Choosing the right lens

 This week's verses are Matthew 9:1-8:

 After getting into a boat he crossed to the other side and came to his own town. Just then some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the experts in the law said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” When Jesus perceived their thoughts he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” So he stood up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were afraid and honored God who had given such authority to men.

 These verses represent just one of the many healing miracles Jesus performed during his ministry. He had gotten such a reputation for miracles that people were bringing him those in their care in the hopes that they would see a miracle too. But not everyone was focused on the same thing.

The people with good in their hearts focused on the good things. The people with the crippled friend focused on helping him get to Jesus. Jesus took time away from his journey home to minister to their needs and announce the man's forgiveness and healing. And when they saw what happened, the crowd honored God for doing something so great.

The religious people with evil in their hearts could only find things to complain about.  They didn't know who Jesus was but they judged him guilty of blasphemy. No comment on how great God was for healing a man with an incurable condition!

How many of us would physically carry someone to a hospital or to a church healing service? I don't mean just sending them a link or handing them a paper or even maybe calling a taxi but physically hauling the guy yourselves? These guys took the weight of this guy's condition and made it theirs to carry.

And Jesus was probably tired from blessing people all day and may have wanted to just go home and rest. But here was this group of people dragging a guy who needed help. He could have turned the other way but he stopped and invested his time.

But the religious experts, the people who made memorizing Bible verses their badge of righteousness, even if they had just sat and appreciated what Jesus was doing it would have been OK. Instead, despite not contributing anything positive, they decided to sit in ignorant judgment.

We have a choice on how we want to approach life and which of these people we would like to be like. Do we want to act out of the good in our hearts like Jesus and the friends of the paralytic guy? Or do we want to act out of the evil in our hearts like the teachers of the law? Do you view life through the lens of love and adoration of God's work? Or do you view it with contempt as a thing that needs your correction?

If it wasn't possible to change, Jesus wouldn't have gone through the trouble of confronting the teachers of the law about their thoughts. He could have just let it slide. The thing we can take away from this about Jesus was that he made a special effort to help what were effectively his enemies and that we, once his enemies ourselves, are capable of choosing a better path.

So try to imitate Jesus in how he approached the world, and the kind men who sweated to bring the paralytic to him. Reject the evil in your heart that stands in opposition to God's words and acts in the world around you. And have courage, because your sins are forgiven.