Thoughts about Mark

James Earl Jones was telling me about Mark, chapters 1 and 2 on my way to school today. There is some interesting things in Mark, and having them read by James Earl Jones (who could have the best storytelling voice EVER) as well as the fact that the version he reads from is KJV, I guess I thought about the stories I'd heard before in new ways.. pretty neat.

First is in Mark 1:21-28. It's the story where Jesus goes to Capernaum (well, I didn't really know about Capernaum, so I googled it.. this is a neat site.. if you click on the link, you can see pictures of Galilee.. I guess to actually SEE where all of this went down.. it makes it more real or something. This was a small place.. maybe only 1500 people in the whole town (my high school was bigger!) And from Mark 1:14-18...imagine being like Simon and Andrew standing there on the shore of the sea in that first picture, casting your net into the ocean, minding your own business and having some random guy you've never met come up to you and say, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men" Whoa. They must have seen something incredibly amazing in this man, because the next verse says, "At once they left their nets and followed him.") (Can I just say that as I am sitting here blogging this, for the first time in a little while, my heart came alive within me. It is good to sit and think about my precious Jesus and the stories that prove Him time and again as rightful king of my heart. Funny how you can give thanks for ipods and blogs, haha..)

ANYWAY...

back to Mark 1:21-28... i like how, before Jesus ever even addresses him, the man who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazzareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- the Holy One of God!" Jesus then rebukes the spirit, it comes out of him and the people are amazed. (me too! wow.. can you imagine seeing unfold in real life?! the Bible is true! this really happened! wow.)

Mark then goes on to talk about how Jesus healed a bunch of people... one in particular in Mark 2 really hit me. I was trying to decide what about hearing this story really hit me today because, i've heard it a bazillion times before.. and here's what I came up with:

the word in the KJV for Paralytic is Palsy. Have you ever seen someone with cerebral palsy? How they are so cramped and uncomfortable.. how they are so confined by their own body? I have and my heart hurts for them. It would be such torture to be trapped in your own skin. Also, I went to Pendleton Elementary School yesterday on a field trip to teach little kids about snakes and spiders and bugs and there were two small children there in tiny wheel chairs.. i don't know what they had, but I think that was one of the things that made this passage stand out to me today. (funny how God orchestrates things to show you one thing and teach you something from that)

Well, have you ever thought about how this guy with Palsy had never walked? He was always cramped and contorted so that he could not move? Jesus says to Him that his sins are forgiven. Now, here, when Jesus forgives the man of his sins he is not healed of his palsy. In my mind, upon first reading it, I was relating the two, but upon further inspection, I realize that the man was not afflicted with Palsy because he had sinned, that is a completely separate ailment. Jesus first forgives him of his sin. That's big to me.. think about if Jesus had just performed some miracle on the man and not fogiven his sins, it'd have all been for naught.. and who really cares if you can walk good in this vapor of a life if you spend eternity in hell fire?! Jesus takes care of the big business first and then, only after he hears (without them saying anything, mind you) that there are some there who think he is blasphemying... he says, "which is easier; to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?" Then, to show them he is who he says he is, he tells the guy with Palsy to get up and take his bed and head back home.

This guy has NEVER walked before. And here's where I was particularly amazed (although in blogging it, I have come to be amazed at other parts as well) There was nothing in this guy Jesus had to work with.. by that, I mean, it's not like he gave this guy a regiment of therapy and said.. "listen, if you do these excersizes over the next few months, you should be able to walk..." it's not like this guy had any ability in himself to be able to walk. He had never walked since birth. Jesus right then and there gave him all the power all the muscle all the ability all the cognitive connections it takes to be able to walk. He didn't start off crawling, he never stumbled around and pull himself up by the wall.. The dude just got up and walked out as if he had always been fine. Gosh.
If Jesus can do this.. what is he capable of? He can do anything. I know we always say that, but I guess it hit me afresh today.. and if you have beared with me through this entirely long blog, my hope is that it will hit you afresh as well. We serve a God who is more amazing that anything we could imagine and who is able to do more with us than what our small little pea brains think He can. And it isn't a matter of any little inkling of effort in us that he fosters and grows.. he doesn't give us therapy.. he gives us life.. he gives us ability to move.
I wish I understood better what that looks like in my life.. I have faith that he can do it though, and maybe that's all I need..