Forgiveness and Healing—A Package Deal

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” -Mark 2:5-7

The paralyzed man needed to be healed, but Jesus didn’t say, “Get up and walk.” Instead, He told the man his sins were forgiven. That presented a problem to the religious leaders sitting there in that house. They didn’t believe that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, so they didn’t believe He could forgive sins.

But Jesus was proving something to us through this incident. He was making the point that forgiveness and healing go hand in hand. When we receive one, the other belongs to us as well.

Mark 2:8 says, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves.” Then Jesus asked the religious leaders, “Which is easier to say; ‘Your sins are forgiven,’’ or ‘Take up your bed and walk?”

That didn’t make sense to me for a long time. Then I saw it. It’s so simple. Jesus was saying, “It doesn’t matter which one I say. If I say, ‘Get up and walk’ that means you’re forgiven. If I say, ‘You’re forgiven,’ that means ‘Get up and walk.’ The two always go together. Once you have one, the other automatically belongs to you. It’s a package deal!”

CONFESSION:

I’m forgiven! I’m healed! Healing belongs to me as surely as forgiveness does. Both are included in my covenant with my heavenly Father.