Getting in Front of Jesus

Friday mornings are pretty great.

This morning was a blast! That is a pretty good description of most Friday mornings, but today was a really great time. We had 60 kids come this morning, and despite the fog, and the moisture, the energy level was high!

Today's game was called "blanket derby." Kids had to carry each other around a course using a blanket. It got pretty wild, but it was really fun to see how kids got creative in order to carry each other. The ground was also very wet, making it even better!

8th grade boys getting ready.

6th graders were charging.

8th grade boys going with the cocoon method.

Just enjoying the ride.

After the game we had the kids help us tell the story of Jesus forgiving and healing a paralyzed man by acting it out. The story was tweaked to make it in modern day, but the message was the same... and the kids had a blast hamming it up!

Who doesn't like a little drama?

After the drama we broke into our normal small(ish) groups and got into the Bible. We read the story of Jesus forgiving and healing a paralyzed man, found in Mark 2:1-12. This story is a pretty incredible story for several different reasons.

The story goes like this: Jesus was in a home teaching, and there was a very large crowd gathered to hear him speak. Earlier, four friends had heard that Jesus was speaking, and, because Jesus was known as healer by this time, decided that they needed to get their friend that was paralyzed from the neck down in front of Jesus. They believed that Jesus would heal their friend. Back then, a person in this man's condition would have had to be carried around on a mat, and when they arrived at the home they realized they could not get inside to get in front of Jesus. These guys were determined. They decided to carry their friend up to the roof (back then most homes would have had stairs going up to the roof) and tear a hole in the roof so they could lower their friend down in front of Jesus.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to be in that room! You are listening to Jesus, then start hearing a bunch of noise on the roof. After several minutes the roof starts falling into the room. I imagine it would have been incredibly dusty, and there is no doubt that everything stopped as soon as light started pouring into the room through the newly formed opening in the roof.

I imagine Jesus just looked up and smiled.

Next thing you know, there is a man being lowered into the room on a mat. I often wonder how this happened. Were there ropes involved? Did a couple of the guys jump down into the room and then the other two lower their buddy down? Did they ask people inside to help? However it happened, it didn't seem that they cared that they just interrupted whatever was happening inside. They did seem to care that they just ruined the moment. I wonder if Jesus was in the middle of making a really important point, or if he was just about to blow everyone's mind. Whatever was happening inside, these guys didn't care... and neither did Jesus!

I wonder how often I miss out on something incredibly special because I am too concerned about what others will think, or too concerned about ruining a moment.

Jesus looked at the friends, and then looked at the man on the mat, and said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Jesus didn't address the obvious problem of the guys physical condition, but, WITHOUT THE MAN ASKING FOR IT, he forgave the man's sins. This didn't go over well with the religious professionals there in the room. No one could forgive sins but God, and, as far as everyone knew, Jesus was a man. Jesus knew that they were questioning him (who wouldn't have) and in response asked them a question, "Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk?'"

The first would have been easier of course. There wouldn't have been any actual physical evidence if you weren't able to forgive the man's sins, but, if you told a man that was paralyzed to get up and walk, and he didn't, everyone would know you were a fraud. So, in order to prove that Jesus did actually have the power and authority to forgive the man's sins, he told the man lying at his feet, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." AND HE DID.

This is incredible. One moment this man was paralyzed, the next he was walking home. But what is more incredible is that this man was totally forgiven. He didn't even ask for it! He didn't ask Jesus to be forgiven, as far as we know, he didn't ask Jesus for anything. Mark tells us that Jesus forgave this man because of the faith of his friends, this guy could have been totally embarrassed by what his friends were doing. He may not have believed that Jesus had any power at all, but Jesus still looked at him with true compassion, forgave him, and to make sure that everyone knew something extremely incredible just happened, healed the man.

Jesus is about people living full lives, both physically and spiritually. He knows that the physical side of life isn't the whole picture, and that the spiritual side of life is just as real, if not more real, than what we can see. Jesus addressed the most important problem for this man first, freeing him from the guilt of his sins, and then restored his physical body as well. Jesus does the same for us. He forgives completely. No matter the sin, no matter how many times we have blown it, no matter how far we have fallen from him, he forgives. He also heals. It might not always seem that he heals us in the way he healed this man, but, he heals completely in his time, and because of stories like this and so many others in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we can know that Jesus desires the best for us.

So, if you want to talk with your kids about WyldLife this morning, ask them about the game. Ask them about the drama. Ask them about Jesus healing the paralyzed man, and what his friends did to get that guy in front of Jesus, and then ask them what Jesus did in response.