It’s in the Bible at Mark 2:12. We’ve said that phrase for a long time “We’ve never seen anything like this.” Each time major disasters and disruptions happen in our personal lives and in the world the words come tumbling out of our mouths. God sent the flood, held back the Red Sea for the Children of Israel, raised Lazarus from the dead, and sent His Son and the world had “never seen anything like it.” They were all disruptive and life changing. The pandemic is the latest historical “never seen anything like it.” But we are going to see more to come.
The Bible recounts three times the story of Jesus healing the man lowered by his friends from the ceiling to be healed (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-28). The men lowering the paralyzed man down through a hole in the roof were looking to assist him with his physical healing, but Jesus wanted to heal the man from his spiritual sickness for eternity. Physical healing will last the length of our earthly lives and God wants us to be healed from the sickness of eternal sin. We all need others to lift us, support and guide us so that we can physically flourish in the world. But only God can help us with our spiritual healing. He wants us to remember that our life is temporary, uncertain, and will always be in peril as long as we live in this broken world. He alone has the authority to forgive our sins and save us from eternal destruction. Death has no sting. Viruses, diseases, health or financial destruction, or even political upheavals and disruptions cannot separate us from the love of God.
“Whom the Son sets free, oh is free indeed. I’m a child of God – yes I am!” (Hillsong Worship).
