March 16, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him. With Him were His disciples. There were many who followed Him. 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?‘ 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 2.15-17)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

One of the things I find interesting in this story is that Jesus taught the “righteous ones” of Israel, the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law, that health and disability were not stumbling blocks to righteousness. When Jesus saw both the paralyzed man and the four friends who believed that Jesus could heal him, He addressed the most important issue first. He did not make light of the reality of paralysis. It was debilitating and life altering. He was a man who, with his friends, was a vital provider for his family and his community. He attended synagogue and gave of his tithes and offerings. His life made a difference regardless of his field of expertise. Then the accident happened or some disease attacked his body. Things had changed. Maybe he was the one who questioned why and why not while his friends, unlike those of Job, encouraged him in keeping the faith and trusting in God. Instead of leaning on the understanding of his own heart and mind who burdened his soul, his friends were acting by faith to restore his focus. Now trust me, I do not think they brought their friend to Jesus to save his soul and gain forgiveness of his sins. They wanted their friend back. The disability had changed him. To say he was not the man they had known before would have been an understatement. They watched the brilliant color of his eyes grow faint. They watched muscles atrophy. They heard the bitterness in his voice replace the joy and encouragement that once defined him. They believed that if Jesus would heal their friend everything would be okay. This is the yearning Jesus saw in their eyes.

It was not the same look in the man’s eyes which Jesus saw. It was the look of fear with the eyes of “the righteous” looking at him with disdain and disbelief. It was the look of unworthiness and the impossible. It was the look of gratitude but misspent effort on the part of his friends. He had no say in the matter. He could have thrashed about and made the carry difficult. He could have cried out his desire to be left alone. He may have cried out “Just let me die!” He was compelled by the look in their eyes. So, too, was Jesus. He felt what the man felt. He was Jesus, the Son of God, after all. He felt the shadow of darkness slowly drawing the man into the darkness. We do not know the sin of the man. We know he had one or two or countless. Jesus did say, “Your sins are forgiven.” We may make our own list of what his sins were, but who are we to say. We are sinners, too; “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Jesus could have healed the man instantaneously. He could have just “said the word” based on the faith of the four friends. Would it have made a difference in the man’s life? Would walking truly restore the man? Would lifting a tool of industry or holding his family truly secure the future? Or was there something deeper in the man that the paralysis revealed? Was there something else paralyzed apart from his body? Jesus heard it all. He heard it amidst the cacophony of inner voices and verbal murmurings of those in attendance. Accusations were already being considered. Thoughts of lawsuit for property damage, inciting a riot and bringing an unacceptable lost one of Israel into such a sacred gathering swirled about. Jesus heard them and knew them and knew who thought and said it. Jesus said it anyway. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” There was no hesitation. He didn’t do it for effect. He did what was right, good and needed. The man needed restoration. His life was being stolen, held captive and as good as dead. He was not dead to God, however. His friends’ efforts showed that. His willingness to submit to their efforts showed that. Yes, Jesus could have healed the man physically but what of the condition of his soul before, during and afterward?

Jesus was countercultural to the world. Jesus was an advocate of the truth about what the real culture on earth was meant to be. Sickness happens in a broken world. Accidents happen in a broken world. Decision with terrible consequences happen in a broken world. This man did not break the world. He lived in a world that was broken already? He had become a victim of that brokenness. Physical healing would not change the condition of the world’s brokenness. It would certain challenge it. Jesus listened as He heard the murmurs and echoes of brokenness fill the room. It was oppressive. It was for this He came into the world: so seek and save the lost and to call sinners into a reconciling healing. What kept the man from being healed? Nothing. Jesus declared “Son, your sins are forgiven.” It happened. Nothing could stop it. What was stopping him was the false belief that his sins were nothing in comparison to the disability. He had been taught it. It had been the word of those who were “righteous.” He saw their faces and heard their words in that very moment. They were paralyzing him. Even if Jesus had not physically healed him, his sins would be forgiven. He would be restored into the Kingdom of God on earth. But, the weight of the world was too great. What kind of weight do we put on others? How do we hold them down in order to lift ourselves up? This is something we must consider because we have had our sins forgiven, too. Yet, do we live as if we are still unrighteous and incapable? Unworthy and disabled? Mighty ones of God, think on this. Where are you in the room that day?

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.