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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is sound and season. It's Saturday, the 4th day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 17. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home, and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them, and they came to him, bringing to him a paralytic carried by 4 men, and when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
Jeffrey Heine:And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they had thus questioned within themselves, said to them, why do you question these things in your hearts?
Jeffrey Heine:Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed, and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. And he rose, and immediately picked up his bed, and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, we never saw anything like this. He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them, and as he passed by he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed him.
Jeffrey Heine:And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes or the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. This is the word of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Thanks be to God. The gospel of Mark is growing wilder by the chapter, and here in chapter 2, the wildest occurrence is not the mass healing, nor is it the 4 friends destroying a roof to lower their paralyzed friend inside. The most insane happening is that there is a man forgiving people of their sins. Why do the scribes say, only God forgives sin? The 2nd century theologian, Irenaeus, addresses this with a question.
Jeffrey Heine:How can sins be rightly remitted unless the very one against whom one has sinned grants the pardon? In other words, Irenaeus is saying, the only way someone can be forgiven is when the person they've wronged forgives them. If Jesus is forgiving sins, he's implying that he is the one who has sinned against. That is why the Pharisees accuse Jesus of blasphemy, but he has not yet finished dismantling their sense of righteousness. Jesus calls another disciple, this time a tax collector named Levi.
Jeffrey Heine:He had already earned the ire of the Pharisees by implying that he was God. Now, the man is associating with known cheats, sellouts, and sinners. Jesus, knowing their judgment and consternation says, I did not come to call those who think that they are righteous, but those who know they are not. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. Let us pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Oh God, who by the glorious resurrection of your son Jesus Christ destroyed death, and brought life and immortality to light, grant that we who have been raised with him may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory. Oh, lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.