Submitted by Pastor David Wynn, Tarkio Christian Church

The gentle healer came into a town one day. He touched the blind and helped the lame to walk away. But more than that, he forgave the sins of those who stray. The gentle healer comes into our town today. Think about this question – what excites God?

Jesus is in Capernaum, in someone’s house, preaching, healing, and it’s standing room only. You can’t even get near the door. And it wasn’t like Jesus had just turned up unannounced. Many people knew he was going to be there, and had come. Mark tells us about this poor man, a paralytic, and his four friends who were bound and determined to bring him to Jesus for a miracle, to be cured. Whether because of a fall or because this man was born this way, this man was brutally crippled. His arms hung on his side like Christmas ornaments on a tree. His legs were as limp as spaghetti. Now if he was going to get in to the presence of Jesus, somebody was going to have to bring him.

There was a greater problem, because even if he could have gotten up, he couldn’t have gotten in. The house was full. People jammed the doorways. Kids were sitting in the windows. Nobody could move. It was standing room only and this man could not stand. Had they been less certain of a cure, and less eager, they would have shouldered their burden and carried him home again. But their friend needed what Jesus had to offer. So they did what persons of lesser faith never considered. They tore a hole through the ceiling and lowered their friend into the very presence of Jesus.

You’ve got to admire these guys. Even though they couldn’t go in, they didn’t give up. The reason why they didn’t give up was they had faith. They climbed up to the top of this house where the roof was. In Bible days, the roof was made up of dried palm branches with dirt that was laid across beams, somewhat like tile. It was relatively easy to tear the roof off and that is exactly what they did. The owner of that house now had a sun roof. Think about the faith it took to do this. They could have fallen and hurt themselves. They could have dropped their friend to the floor. They were going to interrupt Jesus right in the middle of His sermon, but none of these things mattered to those men. They saw their chance and by faith they took it believing that Jesus would take care of their friend.

How did Jesus respond when he saw this man and the four who had delivered him? “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’” The owner of the house was ticked off. As you are going to see, the religious hypocrites in the crowd weren’t very happy, but Jesus was excited, because He saw real faith.

The reason why Jesus was so excited was He knew there was only one reason that would have motivated them to go to all that trouble to get that man to him and it was this: They believed Jesus could and would heal their friend. “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?’ 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?’”

Now, although this story focuses on the physical healing of this man, we tend to forget what the first words were that Jesus said to him: Jesus looks at this man and simply says, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” We tend to focus on the physical healing of this man and miss one of the truly important in-between the lines message Jesus is trying to get across. Never ever think to yourself around Jesus, because with Jesus you are never thinking to yourself. You know, Jesus is the master mind reader. The next time you think you are thinking to yourself – you have an eaves dropper.

The Pharisees said to themselves, “You can’t just give a man forgiveness. He has got to earn it. He has to bring a sacrifice. He has got to pay a price for his sin and besides that only God can forgive sins.” So, they throw down the gauntlet and Jesus takes it up. “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins – He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’”

Notice what Jesus does, He uses the physical to get to the spiritual. Jesus healed the man’s legs to prove He could save the man’s soul. Jesus made it a put up or shut up time and for these religious hypocrites He put up and they had to shut up. He really did ask “the” question and I want you to answer it. Which is easier for Jesus? To forgive a soul or to heal a body? Let me put it to you this way, to heal that man’s body it took one breath, seven words and 2 1/2 seconds, but to forgive that man’s sin, it took the blood of Jesus and the life of Jesus. One took a sentence, the other took his body. One took a moment, the other took his life. That is why God gets excited over a forgiveness that saves, because of what it cost Him and what it cost His Son.

Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs. It meets the greatest need that mankind ever has. It costs the greatest price that God could ever pay, and it brings the greatest blessing the world can ever receive. I want to say it again. Every problem, every struggle, every illness, every heartache, every pain you have is a physical reminder that your greatest need is spiritual. You see most of this world doesn’t get that and neither did this crowd.

“And the man did it – got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous – and then praised God, saying, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this!’ They were so excited about the physical, but Jesus was excited about the spiritual. They were so excited about the temporary, Jesus was so excited about the eternal. They were so excited this man could now walk. Jesus was so excited because this man could now worship.

Well, I want to tell you today that nothing excites God more than to see people live by faith, and specifically faith in Him and His word. Nothing excites God more than for people to act like what they say they believe is true. In other words, when people take God at His word and act accordingly, God gets excited.