GodSprings - February 21, 2016

Do I Know That Jesus Knows?

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5 (NIV)

Little children teach us a lot about the relationship our Master shares with us. The change in season from summer to winter and winter to summer is a time when children usually get affected with cold and running nose. Our daughter Nanma too had running nose for three weeks. Have you ever seen a kid with a heinous running nose? Green, yellow; almost too gross to look at. All the world can see that Nanma needs her nose wiped. But what happens when Saumya comes at her with a napkin. She twists her head and fights; it is like she is being tortured. All she wants is for her nose to be left alone.

If little children could articulate their concept of the ideal mom I think they would say I want a mother who makes me happy; who never makes me bathe, who lets me play till I drop from exhaustion, and who feeds me only ice-cream, chocolates, and chips. But that’s not the mom they need; they need someone who gives them baths, naps, and vegetables, and who is committed to her version of what will make them happy for the rest of their lives.

I think we’re often like little children when it comes to Jesus. We want a Savior who is going to give us what we want when we want it. And who is going to leave alone the things we want left alone. But that’s not the Jesus we need and that’s not the Jesus we see in this story. In this miracle we see Jesus utterly committed to his version of the eternal happiness of this man who was brought before him for healing of his paralysis.

Every single person there knew what these men who brought the paralytic wanted, what the paralytic man himself wanted. They probably thought that Jesus would simply take the man by the hand and command him to rise and heal him on the spot. But instead Jesus said: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” This is an extraordinary statement, because what Jesus was saying to this man was essentially: “You think you know the main problem of your life, but you don’t. Your problem is not your paralysis instead it’s your guilt. You think you know what main need of life is, but you don’t. Your main need is not to be able to walk, it’s to have my grace.

We all think we know ourselves, our real problems and needs. We all have our lists of the things that are going to make life ok. Success in business, relationships, marriage, children. Achieving a certain standard of living, admiration of our peers, whatever. Jesus is audacious enough to look at a paralyzed man and say: You may be unhappy, angry and empty now because you can’t walk; but if I give you just that, you will become even more unhappy, angry and empty. I know you.  I know your real problem and your real need.

Jesus says the very same thing to you and to me. Jesus wants we trust that He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our problem; he knows our need. He is the Saviour we need. Let us trust him that He will give us what we need.