Your sins are forgiven! But you still have to miss soccer and track this spring...

I preached on Mark 2 a couple weeks ago where Jesus heals the paralytic dropped through the ceiling by his friends. You remember the story, right? As soon as the man lands in front of Jesus inside the house, the Lord says "Your sins are forgiven". Kind of an unusual response when the guy came for physical healing. Of course, Jesus was acknowledging the faith of the friends (and presumably the paralytic) by pronouncing the forgiveness of sins. Their faith was displayed by the effort they took to bring the man to Jesus in such an extreme way. As you also know, Jesus proceeded to heal the man outright and the man walked out of the house and down the street on his own power. It's a very powerful, memorable story.

On Saturday I was sitting in an urgent care clinic with my son AJ who hurt his foot. We both knew it was broken but were waiting for a doctor to read the xrays. A.J. has been training for soccer and track very faithfully this winter and was really ready to have great seasons in both this spring. This injury has really bummed him out.

As we sat in the room waiting for the doctor, AJ said- "I hope he comes in and says 'your sins are forgiven'". I knew he was referring to the Mark 2 story, but responded immediately saying, "A.J., you know your sins are forgiven in Christ, right?".

I loved what the mopey guy said next- "Yeah Dad, I know, but you know what happens next in the story..."

Well, poor A.J. didn't get the same results as the paralytic and had to leave on his crutches. Nevertheless, and far more importantly, he knows his sins are forgiven.