Title: Faith and Miracles (Mark 2:1-12)
Contents
In Mark 1, we proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the gospel for all mankind. Mark goes on to explain why Jesus is the gospel. One of the things that testifies that he is the gospel is the miracles that Jesus performed. There are 27 miracles of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Among them, number 14 is vague like the saying that He healed many sick people, but number 13 reveals detailed and specific facts about the sick person, the name of the disease, and the condition of the person. Today's text is the fourth miracle from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. Four men carrying a paralyzed man tore off the roof of the house where Jesus was and ran down. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Your sins are forgiven.” At this time, the scribe was thinking in his heart that there was no authority other than God to forgive sins. Jesus knew right away and said, “The Son of Man makes it known that he has authority in the world to forgive sins.” As I look at this miracle fact, I think of some related truths.
I. People's Sickness: Is Punishment necessarily the Consequence of Sin?
II. We think about the relationship between the healing of diseases and faith.
To cure all diseases and solve problems, you need to have faith and you need to have faith. But whose belief is that? The patient's own beliefs can also be the cause of his healing. For example, the case of a woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years was healed by touching the hem of Jesus' robe (Mark 5:34), and the incident of healing Bartimaeus, a blind man (Mark 10:52), had their own faith. However, there are cases where the patient did not have faith in himself and was healed by the trust of the guardians, friends, and parents around the patient. For example, the healing of a leper on the roadside (Mark 1:40), the healing of the synagogue leader's daughter (Mark 5:36), and the healing of an epileptic under the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:23-24) It was not their faith, and the incident of raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11 is even more clear. There were also cases of healing without faith through Jesus' own sovereignty, freedom, and faith. For example, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:21-28), the healing of a man possessed by a military demon (Mark 5:1-20), the five disease incidents and the feeding of 4,000 people did not believe in Jesus. He was healed by the absolute sovereignty of
To put it all together, you must have faith in healing the disease, and anyone's faith is absolutely necessary in order to solve human problems. This is because faith is the establishment of a relationship with God, and the way through God's power and love. All sins become the way of suffering, and faith becomes the way of solving problems.
Ⅲ. What is the miraculous lesson from the healing event?
First, it shows that Jesus is the power to solve all human problems.
Humans personally have physical, psychological, and spiritual problems. Jesus teaches us that it is the gospel that solves and solves all spiritual problems, including human weakness and mental unsoundness. Jesus is the power of the gospel to ultimately solve and take charge of human problems.
Second, Jesus has the power to forgive sins. The fundamental problem of man is the problem of sin. Jesus took up the cross and died on the cross. Therefore, he said to let the scribes who criticized him know that they have the authority to forgive sins. Jesus already had the cross in mind and came to the people with these words.
Third, if Jesus' power to solve problems and the authority to forgive sins came into human life, it is saying that the kingdom of God has already come to this earth. Jesus Himself is the kingdom of God, joy, joy, and hope. And this is both a blessing and a judgment. It is a blessing for those who receive Jesus Christ as the gospel and respond with faith. But to those who reject or deny it, this is death and judgment. Through his miraculous works, Jesus teaches us that it is the eternal gospel of mankind.