Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is "Nothing Like This Has Ever Happened!" I read from Mark 2: 1-12 (NLT). All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.
1 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”
"We've never seen anything like this before!" is a bold statement. When the skeptic hears someone make this assertion, he wants to know the person's age and scope of experience. After all, maybe things like this have happened before or elsewhere, and the person was not there to see it. The crowd in the story today witnessed four distinct events. First, the man, Jesus, claims He has the authority to forgive sins. Second, the man, Jesus, demonstrates that He has the power to heal. Third, the man, Jesus, shows He has the ability to know the thoughts of others. And fourth, they see the demonstrated faith of a paralyzed man and his four dear friends. Regardless of what they had been taught in the synagogue about the prophets of old and how they healed the sick and raised the dead, these events were uniquely personal to each individual. Each would say to themselves, "I have never seen anything like this before!" And that is what counts, right? Like the crowd, one day we met Jesus. We discovered that He could know my heart, and despite what He found there, He could still love me. We discovered that Jesus had the authority to forgive my sins and restore me to health—even from death to life. He offered proof of His authority by suffering and dying on a cross and being resurrected to life by His faithful Father in Heaven. He saw our faith and obedience and saved us. Like the paralyzed man who was healed , we jumped up from our deathbed with joy, and walked into newness of life. Just now as we partake of the bread and drink from the cup to remember Jesus, we amazed all over again—nothing like this has ever happened—until Jesus! Let us pray.
Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. I pray, Abba, Father, that we always remain amazed by Your Son, Jesus, and what He has done for us. He looked into our hearts and loved us despite what He found there. He forgave our sins and healed us—even from death to life. He gave us the newness of life in which we now walk. For these blessings and more besides, He paid the ultimate price—a cruel death on a cross. As we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Your Son, Jesus. In His name I pray. Amen.
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.
And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"
Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26 (NLT), "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."
Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories. The benefit of creating an account in one of the directory apps, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart, is that you can add this podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. I do not receive compensation of any kind when you download and listen to my podcast. Please note there is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!