A small boat for the Master

A small boat for the Master

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. Mark 3:7-12

OBSERVATION:

The scene is at the lake of Galilee, where a large crowd eagerly follows Jesus. Imagine the chaos of the situation. Many with diseases pushing and pressing, trying to squeeze through the crowd, desperately attempting to reach Jesus. People would be shouting asking Jesus to heal them. Demons would be shrieking as they threw their demon-possessed hosts to the ground before Jesus. It certainly must have been an incredible situation to behold.

As a logical and practical measure, the Lord asks His disciples to prepare a small boat for him, so that he can space himself a little from the pressing crowd. It is from this makeshift platform that He is also able to teach them the Word of God.

APPLICATION:

Consider the application and purpose of the small boat. In a sense, all of us are like small boats, able to carry our Lord that He may reach out and touch others. Just like the boat had no significance on its own, but played an important role in helping Jesus as He ministered, so too, we must realize our place as humble vessels, not thinking of ourselves higher than we ought, but simply as a helping tool to help Jesus reach others. Now remember that Jesus walked on water, and actually had no need for the boat. However, to do so would have so distracted the crowd to the miracle that they would not have listened to His teaching. Instead, being in a humble fishing boat also shows the Lord’s humility and willingness to be with the people, in their daily, simple lives. The Lord could perform great signs in Heaven to cause men to bow down and worship out of awe but He instead uses humble vessels like us to share of His goodness and draw others to Himself through daily, simple testimonies.

PRAYER:

We praise You and thank You, precious Lord, that in Your great wisdom, You chose us to participate with You to preach the gospel, and to bring others to You through our testimonies in everyday life. Help us O Lord, be good testimonies for Your glory, and learn to testify of Your goodness day by day to those who do not know You yet. Be so real in our lives we pray that we cannot help but speak of Your goodness. Speak to us, and show Yourself real to us. Lead us day by day even as You call us. Provide opportunities for us to share, and bring us to the place where we may please You. We thank You and praise You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

Restoring the shriveled hand

SCRIPTURE:

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Mark 3:1-6

OBSERVATION:

In this passage, we see yet another instance of Jesus exposing the extent of the error of the Chief Priests and Pharisees in their interpretation of the Torah. In their zeal to adhere to the legal letter of the law, the Jewish spiritual leaders had so warped the meaning of “not to work” on the Sabbath that they could not even allow healing or helping someone in need on the Sabbath day.

Some of Jesus’ enemies sought this occasion particularly to try to catch Jesus healing on the Sabbath, watching him closely to see if they could accuse him. Knowing their intention, the Lord did not shrink back but openly asked a man who came to be healed of his shriveled hand to stand up in front of everyone and challenged them. “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent to the Lord’s great anger. And the Lord proceeded to heal by asking the man to stretch out his hand.

The hand is a precious thing. With the hand we can write, do work, cook, love, defend ourselves, all sorts of things. How terrible it must be to have a shriveled hand incapable of all the good a healthy hand can do. The shriveled hand was synonymous with the cloak of legalism that the Pharisees had placed upon the people. They had burdened the people with an outward form of religion which stifled them and kept them from drawing close to God and doing the good that God wanted them to do.

The Lord looked at them in anger and was distressed at their stubborn hearts. They were so entrapped in their own legalism and self-righteousness that they could not see the great good Jesus was doing in bringing healing to the sick, life to the dead, and setting captives free.

APPLICATION:

Some of us may have spiritually shriveled hands today. It could be shriveled because of various reasons. Perhaps it is because of religious preconceptions and traditions. Perhaps it is because of shame due to a past sin. Perhaps it is because of unforgiveness and an unwillingness to let go. How can we be healed by the Lord? It has all to do with our hearts.

The Pharisees and teachers of the day were trapped by their stubborn hearts. What is a stubborn heart? It is a heart that is set on its own ways, unwilling to change even when it becomes so clear that its way is wrong. What is the opposite of a stubborn heart? It is a sensitive, responsive heart that is willing to change in response to God’s leading. A stubborn heart is also proud, while a humble heart is willing to yield, to unlearn and relearn if need be. If we humble our hearts and yield to God, then He is able to touch and heal us and restore us to do all the good that He means us to do with holy, healing hands ourselves.

PRAYER:

Precious Lord, we humble ourselves before You today. Forgive the stubbornness of our hearts. Melt our pride and stubbornness we pray. Create in us a new heart, soft and responsive to Your leading, ready to hear Your voice and obey. Bit by bit, Lord, set us free from our entrapments. Free the strongholds in our mind, free the unforgiveness in our hearts, free the hurts and shame of our past that has bogged us down. Restore us O Lord, help us release and forgive. Set us free that we might worship You and seek You and find You. Bring us, Lord to higher heights, deeper seas, even as You call us. Lead us, strengthen us, empower us. Bless our minds, our hearts, our hands O Lord. Set us free to do the works that please You. We praise You and bless You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

Resting in Him

Resting in Him

SCRIPTURE:

²³ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:23-28

OBSERVATION:

Now the Sabbath was a big issue for the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had over the years created an elaborate system of interpretation as to what constituted work and what did not. By being so legalistic and creating rules within rules and laws within laws, they had created great burdens to place upon the people. By making it so difficult, they were in fact trying to prove to one another who could be more “holy” in adherence to the law. Their motives became no longer to please God but to prove themselves superior to others. The Lord was very annoyed by all these petty rules of men, and constantly challenged them as He walked the earth.

On this occasion, the disciples were simply walking along and helping themselves to heads of grain because they were hungry. There was no intention to trade or do business, but simply to feed their hungry stomachs. But the Pharisees jumped straight on their case, pointing out that they had broken the Sabbath by their actions.

The Lord’s answer was brilliant, pointing them back to the time when David and his companions went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread which was unlawful for them to eat, even in the presence of God’s priest Ahimelek. Given the urgency of the situation, Ahimelek consented to allow David and his companions to eat the consecrated bread. There was a higher purpose at work that superseded the normal rule that only the priests could eat the consecrated bread.

Another time when Jesus was challenged on the Sabbath issue, He healed a man on the Sabbath to show that it was right to do good and heal on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made by God, for man so that they would rest. However, there were times when men had to break the Sabbath for a noble or important purpose, such as when the priests worked to serve the people who came to worship or when the sick came to be healed.

Another point that Jesus made was that He as the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. A traffic policeman has the authority to instruct traffic to ignore a traffic light because he has higher authority than the traffic light, and his actions to so is with the purpose of easing congestion at particular areas. Likewise, Jesus showed that He had all authority to circumvent the Sabbath then for a higher purpose such as to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to serve the people.

APPLICATION:

Later, the Apostle Paul in his writings to Christians declared that they were not to allow themselves to be judged by any new moon or Sabbath. It was no longer the outward observance of a day or festival that mattered but the inward condition of one’s heart and thoughts. The whole Sermon of the Mount concentrates on the inner character person as opposed to the outward acts.

Christians today no longer observe the Sabbath, which is Saturday, but instead celebrate Sunday, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection to remember that He is risen in victory! In a sense, the Sabbath for a Christian is every day, as we are continually resting in the Lord in His finished work on the Cross! Practically, to work this out, a good way is to have that attitude of restfulness and peace as we go about our daily lives. It does not mean that we become lazy and don’t work hard, but rather that we have a quiet assurance of dependence on the Lord for our strength and energy in all that we do. In our meditation and thoughts, we can have that atmosphere of restfulness by committing everything to Him. This way, we do not worry about life’s troubles but just trust God day by day.

PRAYER:

Praise You, Lord, for Your perfect grace and marvelous love. We thank You, Lord, that because of Your finished work, we have entered Your rest and can have peace and restfulness in all that we do. Help us, Lord, cease to strive in our own energy but to live in dependence on You and learn to live ably as Your Spirit moves within us. Truly, Lord, it is in You that we live and move and have our being. Help us also, Lord, cease from worrying, but to trust in You. We bless You and love You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

New wineskins for new wine

SCRIPTURE:

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:18-22

OBSERVATION:

“Why do your disciples not fast?” the people asked Jesus, curious as to why His disciples did not fast while John’s disciples and the Pharisees did so. The Lord then gave a most intriguing answer, poignant with meaning yet also difficult in comprehension.

Firstly, the Lord likened the situation of His presence with His disciples as a bridegroom being with wedding guests. The time was unsuitable to fast while He was with them. The imagery of the bridegroom reminds us of the coming great Marriage in Heaven between Christ as the Bridegroom and the united true Church as the Bride. We who are in Christ are destined to be part of the Bridal Church when He returns.

Thereafter, the Lord said that the bridegroom would be taken away from the guests, prophesying of His coming death, and it was then only that his disciples would fast. This again is a reminder that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to practice the discipline of fasting. There is no hard and fast rule as to when or how much we are to fast, but in general, fasting is an expected part of our Christian walk with the Lord.

Then, the Lord makes two astonishing comparisons about an unshrunk cloth on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins. Both are incompatible and will only cause damage and spoilage. What is the Lord saying here?

Basically, the lesson is one and the same. What is old is incompatible with what is new. An old garment cannot take in new cloth and an old wineskin cannot take it new wine. When Jesus came, He established the new covenant which required the Jews to leave the old and embrace the new. They could not remain in their old ways yet embrace the new way of faith and living that Jesus brought.

The new covenant is based on grace, while the old covenant which was based on works and law. We need to move completely from old to new, and become new creations in the Lord.

That’s why, we have the term born again, which speaks of being reborn new to new life in Jesus Christ. In another sense, our old selves are synonymous with the old wineskins, with its passions and desires for worldly thinks. We need to move away from that, and put on our new selves in Christ Jesus, with its mind set on heavenly things.

 What does all this have to do with fasting? The purpose of the fasting of John’s disciples and the Pharisees had to do with works, human effort with the intention of attaining some measure of holiness. However, the Lord’s disciples would fast later for a different reason. The decision to fast or not was not dependent on tradition or religiosity, but solely on relationship, more specifically relationship with their Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was with them, it was not time to fast but to fellowship with Him and enjoy His presence. When Jesus was taken away, His disciples would fast, but not out of religiosity but genuine mourning because they missed Jesus.

Today, our purpose for fasting again is not based on religiosity or to gain brownie points with God. Our purpose in fasting again is relationship to draw closer to God, to our Lord Jesus, to know Him deeper, to understand His will better and we do so according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is all part of the new covenant where we live not by works but by faith and seek relationship instead of religion.

APPLICATION:

Whatever the disciples did, whether to fast or feast, to mourn or be joyful was dependent on the Lord Jesus. Everything they did was to revolve around the Lord. We need to learn to direct our lives to do the same, to revolve around our Lord Jesus Christ and seek to please Him as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Desire to set apart times of fasting to seek to know the Lord better. Ask Him to pour forth His new wine into us, and give us a new heart and a new mind that is being renewed day by day.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, blessed be Your precious name. You hold all things in Heaven above and Earth below. All things were created for You and by You. Teach us to fast we pray. Give us the wisdom and discipline to know when to fast and how to fast. Help us draw closer to You even as we fast, and fulfill our desire to know You deeper and to understand Your will. Fill us more and more with new wine we pray, and create a new renewed heart within us. May Your name be praised forever, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen

Should we pray to Father God or Jesus?

A well meaning Christian once told me, that we should pray to Father God, and not to Jesus, although we can talk to Jesus. However, in my personal walk, I have always found it comforting to pray to Jesus. Well, considering that Father God loves the Son, I cannot imagine that He would be displeased if we prayed to His Son. However, we should examine what the Scripture says about this.

Now Jesus taught about prayer extensively in His teachings. The Lord’s prayer in particular teaches us the manner in which we should pray to God the Father. First, it starts off with “Our Father who art in Heaven”, focusing our attention on Father God in Heaven. Then comes “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”. Our first priority at the start of every prayer is never our needs no matter how pressing it may be. It is always first about Father God’s glory, for His kingdom to come and for His will to be done. There follows “Give us this day our daily bread”, speaking of asking Father God for our daily provisions, and “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” which speak of asking Father God for forgiveness of ours sins while we commit to forgive others. Next, comes “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” which asks God for protection from ourselves because of our capacity to fall into temptation and protection from others who mean evil against us.

Comparing earthly fathers to Father God, the Lord explains that if even earthly fathers give good gifts to their children, how much more will Father God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. This teaches us that we are to ask Father God for more and more of His Holy Spirit, the best gift He can give us. In the book of James, we are encouraged to ask Father God for wisdom, who gives generously to all without finding fault.

In the manner that we pray to Father God, the Lord also teaches us to persevere and keep on asking, giving us the illustration of a lady who keeps pestering a judge for justice and a man who keeps knocking on the door of his neighbor for bread.

Therefore, by and large, most of our prayers in our prayer life should rightfully be addressed to Father God who provides for us all our needs, who protects us, who forgives us. Even when we think of a good father in an earthly sense, we picture one who provides for and protects and disciplines his children so that they do not stray to harm’s way.

However, one important point that we must remember is that when we pray to Father God, we should do so in Jesus name. That’s why we always end our prayers in Jesus name. For Jesus said “No one comes to the Father except through me”. Therefore, all prayer to Father God is only possible through Jesus Christ.

Now looking at prayer to our Lord Jesus, we must first remember who our Lord Jesus primarily is to us. In the Sinner’s prayer, we invite Jesus to come into our hearts as Lord and Savior. Let’s look firstly to Jesus as our Savior. It is He who saves us. Our first response, when we are in trouble, is usually “Lord Jesus, save me!” When He walked the earth, the Lord healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead. When Peter sank in the waves, he cried “Lord, save me”. Remember that salvation in the Greek sense is all-encompassing, including physical, emotional, spiritual healing. Therefore, just as the many cried “Lord Jesus, heal me”, it is also right for us to pray that. Interestingly, Paul prayed to Jesus to remove the “thorn in his flesh”, which again is a fitting prayer to Jesus as Savior and Healer and Deliverer but the Lord would not, saying that “My grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in your weakness.” When Stephen died he cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, which is a fitting prayer at the end of our lives to our great Savior.

Now looking at Jesus as Lord, we must remember that we are His servants and His disciples. Therefore, we have to obey Him, to understand His instructions in His Word and say “Yes, Lord”. In regard to calling and specific ministry and even daily decision-making it is good to come to Jesus and pray “Lord, where should we go? What shall we do?” He is our Leader and Shepherd, and we are to follow Him. And He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit whom He has given us from Father God. Also, if we don’t understand something in His Word, we can ask Him to help us comprehend, praying “Lord, help us understand”, as the disciples often asked Jesus concerning His parables.

Remember also that as His disciples, we are to become more and more like Him, to the point that we can like the Apostle Paul say, to live is Christ. So it is good to pray “Lord Jesus, help me become more and more like you!”

As a helpful model for our prayer lives therefore, it is good to pray to Father God and Lord Jesus thinking of them respectively as Perfect Father and Savior Lord. Still, we should not be rigid in our prayer lives and think we can only pray to Father God this way or only pray to Jesus that way, but rather pray freely to both Father God and Lord Jesus as the Holy Spirit leads us.

On a closing note, it is good to read John Chapter 14 where Jesus says “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”

So we see that we can pray to Jesus for anything in His name, and to pray to Jesus is to pray to Father God as the Father is always in Jesus. Whatever Jesus asks the Father, the Father will do as the Father loves the Son and is glorified in the Son. Therefore let us pray freely to Father God and Lord Jesus, praising precious Father and Son, trusting in them, obeying them, and desiring to do their will, even as we are led by the precious Holy Spirit whom they have given us. In Jesus name, Amen

God bless,

Jason Gong

Not the healthy, but the sick

SCRIPTURE:

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

OBSERVATION:

In this passage, we see the incident of the calling of Levi (better known as Matthew), the tax collector turned disciple who became the author of the beautiful gospel of Matthew, which is placed first among the four gospels, and is in fact the first book of the New Testament.

As Jesus walked along teaching the crowd, he came across Matthew as he was tax collecting, and promptly called “follow me”. Matthew got up and followed him, later hosting the Lord and His disciples to a grand dinner along with other friends who were deemed sinners. The teachers of the law and Pharisees immediately looked with disdain and asked how Jesus could associate with tax collectors and sinners.

On hearing this, Jesus made a very powerful statement “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Using the analogy of only the sick needing a doctor, the Lord shows us His role as the Savior not of the righteous, but of sinners. Does it then mean that only the really bad sinners like the prostitutes and tax collectors needed saving while the highly religious echelon like the Pharisees and teachers of the law did not? Certainly not! For Jesus explained elsewhere that a person’s righteousness had to exceed that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Also, Jesus was clear that no one would come to the Father except through Him and that only he who has the Son has life. Later, the Apostle Paul explained at length in his letters how salvation is by grace alone, through faith and not by works. The Scripture has declared that there is no one righteous, not even one. God’s standard is so high that men’s righteousness are like filthy rags before Him.

In the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, it was the latter that went home justified before God. If we think we are righteous, and don’t need saving, we only blind ourselves, and if we persist in pride and self-righteousness, we only deceive ourselves and store up wrath for ourselves in the Day of Judgment.

In contrast, if we see ourselves as we truly are, poor and spiritually deficient in ourselves, then only can be begin to reach out to God to save us, and find the salvation that He has provided for us in Christ Jesus! This all comes back to the first Beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

The Lord delights in those who are contrite in heart, who humble themselves before Him, and recognize their immense need for His grace and salvation.

On a side note, the statement also shows that Jesus approved of doctors. There is a teaching going round that all sicknesses can be cured by faith alone, and to visit any doctor shows a lack of faith. This would make all doctors and modern medicine redundant for Christians, Jesus however stated simply that the sick need a doctor, and later the beloved physician Luke was the one who wrote the third gospel! The Lord does work miracles of healing apart from doctors, but by and large, doctors perform a noble role in helping the sick. Discernment is needed then on whether it is right to avoid medication and treatment by faith, or to engage with doctors and treatment to speed healing while praying constantly alongside.

APPLICATION:

We need to beware of having a self-righteous spirit. We may have begun humble but become proud over the years. We need to keep that spirit of repentance and humility before God, knowing that it is His grace that sustain us. Remember the first Beatitude, blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven and always keep that humble and contrite heart before God!

PRAYER:

Blessed Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace and Your love, that You cared for us while we were sinners and provided the way of Salvation for us through Your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Let us always have that strong awareness that apart from You, we have nothing good, and it is only in You, that we are able to live and move and do anything of value. Forgive our pride we pray, and keep us humble and contrite in Your presence. We thank You, and love You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                           

For the love of their friend

For the love of their friend

SCRIPTURE:

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.⁴ 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. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ 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? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

OBSERVATION:

After a period of teaching, preaching and healing to several villages around the area, the Lord and His disciples return to Capernaum. News soon spreads that the Lord had returned and quite soon, a huge multitude gathers to hear His words at a house. The crowd is so large that there is no room left, even outside the door of the house. Therefore, when four men come carrying a paralyzed man to seek healing from Jesus, they find it impossible to get anywhere near the Lord. At this point, one of them comes upon a desperate but brilliant idea, and the faithful four friends bring the paralyzed man up the roof, dig a hole in it, and lower the man down through the hole, right before Jesus.

In those days, roofs were typically flat and people could sleep on top of it on a hot night. They were made of clay and sticks, and some effort would have been required to make the hole, which would also have drawn considerable ire from the house owner! The four friends risked being beaten up or having to pay damages because of their deed, but their priority was their friend and they went to extraordinary lengths to bring their friend to Jesus. What effort have we spent to bring our friends to Jesus? Most of us shrink back at just a little inconvenience but these men went the extra mile and risked much to bring their friend to Jesus!

The Lord was impressed by their faith. Here again, we are reminded that faith must be followed by action. Because the friends believed Jesus could heal their friend, they took such extraordinary trouble to bring him to Jesus.

Now, interestingly, Jesus did not straight away heal him but said “Son, your sins are forgiven”. Why did Jesus say that? Which is more important? For a man to have his sins forgiven or to be healed? Or is healing linked to the forgiveness of one’s sins? Elsewhere, Jesus corrected the wrong perception that a disabled man was in his present condition because of his sin or the sin of his parents. However, in the parable of the unmerciful servant, the Lord also warned that those who refused to forgive others would be handed over to tormentors. And even non-Christian psychologists and researchers have seen a link between unforgiveness or resentment with disease. Besides that, guilt has also been seen as an instigator of sickness and ill-health. The mind affects the body, and a troubled mind will eventually wreak havoc on one’s health. King David described the effect of his unconfessed sin as having his bones wasting away as he groaned all day long.

An interesting point we should note here is that Jesus simply asked the man to get up, take up his mat and walk. The Lord did not even have to rebuke the paralysis or say “be healed”. The truth is, the moment the Lord has told him “your sins are forgiven”, the man had already been healed. He just didn’t know it, but when Jesus asked him to get up, he realized he had already been healed and got up in faith!

Just as salvation in the Greek sense is all-encompassing – mental, spiritual, physical, emotional, so too forgiveness is all-compassing, even synonymous with healing. We don’t know for sure whether it was resentment or guilt that brought the paralyzed man to his condition, but the moment he believed his sins were forgiven, he experienced a release and this was manifested when he physically got up and walked!

Through the ages, many have testified how they were healed once they forgave, or once they believed they had been forgiven, and released from guilt. This is an important principle for us. We need to forgive, and find forgiveness in Jesus.

APPLICATION:

Just like the four friends who went to such extremes to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus, we need to likewise be willing to take more effort to bring our friends to the Lord. We need to pray to God to give us such a sacrificial heart like they had.

We also need to remember that true faith is expressed in action like the friends who went to such troubles because they believed Jesus would heal, and the paralytic man who acted on faith that Jesus had healed him when he got up and walked.

Another lesson we need to remember is that unforgiveness or guilt can be a cause of terrible sickness, and we need to believe in Jesus to have our sins forgiven and to be set free from our guilt. If we are holding on to unforgiveness or resentment, we need to realize that it harms us most of all, and only in releasing our debtors can we find true freedom and forgiveness and restoration in Christ Jesus!

PRAYER:

We praise You and bless You Father Lord. You are our great King, our marvelous God, our perfect, Heavenly Savior. We thank You, Lord, for coming down to earth to save us, to show us the way, to lead us to Your salvation. Give us a sacrificial heart we pray, that loves our friends so much that we will go to great lengths to bring them to you.

Increase our faith we pray, to trust in Your healing, Your miracles, even as You continue to work today as You did so long ago. Forgive our sins we pray O Lord, release us, and set us free from every bondage and sickness in Jesus name! Even those who have hurt us so much, we release them to You O Lord. We forgive them in Jesus name! Help us O Lord, we pray. Blessed be Your name O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen. 

Healed in every way

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Mark 1:43-45

OBSERVATION:

Right after the healing of the leper, the Lord practically drives him away but gives him three specific instructions. Firstly, he is not to tell others about the miracle. Secondly, he is to show himself to a priest. Thirdly, he is to offer the sacrifices Moses commanded for his cleansing.  

Time and again, the Lord frequently tried to stop those he healed from spreading the news about their healing. However, again and again, those healed seemed to be unable to contain themselves and spread the news freely, resulting in Jesus not being able to enter a town openly.

Most of us take for granted the space and anonymity that we have as we go about living our everyday lives. However, the superstars and famous people of the world quickly find out that their fame comes with a terrible prize – the fanatical crowds of fans that seem to stalk them. The more famous a star, the greater the chaos, the screaming, and frenzy wherever he or she goes. Several bodyguards and even a police escort may be necessary for such a famous person to enter a public area.

For the Lord as well, this problem of crowd frenzy was also very real, so much so, that even in the lonely places, people still came to Him from everywhere. This was made worse by the fact that the Jews would automatically speculate that he was the Messiah and could even try and make him king by force which was not his objective at this first time of coming.

Now we see that many people would glory and bask in the adoration of the masses. Great kings of the past like Nebuchadnezzar, the Pharaohs and the Roman emperors had egos so large that they would command the masses to worship them even as gods. However, in striking contrast, we see the behavior of the Lord was the complete opposite. Gentle and humble, the Lord did not seek the praise of the masses, but throughout his ministry sought to do God’s will in healing, teaching and preaching the good news. The Lord’s motive was always clear – to please God rather than men.

The second and third instructions had to do with the restoration of the leper to public life. By showing himself to the priest to prove his healing, and offering the required sacrifices according to the Mosaic law, the leper would then be reinstituted into society, able to go to the temple to worship, and others would no longer be afraid to touch him or even go near him. We see here the practical side of the Lord’s love in not only healing the man physically, but also spiritually and socially.  

APPLICATION:

We need to learn from the Lord’s example not to value the approval or adoration of man, but rather to focus on doing what pleases God. On the outside, we may think it is great to be famous and adored, but in reality it will only lead to emptiness and meaninglessness, as even the greatest, most famous king of Israel, Solomon, discovered. Simply living humble lives finding pleasure in God, our families and our work is already enough to have a rich, fulfilled life.  

Thank the Lord that He came to save and heal us completely, not just physically, but spiritually, emotionally, mentally, socially, in every way. It is His will that we be whole and complete in Him.

PRAYER:

We praise You and worship You and thank You, Lord, for Your great love. We thank You, Lord Jesus, that You did not come to be served but to serve us and give Your life as a ransom for many. Because You humbled Yourself Lord, You are exalted far above every name, and there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved. We praise You and worship You and adore You, and thank You for the amazing pleasure and joy that it gives us to praise You for Your greatness, Your mercy, Your love. Turn our hearts away from meaningless things and help us not seek the approval or adoration of man, but instead seek to please You and our beloved Father in Heaven. Guide us O Lord, according to Your perfect paths, and bestow upon us humility and wisdom to live our short lives on earth. We thank You too, precious Lord, that You healing is perfect, and Your will for us so blessed, that we might be whole in every way. May Your great name be praised and magnified forever in us we pray. In Jesus name, Amen