The Parapalegic (more tomorrow)

The Paraplegic

It may seem an odd way to begin a cure. But in Palestine, in the time of Jesus, it was natural and inevitable. The Jews integrally connected sin and suffering. They argued that if a man was suffering he must have sinned. That is in fact the argument that Job’s friends produced. “Who,” demanded Eliphaz the Temanite, “that was innocent ever perished?” (Job 4:7.) The Rabbis had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.” To the Jews a sick man was a man with whom God was angry. It is true that a great many illnesses are due to sin; it is still truer that time and time again they are due not to the sin of the ill man, but to the sin of others. We do not make the close connection that the Jews did, but any Jew would have agreed that forgiveness of sins was a prior condition of cure.

Interestingly, in this situation, the paraplegic does not ask for forgiveness, he is given forgiveness so that he may repent. His illness prevented him from going to temple or synagogue where he could officially seek forgiveness. For the most part, we have gone about changing that order in the church, we tell people to come and repent…in this case Jesus forgave him, and then he could repent and change. Jesus forgives you and me…we are compelled to repent in the face of such a magnanimous gift.

So, if we attempt to insert ourselves into the story, we are the ones who are paralized, forgiven, healed and able to repent. For a short while after a quad by-pass, heart attack, and stroke, I was confined to a wheelchair. I thank God I have been healed and am able to repent, unto salvation.