March 14

The Paralytic and His Friends

            Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.  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 fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?  But so 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, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.”  And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Mark 2:3-12

            Once again Jesus confronts the worldview that Healthiness is synonymous with Holiness.  Money and fame and good looks are not signs that God looks upon you as righteous.  In another part of scripture, Jesus laments over how hard it is for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Similarly, sickness, disability and poverty are not punishments from God.  They are not curses that He inflicts upon those that He despises.  Jesus goes to great lengths to point that out in this passage.  He forgives the man’s sins, making him clean before his Maker, and he is still paralyzed.  Only after a few beats does Jesus heal the man’s body.  Healthiness is not the same as Holiness.

             That is not to say that our internal state is not connected to our external condition.  Many of the common physical ailments that we struggle through have their roots in our emotional struggles.  The effects of stress are the most commonly recognized.  Stress can lead to debilitating headaches, ulcers, muscle and joint tightness and pain, as well as loss of both appetite and the ability to sleep.  Through the years I have worked with and mentored individuals who struggled with social anxiety, alcoholism, clinical depression, Bi-Polar Disorder and chronic illness to name a few well-recognized conditions.  Each and every one of them had more than just chemical imbalances going on; there were both physical and spiritual factors that needed to be addressed.  Medications and therapies were incredibly beneficial, but they did not solve the entire puzzle.  There were also spiritual issues that needed to be answered before they could take control of themselves.  Sometimes it was past abuse that continued to torment them; sometimes it was bitterness or hatred or fear that festered inside their hearts; sometimes it was a sin that they had committed against someone else or an inheritance of generational sin that continued to eat at their soul.  The physical, the emotional and the spiritual all have to be addressed for wholeness to be restored.

            There is a difference between a normal autism day and an autism day that is filled with anxiety, shame or pain.  When there are things that are eating away at my son’s heart, everything is intensified.  Tears appear more quickly.  Panic creeps into his voice.  Clicks and chirps and squeaks are more prevalent.  Mental rigidity sets in.  All the sounds are louder and the lights are brighter and the expectations are heavier.  Sometimes he can articulate what he is worried about.  Often it does not make much sense.  We’ve found a few things that help take the edge off: soaking his feet in the bathtub, reading his familiar books in his bed, listening to some soothing music.  Once the crisis feels averted, we bring him to Jesus.  We pray for him, in his regularly scheduled night-time routine, and spend some extra time on speaking grace and peace and freedom.  We listen for what he has to say that might be bothering him.  Then we pray for wisdom and grace for ourselves.

            The central call of the Church is to be like these four people who brought their IDD friend to Jesus.  That was all that they could do.  That was all that they needed to do.  The Great Healer takes it from there.

A moment to reflect:

What external signs show that your child is upset about something?  How can you bring them to the Great Healer?