The Son of Man Cares

When I think of Grandma, I think of cinnamon roles. What you have to understand about me is that I am the youngest of four sibling. And my dad was the youngest of seven children. So three out of four of my grandparents were dead before I was born. And, by the time I came along there were so many grandchildren that I was more of a number than a name. But when we went to grandma’s house I could tell that Grandma cared for me. I could tell because I could smell it. As soon as I came in the front door of Grandma’s house I could smell fresh cinnamon roles. Grandma had arthritis. And Grandma had a hard time at 80+ years old talking to a little child. But I could tell she cared for me because I could smell it and taste it. In your life, what are the ways that the people around you show that they care for you? In the words we look at this morning we see so very clearly that Jesus, the Son of Man cares. But even more importantly, we see how he cares for us. In Mark 2 we read: “1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.” (Mark 2:1–4 NIV11-GKE)

As we read these word we see that these four men cared for their friend because they showed it. They cared for their friend so much that when they got to the house where Jesus was at, instead of turning home, they lifted their paralyzed friend to the top of the roof. They dug and tore the roof away. And then they lowered the man to lay at Jesus’ feet. But what’s interesting here is what Jesus sees. We read: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”” (Mark 2:5 NIV11-GKE)

What does Jesus see? Jesus doesn’t as much see their effort as their faith. And what follows is fascinating. They go through all this effort to lay their friend at Jesus’ feet so that he would heal him. But Jesus doesn’t do that. Instead Jesus cares enough to see what they do not. Jesus cares enough to see that the most important thing this paralyzed man needed was not healing for his body, but instead healing for his soul. He needed forgiveness. So he says to the man, “Child, your sins are forgiven you.”1 These words begin to make sense to us when we have chronic, continual pain and sickness. When you have chronic pain and continual sickness. I came from a congregation where the people were much older than they are here overall. And when a person deals with cancer, COPD, and arthritis over the course of decades your body begins to wage war against your soul. You pray for relief, but there is none. And where you end up is asking the question, “Jesus, don’t you care?” You conclude that you are not saved from your sins. Why? Because you are