Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
MARK 2:1-5, 10-12 | 1When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat, and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus’ broad definition of health and wholeness included individuals in their entirety, encompassing their relational wholeness, their physical and mental wellness, and their spiritual well-being.
This is not evident in the brief summaries of His healing work that we have been examining so far. It appears instead in the extended accounts of individual healings, in both the synoptic gospels and in John. We see Jesus forgive a paralytic before fixing the paralysis, attending to the spiritual elements of guilt, the mental burden of shame, and the physical malady. His healings were not “take a number” transactions but personal encounters. He didn’t treat bodies, He ministered to people.
When you help someone, is it a personal encounter?
