THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
Opening Prayer
Jehovah Jireh, thank you for all of the things you are to me. Thank you that my every need is met in you.
Read MARK 2:1–12
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers 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 paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “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 this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 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!”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is the condition of your heart as you come to Jesus? Anxious, happy, peaceful, in pain? You can invite his Holy Spirit to come and minister to you now.Up to this point in Jesus’ ministry, he had been healing the sick and casting out demons. Remarkable acts—but not unheard of in first-century Jerusalem. Now, as Jesus stood over this paralyzed man, everyone around him was watching, expecting to see his physical ailment healed. But Jesus identified a sickness far deeper and in more urgent need of attention than his paralysis— namely, this man’s spiritual sickness. Rather than first speaking words of physical healing, Jesus pronounced his sins as forgiven (v. 5).
The teachers of the law were incredulous because they knew Jesus had just proclaimed himself as one with God (vv. 6, 7), which, if true, made him Messiah. Everything they had built and lived for— their position, their status—was under threat. Jesus knew what they were thinking and challenged their hard and resistant hearts (v. 9). As the man walked home, he was living and breathing evidence that Messiah had come. God’s kingdom was breaking in to make a sin-sick world right once more, and to restore those who would receive Jesus as Lord back to the Father.
Apply
CS Lewis pointed out that you cannot say Jesus is a great moral teacher without acknowledging him as Lord.* Are there ways in which you accept Jesus as friend, healer, counselor, but resist his lordship?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, please show me any place in me where I am not accepting the lordship of Jesus. Lead me to repentance and help me to surrender to him completely.
*C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Harper One, 2023)
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