Walk in New Life

For Reference, read Mark 2:1-12, Mathew 9:1-7 and Luke 5:17-26

The other day, I was at church for a morning ladies Bible study. We always sit at tables to aid in discussion. The morning started with everyone singing worship songs. When everyone stood up to sing, the woman next to me joked, “Stand up, Emily.”

I want to emphasize, I know it was a good-natured joke. However, I can’t help thinking about times in Scripture when saying those words to a lame person actually had power. One in particular comes to mind. The story of the paralytic lowered through the roof to Jesus. It’s found in all three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. I love how the Mark account says that it was impossible to get the paralyzed man through the door:

Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

(Mark 2:2-5, NKJV)

I don’t understand why we give up so easily. I am guilty of it. We all have family members and friends who need to meet Jesus. Maybe they need emotional or physical healing. When there’s obstacles in the way, it’s easy to let doubt grow. I have done it while waiting for my healing. The problem is, doubt can’t co-exist with faith. While we can sit in doubt, faith requires action! In the book of James, this point is driven home.

If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

(James 2:16-17, NIV)

The men who made a hole in the roof and lowered the man to Jesus took action on their faith that Jesus can save and heal. They didn’t just tell this man, “Jesus can heal you” and wait around. These men worked to get him to Jesus and didn’t give up. They were not disappointed.

Jesus didn’t stop with forgiving the man. Forgiveness was the first step to full healing. The story continued with some teachers of the Law challenging Jesus in their hearts.

“There’s no way this man has the power to forgive sins. Only God can do that!”

I love Jesus’ response!

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? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 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!” 

(Mark 2:8-12, NIV)

Jesus revealed His divinity to the doubters in the crowd by forgiving and healing this man. He had a desire to do that then and He still does now. The book of Hebrews makes this clear:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

(Hebrews 13:8, NIV)

Jesus fully removed the curse of sin in this man’s life. You see, the Jews believed that sin manifested itself in physical deformities like paralysis. Therefore, Jesus removed that sin by forgiving this man. Then He removed the symbol of that sin by healing him! He wanted everyone to know that He has the power and the authority to make anyone a new creation and give them abundant life.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

(2 Corinthians 5:16-17, NLT)

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

(Jesus, John 10:10, NLT)

When Jesus healed the paralyzed man, the people were amazed. I’m sure it wasn’t just the people who saw it happen who marveled. Anyone who saw this man walking after that must have been blown away too!

So let’s believe that Jesus will still do this now! This is no joke. He wants all who are sick and dead in sin to rise and walk in new life!

Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
 He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

(Psalm 103:2-5, NLT)

(Scriptures are from the New King James Version, New International Version and New Living Translation of the Bible. Links courtesy of biblegateway.com)