Mark 2:5 - "Their" faith

Jesus healed the paralytic because of his friends' faith, not his own. This is extraordinary and reveals how deeply Jesus feels about the person who would stand in the gap on behalf of his friend. Several times in the bible we see it written that we need to lay our lives down for our friends, and these four men did just that for their friend. They were willing to do whatever it took to get their buddy to the Healer - and Jesus took such great notice of this that He commended them for their faith by doing what they came for, He healed their friend. But even better than that, his body wasn't just healed, his soul was! This is the beauty of standing in the gap for someone, either by prayer or by physical means, not only will their outward life be affected but it will also affect their inner life!

About Jesus forgiving the man's sins first, Matthew Henry says this: "Thy sins are forgiven thee.Note, 1. Sin is the procuring cause of all our pains and sicknesses. The word of Christ was to take his thoughts off from the disease, which was the effect, and to lead them to the sin, the cause, that he might be more concerned about that, to get that pardoned." We need to always deal with the ROOT cause and not just the issues that arise from the root cause. Jesus knew that since sin is the root of all sickness this man needed to deal with that first, and once this took place Jesus then moved on to heal his body. All because this man had friends that were willing to stand in the gap for him!

Created 3 months ago