13-10-2019 (Mental Health Awareness Weekend)
Life is complex and tough to navigate, particularly difficult to navigate pain.
Mark 2:1-12 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
John 5:1-15 New International Version (NIV)
The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
In Jesus' time, being a paralytic comes with a host of issues.
Walking at that time is part of a person's identity.
Being a paralytic has very low status. They are mocked, cursed and often called monsters. They experienced a pain of inadequacy, rejection and pain.
No one wants to be stigmatised.
Young people are facing a lot of problems with mental health. It affects even the best of us.
The men were looking for healing. Why did Jesus talk about forgiveness of sin?
Jesus was actually referring to a deeper problem that they, and humanity in general, had.
He was referring to sin-missing the mark or standard to love God. They need a Saviour to wipe away their sin. Jesus can heal and forgive. He was revealing that He was God and the Messiah. He was not referring to a specific behaviour that caused a specific illness.
Mental disorders are a result of multiple factors. There is no one mental disorder that is due to one single factor.
May we speak life to those in desperate need of restoration.
In John 5, the paralytic man has no one.
Jesus engaged him. He seems to be expressing his deepest need to Jesus.
In Mark 2, the paralytic man had four men to help him. They went up the roof. And they lowered him in from of Jesus. And Jesus healed his body and his soul.
We are made to be a community--to love and to love, to care and to be cared for. Isolation is not part of humanity. It destroys the essence of being part of a community.
Our young people want adults to be with them and walk beside them. They need to be shown how to navigate through the rough waters and not to take over the boat.
Sometimes they think they are insignificant or inadequate so they'd rather not share.
It's difficult to stay in a community especially if the community reminds us of the inadequacies all the time.
Are we willing to be vulnerable and level the ground?
Mental health problems require multisectorial health. We need to work cross communities. We need to be a community so that we could provide holistic care.
In the scriptures, both men were healed and obtained better identity not to be rejected by society.
But not every one gets healed.
Is the Lord not hearing your prayer?
Has the person not done enough?
He heard you even before you ask. He knew you even before you were made in your mom's womb. He has given His Son.
But Jesus has overcome the world. Let this truth set you free.
Jesus already has redeemed us. We are already given am identity. We are children of God and this identity can never be taken away by anyone or anything, including mental disorders.
The Lord knows what He is doing with us.
We need to be a community in support of one another so that the world can see that we are His disciples.
RELATED:
A MIND: DISTURBED
A MIND: BESIEGED
A MIND: RENEWED
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