In Saul’s mind, there were many factors at work in his drive
to kill David. His jealousy over the
people’s love of David was certainly one of those factors. Another serious consideration for him, even though
it doesn’t seem that he knew Samuel had already anointed David as the next
king, was that he did know that the Lord was going to take away the kingdom
from him and give it to a better man and it seemed obvious that David was that
man. Saul’s desire was to pass the
kingdom on to his son in the way that other nations passed the kingship from
father to son, even though he knew it wasn’t his to give but the Lord’s. Saul’s children, Jonathan and Michal, both
assisted David in escaping their father’s murderous intentions in spite of the
cost to themselves. There are echoes in
all this of Jacob and Esau, one a rightful claimant in the world’s way of doing
things to an inheritance but God choosing another. This goes to the most basic ideas of life and
says that even those basic understandings are flawed and God’s ways are
different. Don’t you just hate it when
He does that?
The healing of the paralytic seems straightforward, Jesus
would heal other people and here it seems these four men who brought the paralytic
believed quite completely that He could heal their friend. Jesus sees their faith, and you would think
the next words would have to do with the healing of the man but instead Jesus
says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Had this man sinned against Jesus? We can only give forgiveness to another based
on offense against us. Sin, is
transgression against God and that required sacrifice. Who is this man who
proclaims forgiveness without sacrifice, without that act of confession and
contrition? While we may not see the
direct connection between the paralysis and sin, there must have been one,
Jesus wouldn’t have done this simply to be provocative. Sin must have been the cause of the paralysis
in some way, directly or indirectly, and must have been something the man
needed to hear, just as the leper in yesterday’s lesson needed Jesus to touch
him. These two encounters seem to
present the truth about the nexus between body and spirit from each
perspective. Holistic healing sees the
connection between spirit and body and reaches both.
As the church begins gathering momentum in its Gentile
missions, persecution strikes at the heart of the movement, among the apostles
in Jerusalem. James, the brother of
John, is put to death by Pilate and Peter is imprisoned and Herod intends to
kill him as well. Miraculously, Peter is
freed from his bonds by an angel and brought to safety outside the prison. He is between two guards, bound with not one
but two chains, and sentries guarded the establishment and yet Peter is set
free from his chains, the guards fail to awaken and the sentries don’t see it
either. Peter can’t believe it, thinking
it is a vision, and the people gathered in prayer don’t believe it either. How could anyone believe it, it is impossible
to believe and yet there stands Peter, knocking, knocking and waiting. Sometimes it takes faith a while to catch up
with God. His will is being done, who
will believe.
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