Wednesday, October
4, 2017
Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the
paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law
said to themselves, “That’s blasphemy! Does
he think he’s God?” Jesus knew what
they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts
in your hearts? Is it easier to say
‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has
the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the
paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up and went home! Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this
happen. And they praised God for giving
humans such authority. Matthew 9:2-8(NLT)
Some
thought the paralyzed man had sinned, perhaps even in his mother’s womb before
birth. Some thought his parents had
sinned and God was punishing them by crippling the man for life. Others didn’t know what to think, so they
kept silent and accepted it as a condition they would never understand; they
just hoped something like that would never happen to them. Some thought this, some that; but everybody knew
somebody must’ve done something really bad for God to let that happen. Sometimes you just go too far, and God has
had enough. It’s disturbing to the soul.
And
bewilderment over tragedy in Jerusalem isn’t much different than Las Vegas last
Sunday night! We are sorely pressed to
make some sense out of the carnage and rage, even to assigning motives God may
have had in letting a deranged 64 year old plunge the whole country into
mourning.
How could
this happen?
How do you
make sense out of Sunday night’s rampage in Las Vegas?
The bottom
line is we cannot make
sense of it. What kind of reason hauls
an arsenal onto a hotel 32nd floor and plans to do such a thing? What kind of reasoning takes a weapon in hand
and indiscriminately sprays bullets into a crowd, taking the lives of people he’s
never seen before? There is no sense to
this, just as assuredly no one could figure out who sinned – the paralyzed man
or his parents – or even what God was up to; you don’t make sense out of the
unthinkable.
All we can
do is respond with faith, mourning the dead, picking up numb minds and limbs to
continue on with working the works of righteousness. For the living, what else makes sense? How else do you honor those who perished, and
those whose lives will never be the same?
How else can you listen for the voice of God?
On the day
Jesus healed the paralyzed man the people gave great praise to God. And on this day when literally thousands
mourn the loss of their loved ones, must we not also do the same? As with Job, who was challenged by his wife
to just curse God and die, must we not answer, the LORD gives; the LORD takes away; blessed be the name of the LORD?[2]
For You Today
When words
won’t make sense, praying will:
Lord,
Our hearts are broken for those whose lives
have been savagely broken.
Our minds are numb with the madness of
violence that permeates all we see.
Our lives move and fester in a culture that
glorifies anger and vengeance.
Make our hearts to see your faithful
lovingkindness so we may know the comfort of a cleft in thy strong rock throughout
this weary land, and that we may lift praise in the midst of all our
brokenness.
In the name of Calvary’s Lamb we pray…Amen!
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