“Take up your bed...and walk” (John 5:8).

This is what Jesus told one paralyzed man who had been afflicted for 38 years.

We know from what we read in all four gospels that Jesus healed countless numbers of people who were blind, deaf, paralyzed, along with healing all manners of sickness and diseases (Matt. 15:30-31). And as I mentioned the other day, there were two specific incidents where we get to listen in to the exchange of dialogue that Jesus had with these two particular lame men. The first one ...I mentioned above, and the other one is recorded in Mark 2:1-12.

By all visible accounts, neither of these two men were able to walk in the manner in which they were created to walk. But that is not to say they did not want to walk like ‘normal’ people walk; they simply were unable to do this on their own. And simply ‘wanting’ or desiring or yearning to walk was not enough to make it happen.

I’ve never been paralyzed but I wonder if a lame person ever lays there in bed or while sitting in a wheel chair ...and try to convince themselves that they can indeed walk...if they just try hard and exert some mental will-power...then just maybe...they can make their legs work and stand up. I bet they have dreams of being able to do so; but at the end of the day, or in the morning , when they wake up from those dreams...the cold hard reality is: they are lame ...and incapable of walking.

Enter Jesus.

The story in Mark 2 is interesting as we read how Jesus came to Capernaum and it “was heard that Jesus was in the house!” (1) This in turn drew a great many of people to gather around and hear what He had to say. (2). Would you please note what Jesus first did before any miracles of healing took place? - “He preached the word to them.” One more time:

He. Preached. The. Word. To. Them.

And then...the very next verse (3)- “They came to Him...”

I don’t know about you, but these days, every time I see that phrase, ‘come to Jesus’... it has a whole new meaning for me because ‘coming to Jesus’ means we come with ‘all our heart’; and unless we do...we will never experience the abundant life He came to offer us. (John 10:10; 5:39-40) Sadly, the rich young ruler discovered this hard truth (Matt. 19:21-22).

Those people there who ‘came to Him’ at the house in Capernaum...were serious; so serious that Jesus ‘saw their faith’. What was happening was they brought a friend who was paralyzed, and the crowd was so big in/around that house, that they were unable to get inside, so somehow, they made their way to the roof, tore open a hole, and lowered their paralyzed friend down into the room where Jesus was. Their expectations were high. And what were the first words that come out of the mouth of Jesus? - “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5)

This immediately became a problem for the local ‘theologians’ who were sitting there as they reasoned in their hearts how anyone could just forgive sins like that? (6). Jesus was quick to pick up on their concerns and addressed the question... drawing an interesting link with this man’s inability to walk... and... ‘sin’. His question to them was: “Which is easier to say to the paralytic- Your sins are forgiven, or say ‘arise, take up your bed and walk’?” (9)

Then, Jesus once again turns to the paralytic and tells him to ‘arise ...take up his bed...and go home’. (11). And “immediately he arose, took up the bed and went out in the presence of them all...” (12)

What is easy to miss in both stories where these lame men were healed... immediately, I might add... is in the first account found in John 5, we read where Jesus comes across that healed man who is now walking in the temple. And what does Jesus admonish him to do, now that he has been made well? “Go, and sin no more or something worse...may come upon you.”(14)

And in the second story we just looked at, prior to raising this paralytic up so that he can walk, the issue of sin... is once again mentioned, with Jesus forgiving him...freeing him in a sense. I don’t believe I have ever seen or drawn this comparison where ‘sin’ seems to be tied in with both men and their inability to ‘walk’.

There’s a line in an old song I heard years ago that asks “What’s love got to do with it?”

So what if we put the word ‘sin’ in there in place of ‘love’ and ask the same question- ‘What’s sin got do with it” (when it comes to our ability to ‘walk as Jesus walked’ 1 John 2:6)?

Apparently...quite a bit, perhaps?