front of Jesus.
20 In this way, their faith was visible to Jesus.
Jesus (to the man on the pallet): My friend, all your sins are forgiven.
21 The Pharisees and religious scholars were offended at this. They turned to one another and asked questions.
Pharisees and Religious Scholars: Who does He think He is? Wasn’t that blasphemous? Who can pronounce that a person’s sins are forgiven? Who but God alone?
Jesus (responding with His own question): 22 Why are your hearts full of questions? 23 Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up and walk”? 24 Just so you’ll know that the Son of Man is fully authorized to forgive sins on earth (He turned to the paralyzed fellow lying on the pallet), I say, get up, take your mat, and go home.
25 Then, right in front of their eyes, the man stood up, picked up his bed, and left to go home—full of praises for God! 26 Everyone was stunned. They couldn’t help but feel awestruck, and they praised God too.
People: We’ve seen extraordinary things today.
Terrie's Comments:
Faith is always accompanied by action. If this man's friends would not have believed that Jesus would heal their friend they would not have gone to such great lengths to get him in front of Jesus. Does our faith cause us to run to Jesus right away with our problems? What is our first response when problems come up in our lives? Do we try to solve problems on our own? Do we only approach the throne of God when all of our attempts to take care of the problem on our own have failed?
Tori's Comments:
Sometimes I get blown away by the healing in this passage, amazed by the miracle and how the Pharisees must have looked. But Jesus Himself inferred that the real miracle in this passage, the statement that really should have blown me away is that the man's sins were forgiven. That alone was worth all the trouble these men went to to come to Jesus. Do I meditate on this truth enough? I feel as though I should be living in this sense of "blown away" by God's grace more than I am, that I should dwell in the beauty of Christ's death and resurrection.
We have a praise music list that we add to on a regular basis. You can find the link to it in the right hand column of this blog or by scrolling to the bottom of this page.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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