December 11, 2023

Mark 2: 3-6 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man . . . they made an opening in the roof above Jesus . . . 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?” (NIV) 

I have seen people get upset about things that don’t seem to bother the Lord at all, while nonchalantly shrugging their shoulders over matters the Lord considers crucially important.*

In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey makes a wry and astute observation about the teachers of the law who were in Jesus’ audience that day: “In typical fashion, the religious experts started arguing about Jesus' right to forgive sins, all the while ignoring the disabled man lying in the debris.”* Whether Jesus could or couldn’t forgive sins, it made no difference to what they witnessed there in that house: miraculous healing.

This story reminds me of the words of Tony Campolo, another author and speaker: “While you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. . . most of you don't give a ****. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said **** than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”* I don’t know if Mr. Campolo’s stats are accurate but his commentary on our priorities is spot-on. Just like the teachers of the law who judged Jesus, we obsess over the least important things and leave the most important lying in the debris.

Notice that I said least important, not unimportant. The teachers of the law were not wrong to be concerned about blasphemy, and Mr. Campolo’s audience should have been shocked by his use of a “bad word.” But Jesus demonstrated in every miracle and every sermon that meeting humanity’s physical and emotional needs is the doorway to meeting their spiritual needs. The man in the story needed to be healed and forgiven. While we might argue that forgiveness is more important than healing, Jesus seemed to give them equal weight, as it was only through meeting physical needs that he was able to show the compassion that should be the hallmark of every one of his followers.

He said no to the important in order to say yes to the vital. He said no to a good opportunity in order to say yes to a better opportunity.*