Thursday, January 19, 2012
The
Heart of The Healer
Mark
1: 40 – 2:12
40 A man with leprosy
came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me
clean.”
41 Filled with
compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,”
he said. “Be
clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was
cured.
43 Jesus sent him away
at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But
go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded
for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead
he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus
could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet
the people still came to him from everywhere.
Mark
2
1 A few days later,
when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2
So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he
preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a
paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him
to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus
and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of
the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this
fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus
knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and
he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is
easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up,
take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the
paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed
everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
I
love these two stories because they not only show the power and authority of
Jesus but they also reveal His heart.
Jesus was moved with compassion as he healed the leper. Jesus let him
know that he was willing that he should be clean. Leprosy brought anguish at all levels:
physical, mental, social and religious. It serves as a powerful picture of sin
in our own lives. Jesus was touched by
the dilemma of this man and moved toward him with power and compassion to heal
him. Jesus instructs the healed leper to show himself to the priest first (in
keeping with the Law), before telling anyone. The sad part of this story is
that the leper disobeys the words of Jesus.
What a lesson for all of us! We can be touched by Christ’s power and
compassion and disobey His words.
In
the next story we find Jesus back in Capernaum preaching the Word. A paralyzed man was put in front of Jesus by
four caring friends. Jesus saw their
faith and forgave the man’s sins. This caused a big stir among the teachers of
the law. So Jesus heals the man of
paralysis so that the teachers of the law would know that Jesus has authority
to forgive sins. I see a few lessons from these two stories that I hope you
reflect on today.
1)
Having my heart healed is more important than physical healing. Jesus makes it clear that the most important
thing in life is to be forgiven of our sins and He had the authority to do
that. It’s more important than being
healed of sickness or being rich or being popular. As followers of Christ, we need to make the
main thing the main thing. People need the forgiveness of Christ.
2)
Jesus can see faith. He saw the faith of these four friends who did all they
could to get this paralyzed man in front of Jesus. Faith can be demonstrated and should be
demonstrated. How will Christ see faith in me today?
3)
Jesus touched the untouchable because he was moved with compassion. His heart
was for the hurting. Is ours?
Prayer:
Thank you Jesus for having a heart of compassion. May I have the compassion and
the faith to see people like you see them and to help them like you did. Amen.
Comments:
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It's interesting how our faith in God can benefit someone we present to Jesus in faith believing that He can make them whole.
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