How far have you extended your faith on behalf of someone else? What was it like? I pray that it helped you experience God in a new way. Please receive Today’s Holy Nougat.
Matthew 9:2 CEB
[2] People brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a cot. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man who was paralyzed, “Be encouraged, my child, your sins are forgiven.”
In Faith, Before Y’shua
Did you realize that in this version of the healing of a paralysed man, we have very minimal information. It’s as if Matthew says all we need is the basics to help us believe. That isn’t always the case as we sometimes need a dash of something extra.
Self-Check
What does it take for us to trust Y’shua or His representative for our healing or deliverance in our lives?
Application
Sometimes, it is necessary to get more details than what we’ve received to fully grasp what is happening. The facts we have suggest that this is a healing story. We’re told that a paralysed person is taken to Y’shua. We are told that Y’shua responds to the friends’ faith. We realize that Y’shua healing is unconventional, and it’s primarily a response to the friends, nor the paralytic.
In reading the preceding chapter, we see that Matthew shared several healing stories. He began with the socially marginalising disease of leprosy; then a politically incorrect healing, the healing a Gentile’s servant; followed by healing an older woman; outcasts, the weather, as well as two violent men, possessed by demons on the other (Gentile) side of the lake.
Ironically, the final healing action resulted in Y’shua being run out of town because His healing power was bad for business. By the time He would have returned to His town, Y’shua’s reputation would most definitely have preceded Him.
It must have taken consensus and courage to transport the paralytic to be seen by Y’shua. They would have had to carry him to the venue with only the mat as support. Then they needed to situate him where Y’shua would see him. And they did. We don’t know what it cost them to do so, but the man’s healing seemed compensation enough. For their faith resulted in the person’s healing.
Faith, and not just healing miracles, is the main subject of those stories Matthew shared. More so, in this healing miracle, Matthew suggests that faith is powerful enough to send demons into the sea through pigs (in the instance when Y’shua was run out of town), to heal a Gentile servant, and to heal the paralytic. Note, however, that the faith was in Y’shua. Even the demons recognized Y’shua’s power and yielded to His authority.
Point to Ponder
Do we?
What do we take to Y’shua? On whose behalf? In so doing, is it in recognition of Y’shua’s power as we yield to His authority? Selah
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May all we seek be found in Christ
