Devotionals for Pastors - It Will Never Happen
By Ed Wrather
And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 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?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"-He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!" - Mark 2:1-12 NKJV.
Back in December (2012), Scot and Wanda Denhalter moved into a new home that they had rented in St. George, Utah. Scot was somewhat concerned about a ridge above the back of the home that was covered with boulders. Wanda was not concerned. However, only a few weeks later Wanda barely escaped being killed by a 12 foot wide boulder that crashed into their house. The boulder hit the bed Wanda was sleeping in and caused injuries, including a gash to her leg, which required four hours of surgery to repair. Scot was not at home when the boulder hit, but said he had told Wanda before they moved in that, "...you could have a big boulder snap and come down and come right through the house, but she said that would never happen." (FoxNews 01.21.13)
The incident recorded in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus heals a paralyzed man is fascinating. What great faith the friends of the man who was paralyzed must have had! To get their friend to Jesus they tore up the roof of someone's house, and interrupted the sermon Jesus was preaching in a most dramatic way. Can you imagine sitting in your pew at your church, peacefully listening to your pastor preach God's Word...when suddenly debris begins to fall from the ceiling as a hole opens up. Then, a stretcher with a man on it is lowered through the hole to the floor! If you had been sleeping in church, that would probably wake you up! However, the most amazing part of the event was that Jesus forgave the man his sins, healed the man, and the formerly paralyzed man picked up his bed and walked out of the house! What a Sunday service that would be!! And we would all be saying just like the people that day, "We never saw anything like this!"
If you could have interviewed the people present prior to the event recorded in Mark chapter 2, and asked them if they thought Jesus would forgive a man's sins and heal a paralyzed man during the service what would they have said? They would have said, "It will never happen!" However, there were four men that day who believed that it would happen, and it did!
We must be careful not to discount the power of God. If anyone had told me, or even told those who knew me when I was a teenager that I would spend more than 20 years of my life as a pastor; we all would have said, "It will never happen!" Here is what God says, "...if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20)."
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