Title: The Reality of the Kingdom of God
In this text, the author of the Gospels, Mark, is telling us how the kingdom of God, which is coming where Jesus is present, is manifest. In particular, the text shows how the forgiveness of sins and the realization of a new life, rather than condemnation, come true in the kingdom of God that comes with Jesus.
First, let me briefly summarize the contents of this article. After Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in Galilee, he came back to Capernaum and stayed at home. It is presumably the house of Peter. Then, rumors of Jesus spread, and many uninvited people gathered to the point of not being able to approach Jesus. According to Jewish custom, anyone, even uninvited, could come to listen to a certain person when he was staying in the house. The situation in the text seems to have been the same.
At this time, four men brought a paralytic lying on a bed, hoping to bring him to Jesus, but they could not do so because of the crowds. So they went up on the roof, pierced the roof, put the paralytic on the roof, and put him down before Jesus. At that time, the roofs of Palestinian houses were flat and had an outer stairway leading to the roof for easy access to the roof.
Jesus did not rebuke them for disturbing his teaching, but unexpectedly said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." At this time, among the crowds who saw this sudden action and unexpected reaction of Jesus, especially the scribes regarded Jesus' words as a blasphemy against God's power and authority, a serious sin worthy of being stoned to death.
Jesus knew their wicked thoughts immediately in his heart, and he confronted them directly with a sharp objection. This was the question Jesus asked them. “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up, take up your mat and walk?”
The scribes expected a physical cure for the paralytic, but Jesus proclaimed the man's forgiveness of sins. They probably thought that the proclamation of forgiveness was easier than curing the disease because the cure was something that could be seen and directly demonstrated.
However, while implicitly realizing that in the kingdom of God the dark life behind the paralysis is more important than the paralysis itself, Jesus revealed that Jesus Himself has the power to liberate humans from such a dark life.
In the text, Jesus replaced his meaning with the words, “I make you aware that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
Then he commanded the paralytic to "get up, pick up your bed and go home." The paralytic went out with the table in front of everyone, including those who criticized Jesus. Those who saw it were amazed and glorified God.
What we should be paying attention to in this text is Jesus' words, "Son, your sins are forgiven." As I was reading this text the other day, I thought of this as follows. I decided that this paralyzed man was punished by God for violating one of the Ten Commandments.
The reason for this thought is that, since childhood, human suffering has been understood as a punishment from God. The God I understood as a child was a God who carried a sack of great calamity on his back and punished those who disobey his will in various ways. In fact, in church life, I have seen many believers who suffer from diseases such as diseases or failures and disasters, claiming that the suffering comes from God and complaining to God to take it away.
In reality, however, this thinking is far from biblical thinking. When Jesus proclaimed the forgiveness of sins to the paralytic, he did not mean to release God's punishment for breaking the law. Jesus saw the wrong life of a paralytic who had lived up to that point. He was pointing out that such a wrong life and paralysis are in no way related.
Behind the distorted phenomenon of paralysis revealed externally to this paralytic, there was a distorted life, that is, a misformed life lived against the order of God's life. Such secrets are not revealed by the law. Going one step further, it's not even medically proven. What medicine can reveal is about the nature and growth of disease, its etiology, its occurrence, and so on.
But what was revealed before Jesus was the wrong life hidden behind the sickness of paralysis. Jesus set him free from that. Forgiveness of sins includes liberation from the wrong life of the past and a new life from God. The consistent emphasis in the Gospels is to repent, and with the proclamation that the kingdom of God is at hand, there is a new life to come.
In the kingdom of God, not only the causes of paralysis are revealed, but the wrong lives associated with them, such as irresponsible problems, things formed while living without God, living in violation of the order of life, and neglecting God's guidance are revealed. , questioning the human suffering from it. Strictly speaking, the crucifixion involved a life that was unacceptable to God, the cause of paralysis.
During my stay at a nursing home in Yeosu for the past few months, I saw a young man who eventually had an ankle amputation because his toe had rotted and the fungus was growing upwards. When I found out why the young man's feet were so rotten, it was because he had smoked too much. He said he sometimes smoked several packs a day.
In the case of the young man, God did not punish him for smoking too much. In conversations with the young man several times, I discovered that he had many dark stories and intertwined inner problems that forced him to smoke a lot. He started smoking to try to escape those problems. He needed God's love and forgiveness to heal and give him a new life, rather than the many warnings and threatening advice that cigarettes are harmful to the human body.
For that young man, the disease of rotting feet and sin are closely related. But for him, sin and disease are not a causal relationship. For him, sin is a wrong life that requires God's forgiveness, and disease is the result of that wrong life. To him, disease has the meaning of a directional indicator that directs us to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Among the problems in our lives, there are more problems that require God's forgiveness than medical prescriptions, money, medicine, or authority. In other words, there are many problems that need to be resolved in God's forgiveness.
This is not necessarily limited to individual diseases. Among the many socially painful problems, there are too many social problems that are intertwined due to human injustice, lies, vanity, neglect, complacency, accountability, selfishness, greed, etc. Such things are unacceptable in the coming kingdom of God. The cross of Jesus Christ is also related to such social issues. Such problems cause many people to experience pain and meaninglessness, frustration, and tragedy in life.
In 1912, the world's largest naval accident killed 513 passengers and crew. The wreck is the UK's largest luxury cruise ship, the Titanic. The ship collided with an iceberg and received five warning messages from land before sinking. When the sixth and final warning message came, "Beware of the iceberg," the radio operator snarled with annoyance. "Shut up! I'm busy." And exactly 35 minutes later, the captain exclaimed, "Even God cannot make this ship sink." The ship collided with an iceberg and sank into the water.
A declaration of forgiveness was issued to the paralyzed man from Jesus, saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” At that moment, the reign of God came upon him. He took the first step into the new life that God had given him.
In such a scene, the text shows him getting up, carrying his table, and walking. Those who looked to him saw the glory of God and his power in such a scene. And praised God.
On the way of life, we are often faced with diseases, disasters, pains, and failures that are completely contrary to our will. When we face such incidents, we sometimes blame or hostile them by blaming the circumstances or shifting the responsibility to others. When such problems are unbearably painful, religious rituals, prayers, and offerings are offered to relieve the suffering.
Such efforts do nothing to solve our problems, nor do they help our spiritual growth. Behind such negative life problems are also the problems we must be responsible for: our pride, our greed, and our vanity when we did not follow God's guidance. God didn't punish them for such things, but such a wrong life and our suffering and misery are closely related.
A person I know suddenly became ill and was hospitalized. After the comprehensive examination at the hospital, I was hospitalized for 20 days according to the doctor's instructions. As he received treatment under the direction of his doctor, he was able to look back on the days that had passed under the guidance of God. There he discovered a very valuable fact. In the process of looking back on his life up to that point, he discovered many things he had done wrong that forced him to be hospitalized, asked God's forgiveness, and was able to take a new step in life once again. He was discharged much sooner than 20 days ago. When I met him after discharge, I heard him say: He said that the time he spent in the hospital was the most precious time he had to correct the wrong direction in his life. From my point of view, his life was very different from before he was admitted to the hospital and after. After discharge from the hospital, he had leisure, tolerance, and love in life. And I learned how to thank God for His grace.
Dear brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God cannot be bought with money. Even formal religious ceremonies cannot be entered. Even moral perfection is not acceptable. In the coming kingdom of God, only true conversion and God's forgiveness are required. There truly is our future that we are longing for, looking for and tapping.
Dear saints, no matter what secrets or painful problems we have in life, the way is open for us to bring them to the throne of God and have a conversation with the one who is waiting for us. The author of Hebrews speaks of this fact:
“We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect is tempted as we are, yet without sin. I will go on.” (Hebrews 4:15-16) Amen