5: 17-26 As Jesus would teach from village to village, Pharisees (Jews who focused only on the law of Moses) and teachers of the Jewish law (called Scribes, who functioned as lawyers who worked closely with the Pharisees) seemed to always be sitting nearby. They had heard about Jesus’s teachings and all the healing that he had been doing and decided that he needed to be observed carefully. God’s healing power was very strong within Jesus. Some men were carrying around their paralyzed friend on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside where Jesus was teaching, but there were too many people. They went up to the roof instead, took of some tiles and lowered their friend down right in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Jesus saw the faith they had in the actions they took for their friend and said, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and religious teachers questioned one another about what Jesus had just done saying, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” To them, when Jesus told the man his sin’s were forgiven, he was essentially acting as if he were God, which in their minds was a serious offense. They did not see Jesus as God, so were upset and confused when they heard him saying this.
Jesus knew what they were thinking since he knows what is our hearts. He asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk?’” Jesus decided to prove to them that he had the authority on earth to forgive sins so he turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” Immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat and went home praising God. It is much easier to say the words, “your sins are forgiven,” then to actually heal a paralytic since there is no visible proof of whether someone’s sins are actually forgiven. To demonstrate to the Pharisees, scribes and the crowd that he had the power to do the invisible miracle of forgiving sins, Jesus performed the visible miracle of healing the paralytic.
Everyone (including the Pharisees and Scribes) who saw this was left with amazement, wonder and awe. They praised God saying, “We have seen amazing things today!” No one could deny what they had seen; however, submitting to Jesus and what he was teaching was something that even after witnessing the miracles he performed, some still had a hard time doing. I can’t tell you how many times on my search for something that I felt was missing, God pricked my heart and I witnessed some amazing things, but still had a very hard time with the concept of Jesus being the Son of God and dying for my sins. I just could not wrap my head around it. I wanted to understand things from a logical perspective, using my mind. I wanted proof. I wanted to see to believe – and even after I saw, I kept asking for more proof. What I have found is the proof that I was looking for did not come from my mind, but rather from my heart. I just had to get myself out of the way and listen. God was trying to talk to me, but my pride kept getting in the way. I had so many facades I put up that got in the way of listening. I’m too busy, I need for things to slow down before I can listen. I’m struggling and need to get back on my feet before I can listen. Others have done bad things to me and I need to write those wrongs before I can listen. The list goes on and on.
I had two very challenging situations happen within months of each other that put me over the top. God had pricked my heart a few years earlier and I had already made a commitment to him to read through the Bible, attend church for a year and be baptized in the church. I am very stubborn though, and spent that first year trying to find some kind of loophole that could get me out of that commitment. I knew something would come up at the church I was attending; I would disagree with something that was preached or said by the members and as a result, I would feel judged and misunderstood, which would give me an out of the commitment that I made. I was really good at running away when things began to feel uncomfortable.
After all the attempts God made over the years to get me to listen (I don’t know how many tries, or trials, there were. I just know there were A LOT!), I finally got to the point where I recognized that what I was doing to get through life was not working and I needed help. I remember hearing “STOP and LISTEN,” so I did. Looking from the outside in, it would be easy to pick a few of the amazing things I have experienced over the years and make a connection that they came from God and with those experiences should have come a submission to Jesus, but for some reason, I just could not do that, and I don’t know why, other than I’m just very stubborn and heard headed!