But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)
Authority to "Send Away" by Cathy Vinson |
The people eagerly entered the excitement
when they saw God from Heaven "had given such authority to men" (vs 8). How
thrilling to see a link being established to earth, with men! What power were they
witnessing? They saw "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (vs 6). Hopefully we, with them, are coming to terms with the cleaving, clinging nature of personal sins. They permeate from one day to the next until Authority steps in to say, "I'm sending those sins away from you, apart from you. I'm removing them." For Jesus to "forgive" meant He was sending away, "away, to send forth." Authority had been met. Is it with this inward forgiveness that the crowd was impressed? "And the man (paralytic) got up and went home" (vs 7). It was this display that got the crowd's attention. But was this revealing of power greater than forgiveness? "Which is EASIER: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say,'Get up and walk'?" (v 5). It seems the releasing anointing was similar in each case, in one to the hold of sin, in the other to a "hold" as well...hold of what? The word we know as sickness is made up of "the adverb KAKOS evilly, ill with ECHO to hold, to have." Some examples where this sense of "hold" is used are "ill with various diseases" (Mt 4:24), "Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever" (Lk 4:38), and "father of Publius lay sick of a fever" (sunecho=to hold in, to hold fast). Sickness required the need of One with anointing to come along and break the hold by sending away. Does the hold of sickness overlap with unforgiven sin? It could be; this God knows. What we need to "know" is that "the Son of Man has authority on earth" and join in the crowd's gratitude for the hold He releases! He, right where we live, "has authority to forgive sins ON EARTH," and "has given such authority to MEN" (vs 6,8). |
|
"...so you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth..." (Matthew 9:6) |
||
|
Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.
Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE
Return to the Daily Miscellany