Forgiveness Forgotten
Photo by David Murray Chambers on Unsplash
“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
Two weeks ago, my grandfather passed away--it was one of the saddest experiences of my life. Until I actually experienced an encounter with death, I didn’t understand the gravity of life itself. Far too often we take life for granted, both the lives around us and our own lives.
In the midst of the heartache I have felt from his passing, I have been coming up against numerous trials. Facing so many trials at once, I feel as if I’ve been targeted. Like Peter in Matthew 14:30, I find myself turning away from Jesus and focusing on the storm around me. But have I lost sight of my biggest issue?
Mark 2:1-12 is one of those passages you hear over and over in Sunday school. The scene sets up with Jesus in a town called Capernaum. Everyone there was so excited to see Him that even the door was crowded. Enter a group of four men carrying a paralyzed man. Upon seeing the crowd, the four men carry the paralytic to the roof and lower him down to Jesus. (That takes an awful lot of guts and faith!) Then Jesus heals the paralytic and everyone goes home happy, right? WRONG! Before even addressing the issue of paralysis, Jesus first addresses the man’s deepest issue.
“ And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” (v. 5)
Only after forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins does Jesus mercifully grant him healing. So why did Jesus first address the issue of sin? Wouldn’t the man be just as quick to believe if Jesus had simply healed him? Maybe so, but Jesus knew that the man’s struggle went much deeper than an illness. Our issues also go further beyond illness. They start in the heart; they begin with sin.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
All of our problems are rooted in our deepest problem, and that’s sin. Thanks be to God who gives us victory over sin and death through Christ Jesus our Lord! Just as Jesus knew that the paralytic man’s deepest issue was sin, His sacrifice shows that He will provide for our deepest issue of sin. In light of Jesus’s sacrifice for our deepest struggle (sin), we might realize that our troubles are just momentary, as seen in 2 Corinthians 4:17. We have victory in Christ over our deepest struggle against sin, and so we may rejoice in trouble because our God is our Redeemer.