June 23

" T hey came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”"

Mark 2:3; Mark 2:5

The primary purpose of our Lord’s ministry as the Servant of Jehovah was to bring people into right relationship with God. What availed it if the sick were healed of physical ailments but continued on in their sins, unrepentant and unbelieving? The paralytic condition of the man who was saved and healed pictures the real state of men generally—“without strength” (Romans 5:6), and therefore unable to deliver themselves from the dire results of their sins. But Jesus came not to help men save themselves, but to deliver them Himself from their lost estate. It is not when we have done our best that His grace comes in to make up full weight, as it were. But when we realize that we are utterly helpless and look to Him alone for salvation, He does for us what no one else could do.

It is all of grace through faith, that the glory might be His alone. The faith of the four men who brought their paralytic friend to Jesus is a beautiful example of fellowship in the glad service of bringing others to Christ. But he too believed, and so the faith of all five was rewarded.

Forgiveness! ‘twas a joyful sound

To guilty sinners doomed to die:

We’d publish it the world around,

And gladly shout it through the sky.

‘Twas the rich gift of love divine;

‘Tis full effacing ev’ry crime;

Unbounded shall its glories shine,

And know no change by changing time.

—Gibbons