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Jesus performed over 30 recorded, amazing miracle after miracle during His time on earth, but one miracle stands out as greater than all the rest. He healed lepers, fed the hungry, calmed the storms, and even raised the dead, but none of these compares to Jesus’ greatest miracle. He didn’t come to impress people. He didn’t come in order to feed the hungry or heal lepers or manipulate the weather. In fact, all the other miracles He did were to point to this one.
In Mark 2:1-5, Jesus is preaching, and as usual, the crowd is so large there’s no more room in the house. But a man is there, a man who is paralyzed, in need of the compassion only Jesus could give, and his four friends are so desperate to get him to Jesus that they dig a hole down through the ceiling and lower him down on a stretcher right in front of Jesus.
So, of course, we’re all expecting Jesus to reach out, touch his broken body, and heal him. But what does Jesus do instead?
“Son, your sins are forgiven you.” In that moment, He doesn’t cure him, He doesn’t straighten out his twisted body. He forgives. When Jesus has compassion, He reaches out and touches our place of greatest need.
And what is the greatest need that we as human beings have?
It isn’t wealth, money for the next car payment or to pay off our mortgage.
It’s not health, a cure for cancer or a miracle drug for whatever’s plaguing us.
Our greatest need isn’t happiness. It’s forgiveness.