By Ben McEachenThursday 9 Jan 2025Real Hope – The PodcastFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 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. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 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. Mark 2:3–12b (NIV)
Key points
- I get why some have trouble accepting miracles.
- The even bigger deal is God’s unbelievable-but-true miracle of dealing with our wrong.
- Listen to the ‘Miracles of Jesus’ series and others on Real Hope | The Podcast.
I get why some have trouble accepting miracles.
They just seem too, well, unbelievable.
But how much more unbelievable is someone who can forgive sins?
Learned onlookers rightly objected about Jesus’ healing of a paralysed man: ‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’
I get why some have trouble accepting miracles.
I love the contrast here between natural and supernatural miracles.
Personally, I don’t doubt miracles occur.
In God’s grand scheme of things, why not?
The even bigger deal is God’s unbelievable-but-true miracle of dealing with our wrong.
The even bigger deal is God’s unbelievable-but-true miracle of dealing with our wrong.
Such an enormous, eternal problem only could be solved by God.
And then Jesus shows up, His physical healings confirming divine authority and power.
The sort only God alone has.
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Episode supplied with thanks to Ben McEachen
Originally published as ‘Miracles of Jesus: Healing the Paralytic’ in Real Hope, November 2024