DAILY BYTEThis week we are focussing on the story of the paralysed man being lowered down through the roof on his mat (read the story again – see below). Yesterday we made note of how this story teaches us some profound truths on the topic of healing.
Truths that may not exactly be welcome discoveries at first, but later as we wrestle with them we find they bring us untold joy and life.
The first truth is this:
EVERYONE HAS A MAT.
If the mat stands as a picture of human brokenness and hurt, then everyone has a mat.
Just as the man was trapped on his mat – a piece of material no more than 3 feet wide and 6 feet long - so many of us live paralysed by our mats.
Whether our mat is anger, fear or pride that constantly spills out from us onto others. Or maybe it is unresolved regrets or inadequacies. Or perhaps it is the inability to trust or emote on a deep level with other human beings. Or it may even be that our mat is an uncontrollable desire to be in control, or a crushing sense of failure, plainness or loneliness.
It may even be that our mat is a desperate desire for physical healing, to the point that we struggle to move past feeling bitter or let down by God. The point is that mats are places of paralysis, places where we end up living smaller than we should, in an area no more than 3 feet wide and 6 feet long.
As a parent of young children, I almost always get a sinking feeling when we receive a toy with the dreaded words ‘Some Assembly Required’ written across the box. I am DIY-challenged and so any toy that requires assembly brings tremendous stress into my life.
The last time we got just such a toy, it took 2 hours of intense sweaty struggling with one or two bad words thrown in for good measure, before I eventually looked over the top of my newspaper and asked my wife, “I suppose you want me to help you with that?”
The truth is that we all, at some point, need to face up to the fact that we are in need and that there is ‘Some Assembly Required’ on us – we need help.
We all have a mat - the problem is that we love to pretend we don’t.
We point fingers at others who have more obvious problems (much like the Scribes do in this story) but all the while we deny any and all mats, pains and problems within ourselves.
It is a moment of surprising joy when we first come to terms with how much we are in need of God’s healing touch. We would think that this should be a moment of hurt or shame, but we are surprised to find that it is a moment of incredible freedom.
Because the beginning of the end of our pain is just plain facing up to it. Acknowledging your mat. Something the Scribes – the professional, religious people – were unable to do, even by the end of the story.
The Bible is filled with incredible healing stories, but people did not get healed unless they first asked.
And to do that, we need to know what to ask for.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Healing God, I ask that you would clearly show me those areas of my life where I lies paralysed by my pain, trapped on my particular mat. I ask that you would bring healing, health and wholeness to those areas. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Mark 2:3-7 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?” open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.
