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JESUS THE MIND-READER

Not that my mother lets me stay up that late at night, but comedian Will Farrell, formerly of Saturday Night Live fame, did a rather clever take-off once on the issue of people who claim they can pick up “vibes” out there, and know everything there is about you from the so-called spirit world. Actually, there’s nothing whatsoever funny about what the Word of God says regarding communication with the dead, but in this particular SNL skit, Farrell would look right into someone’s eyes, trying to decipher the codes. “Yes, I think I’ve got it,” he said. “You used to have a sister . . . younger, I think.”

“I don’t have any sisters,” the subject protested.

“No, not a sister,” Farrell instantly corrected. “Cousin, maybe. Female cousin. Used to live in . . . I’m seeing it now . . . Pittsburgh.”

“Nobody in Pittsburgh.”

“Starts with P, though? Right? Palm Springs? Punxatawny? Peoria?” And then he was getting a name. “I’m pretty sure . . . starts with R. Correct?” “No.” “I didn’t mean R. I meant C. Or maybe D.” When it was none of the above, he began to get hostile. “I meant the first name, not last. Are you sure it doesn’t start with a O, or another letter that’s at least somewhat round?” And it becomes clear that here’s a person who just can’t do what he claims. For fifty dollars, he’ll simply keep guessing his way through the alphabet until someone in the universe you know someplace has a relative whose in-law twice removed started with that letter or at least a letter near it.

I contrast that with the incredible Bible story found clear back in the book of Daniel where all of Babylon’s court astrologers and fakers, most of them cousins of Will Farrell, no doubt, had to confess to King Nebuchadnezzar that, no, they couldn’t tell him what he dreamed last night. They could make up an interpretation of the dream — no problem there; they were very inventive storytellers — but to just know his dream . . . no, they couldn’t do that. And when Daniel, the man of God, stood before the king, he quietly said to the monarch: “Let me first of all — with God’s help — tell you exactly what you dreamed last night. That will give you confidence in God’s ways. Then, once I have your full attention, I’ll also tell you what God wants you to know about the future.” It’s a good heavenly strategy, isn’t it — in two parts. Part one is the visible proof . . . and that gives you a sense of trust that part two, the invisible part, is right as well.

Here in our New Testament scenario, now, in a crowded house in Capernaum, Jesus has just said five wonderful words to the very sick man who came down through the roof. He’s flat on his back, a paralytic, and the Great Physician, surprisingly, tells him: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Then something very interesting happens. All of the religious intelligentsia — who were all there on a spy mission, a religious sting operation — begin thinking to themselves: “We’ve got Him! This phony! This blasphemer! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Maybe you remember a popular story from a while back where an advertising genius, hit by a bolt of lightning, can suddenly HEAR what other people are thinking. As a random thought flashes through their brain, he actually hears it audibly in his mind. And it’s very disconcerting when he then pipes up with an answer to the secret thing they were just mulling over in the dark recesses of their cerebrum. Here in this crowded living room, as the Pharisees and priests are thinking to themselves: “That’s heresy! Blasphemy! He just essentially said He was God! We’re going to totally nail Him!”, Jesus frightens the starch out of their wigs by looking right at them and saying: “Why are you thinking these things? Heresy? Blasphemy?” Here’s the word-for-word King James transcript:

“But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?” In the Message paraphrase: “Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, ‘Why all this gossipy whispering?’”

You may remember another Jesus the Mindreader story where, after a woman is caught in the act of adultery, and these religious leaders want to stone her, Jesus quietly kneels down in the dust and begins to write down all of the secret things these men have on their own laptop hard drives back home, all of the things they had quietly done in their own bedrooms and boardrooms the day before. And here in Capernaum, they have to be thinking: “How did He know I was thinking that exact thing?” The Adventist Bible Commentary points out the typical human reaction when someone else can pry open the lock to your brain that way:

“This generally had the effect of making them furiously angry.”

True for that advertising executive, and true right here in Capernaum. They were boiling mad, but that was nothing compared to what was about to transpire. Jesus asks them a huge, loaded question. Here’s Luke 5:23:

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?”

Now, let’s ourselves stop and think about this. Which IS easier to say? “Your sins are forgiven”? Or “Get up and walk” . . . to a man, remember, who’s hopelessly paralyzed? Well, it’s perfectly easy to SAY either or both of those. Which one, though, is easier to back up? And we would say, of course, that it’s easier to SAY: “Your sins are forgiven.” Why? Because anyone, anywhere, can blather on SAYING that . . . and you can never prove it happened or didn’t happen. “I forgive all your sins.” And what happens? The sky is still blue, the grass is still green, and nothing tangible happens to indicate that a heavenly record-cleansing ever took place.

On the other hand, if you said to a crippled man, “Get up and walk,” and he COULDN’T get up and walk, your alleged powers would be discredited immediately. Leon Morris, in his Tyndale New Testament Commentary, notices this point right away:

“On the surface,” he writes, “it is easier to say Your sins are forgiven you than Rise and walk. The latter may be put to an immediate and obvious test, whereas the onlooker does not know whether sins are forgiven or not.”

The scholars at “Bible.org” add a second thought:

“To SAY ‘your sins are forgiven’ is easier because no one can tell if it happened or not. You can’t validate it.” Then they add: “This could be applied to all the false religions which claim that their way is the right way to God. They claim that their system will get you to heaven, and their followers won’t know until it is too late.”

So there on the table were these two challenges: forgive a man’s sins. And/or heal him. One would be visible, the other invisible. Jesus, by reading His enemies’ thoughts, had already given a hint that He had power in the invisible world. For Him, which would be harder? Healing or forgiving. The New International text notes suggest:

“Jesus’ point probably was that neither forgiving sins nor healing was easier. Both are equally impossible to men and equally easy to God.”

You know, in a way that’s true . . . and in a way not true. Jesus could heal just by being God — am I right? He could heal one person or a hundred with equal ease, and often did so. But Jesus could forgive only by being the God who went to Calvary. The blood shed on the cross is the only reason why His “I forgive you” bore more weight and significance than when you or I — or some unbalanced person walking around in Central Park muttering a diatribe of confusion — says it to a startled passer-by. Only Jesus can forgive in a way that has eternal and permanent consequences, and He can only do so because He bought the moral right to do so. So it was easy to heal and hard to forgive — but even with Calvary still in the near future — Jesus was well able to do both. And He proceeded to prove the invisible by demonstrating the visible.

You know, it’s so gracious of God to understand that our faith is weak, and that it’s hard to trust in His invisible kingdom. How often do we pray for the visible things — financial blessings, a new job, to find something we’ve lost or misplaced? All good requests. Maybe we do like this very sincere paralytic and even ask for healing . . . a visible, tangible blessing that either comes or it doesn’t. But it’s harder to pray for the invisible things like forgiveness of our sins. It’s harder to believe in our salvation when we don’t feel saved, in the security of our relationship when the Devil tells us we’re lost. And so Jesus says, as gently as He said to a doubting Thomas one evening, “Here. Feel My scars. Hold My hand. Taste My goodness. Experience My healing. And now that you’ve felt and held and tasted and experienced, please believe in Me. And know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. Especially YOUR sins.”