Healing

In Mark 12:1-12, four friends carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing. However, when they get there Jesus is inside the house and the crowds are so large that they can’t get through. Plan B – go up to the roof, open up a hole in the roof above Jesus and lower the friend down to be healed by Jesus.

Meanwhile, Jesus is in the house, speaking, healing, and touching lives, when suddenly debris begins to fall from the roof disrupting everything. After a significant amount of debris had fallen and a large hole in the roof was revealed, a mat appeared floating down revealing a paralyzed passenger. Jesus approaches the man and says, “Child your sins are forgiven.” I can only imagine what the paralyzed man was thinking, but maybe it was something like, “Ok, that’s great but what I was hoping for here was a healing so I could walk out of here. Sins being forgiven probably wasn’t exactly what I was after.”

Scribes that were present were shocked and appalled that this man (Jesus) would presume to be God and forgive sins. Such blaspheme! Only God could do that. The scribes were blind to who Jesus is. They perceive to know the “truth.” In reality they couldn’t recognize the truth when it was right in front of them, in the flesh.

Jesus challenges the scribes to open their eyes to the Truth. The paralyzed man is healed and he walks out. The Scribes see the man physically healed but how do they know he was spiritually healed too? The implication is if Jesus can heal physically then he can heal spiritually too. One isn’t any easier than the other. The only difference between the two is one you can see and one you can’t. Jesus was not a blasphemer if he could do what he said and he was who he claimed to be.

That day Jesus healed and forgave the sins of a paralyzed man who walked away, but the scribes left that day and they were still blind to the truth despite being with Jesus.

There are Christians today who claim to know the truths of God. They act as though they alone are in sole possession of the “truth” and wear it like a badge. They tend to use it as club to beat people down and into submission. Their wielding of the truth tends to be very judgmental and lacking in grace and love.

Am I one of those people, the scribes? Am I blind to God’s physical presence and Truth because of my arrogance and pride in my own understanding? Am I missing the miracles of God right before me because of my perceptions of truth? Am I really hearing Jesus speak into my life or do I walk away unchanged?

Maybe I am like the lame man, paralyzed in other ways, not able to behave in the freedom of Christ. Possibly I’m not whole because of my fears, unforgiveness, and pain in my relationships with others and God. Am I more concerned with the physical problems in my life or the spiritual problems? Is physical healing my greatest desire for Jesus in my life? Do I need to first seek forgiveness of sin in my life before I will be free to walk again – even run? Am I satisfied with any miracle that Jesus does in my life or am I only seeking the miracles I think I need?

The bottom line is how does Jesus see me and how do I respond to him; like the scribe or the lame man? What is the miracle Jesus wants to do in my life?

Church Signs

I have a pet-peeve that can suck the joy out of the most beautiful sunny day. It is offensive church signs. I see church signs as I drive around and they have some of the most outrageous or ambiguous messages. 

Remember what a sign is for? To communicate to people outside the building what is going on inside the building and why they would want to stop what they are doing and come inside. Marketing is about considering your audience and the message needed to reach that audience. For the church, I feel their market audience message is to share a message of hope and love to a world that is lost, hurting, and running away from God.

What angers me about many of the church signs I read is they typically take one of three approaches to their message:

• “We’re all going to Heaven and you’re not." 
• “We don’t really care what you’re going through in your life. We’re right.”
• “Here’s a cutesy message that says absolutely nothing. Have a nice life!”

I won’t waste your time here reading examples of those offensive messages. If you want to see them, do a Google Image search for “church signs” and you will see plenty of examples. What’s sad is that some people are so proud of their bad signs they took a picture.

What if we tried more of a marketing approach on our church signs to communicate to the community, “We are here for you! To help our community. To meet your personal needs. We have a message of hope and love for you in a world that is sucking the life out of you. We just want to love you like Jesus does.”? Better yet, live our lives as Christ’s Church so that the church building doesn’t even need a sign.

I would celebrate church signs that have messages like these:

• We are giving away 1000 backpacks to school kids, on [date]. Tell everyone you know!
• Parenting is tough! Free parenting class on [days] at X pm.
• Need help to make ends meet? We gave out over 2 tons of groceries last year. Let us help you.
• We know life is hard. Need someone to talk to? Call our hotline 800-XXX-XXXX. We’ll even pray with you if you like.
• We care about youth and families! We want to help!
• Struggling with addictions. Check out our free support groups.
• Our youth want to help our community. Call us if you have an idea or person we can help.
• Free meal on [date], for all the community. Come! Be our guest! Let us serve you.
• Stop by our Fair Booth for FREE bottled water and Kid’s Face Painting.
• Free coat giveaway on [date]. We want you to be warm this winter.
• Park in our parking lot anytime! Especially on Sundays.

I am sure there are even better messages you could come up with. In a world that is more anti-Christian than not, as Christ’s ambassadors we should carefully choose our words. Coming across as an arrogant prideful Christian who has all the answers and has it all together doesn’t represent Christ very well. They know when we aren’t for real. It certainly doesn’t match Jesus’ approach to the lost and hurting world he encountered. As his representatives we should choose our words carefully, both what we say and what we print.

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:5-6