DAILY BYTEA couple of weeks back, we spoke about making unexpected yet pleasant discoveries. Such as putting on a pair of jeans you haven’t worn in a while and discovering money in the pocket. Throughout this week I want to talk about a different kind of unexpected discovery. The kind of discovery that is actually unpleasant when you first make it, but later turns out to be far more joyful and life-giving than you possibly could have first imagined.
Like in the ancient Roman fable of Androcles and the Lion. Androcles is a slave who runs away, and seeks refuge in a cave. There he makes the unpleasant discovery that the cave is actually a lion’s lair! He turns to run, but as he does so, he notices the lion is limping so he stops to pull a thorn out of its paw. In gratitude, the lion brings him a continual supply of fresh meat to eat whilst he hides out in the cave. An initial unpleasant discovery becomes a joyful one.
This becomes even truer when a little later in the fable, Androcles is captured and makes the rather unpleasant discovery that as punishment he has been condemned to die – to be eaten alive by the lions in the Roman circus. The half-starved lion that rushes out to consume him, however, is exactly the same one he helped before, and so yet again he is saved! An unpleasant discovery becomes life-giving.
I mention this because the bible reading we will base our devotions around this week teaches some important truths about healing. These truths may initially seem unpleasant, but as we grapple with them we will find that they are in fact, both joy-filled and life-giving.
The bible text in question is that of the paralysed man being lowered through the roof (see focus reading). Read the story carefully and you will notice how upset the religious leaders (scribes) got over Jesus’ interpretation on what it means to be healed.
Jesus perceived their hearts and challenged them to think in new ways. When it comes to the issue of healing, what lies in your heart – what might Jesus perceive within you?
Are you in need of some sort of healing, either physical, emotional or spiritual? What might prevent you from finding healing, or from acknowledging that you have a deep need of God’s healing touch on some area of your life?
Commit these thoughts to God in prayer.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious Father, you are the healer of both souls and bodies. I ask that your Spirit would probe my heart and perceive within me exactly what areas of my life are in need of your healing touch. In Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Mark 2. 3-12 NRSV
Then some people came, bringing to Jesus 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; 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 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!”
