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[This chapter discusses the healing of the paralytic from Mark 2:1-12]
In most cases of paralysis the brain is in good condition and has messages to send the body, and the body is also fit, able to execute the commands of the brain. The problem arises because of a failure in communication between the head and the body due to nerve damage in the neck. People who believe in Jesus as Lord often refer to themselves as “the body of Christ” and understand Jesus to be the head of that body. In this miracle we see the same problem replicated in a fractal-like manner on three levels of reality. Just as communication between the paralytic’s brain and body was blocked, so communication between Christ and the man as a member of the body of Christ was physically blocked by the pressing throng, which he could not get through. These are the first two parallel replications of the same problem. The third way communication failure is expressed within this miracle is by the unforgiving spirit of the Pharisees. The false belief that sins cannot be forgiven blocks us from sensing God’s communications with us. Until we arrive at a state of forgiveness, we are severed from feeling God’s presence in our lives. This miracle is Jesus’s way of healing us of this form of spiritual paralysis.
“Who can forgive sins but God alone?” It would seem that these are the words of a callous, uncaring heart, and yet many of us have a similar voice sounding in our own consciousness. We want people to pay for their misdeeds in fullespecially those whose actions harmed us personally. Someone aggravates us. We mentally review the interaction over and over, enforcing our rightness and the other party’s wrongness. Maybe we even imagine revenge scenarios or future arguments in which we really cut the other down to size. Every time we hold a grudge like this, we can know that the Pharisees of our heart are hard at work. In holding a grudge, we are cut off from communication with God. Our condemning attitude and God’s forgiving love are mutually exclusive.
Sometimes this unforgiving voice targets other people. But just as often, it is ourselves we refuse to forgive. We did something we knew was wrong. We hurt someone or we betrayed our own sense of what is right. We are dismayed or maybe even horrified, and we choose not to forgive ourselves. Frequently, we don’t even know how to forgive ourselves. We are paralyzed.