MARK 2
1And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.
THE DAY THE ROOF CAVED IN
I was a poor infirm beggar until a few days ago, I had to be carried everywhere, you see, I couldn’t walk, my friends had to carry me.
That is until last week, when I heard of this miracle teacher Jesus, who had come to our town of Capernaum, he was nearby, so I asked my friends, if we could go see him, maybe he could help me.
So, I asked my four friends to lift me onto my stretcher and take me to see Jesus. But as we got near the house where he was, the crowds were enormous, my friends had to push and shove to even move a few yards.
Eventually, we got near the door of the house, but we were told, there is no way in, it’s impossible to get anywhere near Jesus, but I really need to see him, I’m stuck on this stretcher, I cant move and I’ve been told he heals people, my last hope is HIM.
I told my friends, you must do everything to let me see Jesus, but it’s impossible they said.
Wait one of them said, what if we uncover the roof and lower you down into the house, sounds dangerous, but let’s try it, there were some roof tiles to remove but eventually they made a hole big enough for me to squeeze through.
Shouts of hold that man echoed through the house, my friends lowered me gently and my stretcher was held and there I was laid at Jesus feet, so what was this miracle worker going to do, everyone was looking at me and I was hanging on his every word.
Jesus was clearly amazed at the faith of my friends; they had done everything to get me to Jesus.
耶稣明显对我朋友们的信任感到惊奇，他们做了一切使我能够见到耶稣。
But the words out of his mouth surprised me and shocked his audience, SON THEY SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU.
My sins, but that’s not my problem I thought, I can’t walk.
The pharisees were there and Jesus went to talk to them, he exposed their hypocrisy, he knew exactly what they were thinking.
Jesus said he had the power to forgive sins, what? Only God can do that, who is this man?
He came back to me, take up your bed and walk, I felt something happening in my body, I got up and walked.
Everyone was amazed, people were in awe.
I walked home for the first time in years, people who knew me, couldn’t believe it.
The glory of this story is that Jesus has the power to forgive sins, he does this through his sacrificial work on the cross.
Jesus is the Saviour; he is the healer. Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins, why can he do this?
Because of his sacrificial death on the cross, his death was enough to satisfy God’s justice and his blood cleanses from all sin, all who believe on him are made new 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ezekiel ch 36 and I john 2:2
We are not only saved, but redeemed, adopted and sealed for the life to come, we are now sons and daughters of God. John 1:12
People have a sin problem, yes people need physical healing, but their critical need is that of a new heart, Jesus puts spiritual healing above physical healing.
A final word of thanks
The friends who brought me to Jesus, did everything to do it.
What lengths will you go to, so that your friends and family can come to Jesus?
Christian, who have you brought to Jesus, have you done everything you can to bring your friends to HIM? You need to share the gospel, tell your friends and family about him, time is short.
There are many obstacles, but nothing stopped my friends from bringing me to Jesus.
I’m so glad that they did.