Hearing the Word

Mark 2:8-12a reads: But Yeshua knew in his spirit these things that they were thinking in themselves. And he said to them, "Why do you think these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic that, 'Your sins are forgiven you' or to say, 'Get up! Take your pallet and walk?' But that you might know that it is Lawful for the Son of man to forgive sins on earth," he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise and take your pallet and go your house." And at once he arose.... From this passage, Yeshua asserts His power and authority to forgive sins on earth. There are no animal sacrifices or "pray after me" prayers. He finds a repentant heart and announces forgiveness.

Second, from this passage we learn that Yeshua connects forgiveness with physical healing. Some believe that healing is not for today. If it isn't, is forgiveness for today? They are interconnected. The Hebrew approach does not divide the person into three separate categories of spirit, soul, and body. There is an inner person and a body, but they are connected. You can't say that your inner person is right with God and at the same time have a body that is in willful disobedience in sin. Yeshua comes to bring wholeness to both the inner person and the body. The words of Yeshua to the paralytic to "arise" is in the aorist imperative middle. This means that Yeshua is commanding a singular as opposed to continuous action. The middle tense means that the paralytic will be affected by his own action or is acting on himself. Yeshua has spoken a word of healing, but the paralytic must appropriate that healing for himself by acting on Yeshua's words. Deliverance, wholeness, redemption, and healing have been provided for us, but we must act on the word.

Is there something today that you need to act on? Has the word been spoken to you, yet you fail to move? Today, Yeshua still says "arise" to those that will hear and obey.