Hurting? Don't reach for a pain reliever, yet. First take a look at Mark 2:1-12.

The Problem of Pain

You haven't really listened to a lonesome love song until you've heard Jackson Browne sing "Sky Blue and Black." Someone once asked him where he got his inspiration. He said, "Life is painful. It's painful for everyone. And the only way through it is through it. Music helps." Browne is no orthodox prophet, but often he speaks the gospel truth. The particular problem of our human condition is that we cannot avoid pain. We try. We spend millions to avoid it and millions more afterwards to dull it. But pain keeps coming back like a bad habit.

In Mark 2:1-12, pain was put down at the feet of Jesus. It was so heavy it had to be carried on a stretcher. The pain was particular to one, carried by four, and shared by the whole human race.

To one it was physical pain. Something had happened, even though we are not told exactly what. All we know is that this man was paralyzed. It may have been a congenital birth defect, but it was probably from a fall. The terrain of northern Israel is very rocky. He may have been working as a man, or playing as a boy, when he lost his footing and broke his neck. He felt a snap, then a sting, then the sobering fact that the rest of his life would be lived by letting someone else do the walking.

To the four it was emotional pain. They may not have broken their necks, but they had broken hearts. Maybe one or more of them had caused the accident that resulted in their friend's paralysis. Maybe one of them was his brother or brother-in-law. What we know is when the crowd blocked the door to see Jesus, their hearts were so heavy they fell right through the roof. Only emotionally desperate hands could dig through a house and create such a scene.

If we look deeply enough, we can also see spiritual pain. You cannot feel it at first. The worst pain is that which you cannot feel - leprosy, paralysis, hardening of the heart. A leprous, paralyzed, hard heart is the condition of people separated from Christ, not worshiping God, not filled with the spirit. It is the condition that sets the entire human race apart from grace. It seems that the fall that took these men through the roof happened a long, long time ago.

The Origin of Pain

In order to find out where pain comes from, we need to retrace our steps. This man's physical predicament and his friends' emotional dilemma can be traced down to the spiritual roots of their family tree. All five of them have great-greatgreat great-etc.-grandparents named Adam and Eve.

Some suggest Genesis 3 is a myth. If it is, then so is Romans 5. I'm not ready to erase either out of my Bible. If "the fall" is not real, then "justification by faith" is not necessary. But my point here is not to defend the integrity of scripture but to point out the origin of pain.

Adam and Eve did something that let something into the human race. In one short word we call it "sin." When sin occurred, spiritual death struck immediately. Following right behind was the emotional shame that makes us run from God. And in the ensuing generation, one brother turned nature into a weapon and physically beat the other brother to death. Abel's blood still speaks to us about the physical, emotional, and spiritual pain caused by sin.

Now I'm not trying to tell you that this man was paralyzed because he had committed some specific sin. I doubt he was a robber who fell during the commission of a crime. He was just a boy with what we typically refer to as bad luck - wrong hill, wrong step, wrong time. But I am trying to tell you that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people because all people have sinned. Sin is the ultimate unsettle-er of the universe, the explicit origin of all pain and suffering.

That's why, before Jesus said anything about the physical condition of the man or the emotional condition of his friends, the Savior said these words: "Son, your sins are forgiven."

You have to admit that the Lord's words catch you by surprise. It certainly did not make sense to the selfrighteous "scribes." I doubt it made sense to anyone at the moment. It won't make sense to us either, unless we understand that sin goes before a fall, and all of us, like the man on the pallet, have fallen into sin.

But thankfully, there is a grace greater than our sin. His name is providence.

The Providence of Pain

God is divine providence, and for a few years he dressed in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus knew, as did the scribes, that only God can forgive sin. Only God can read minds, too, which is exactly what Jesus did here. The scribes didn't say anything, only thought "This man ... is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone." So, in displaying his omniscience over the minds of men, and his omnipotence over the power of sin, Jesus was declaring in this miracle his absolute deity and equality with God.

My question is different from the scribes. I know Jesus is God. But if Jesus is God, and if he loves people like this paralytic, then why did the paralytic, his family, and his friends have to endure this kind of pain in the first place? Why do accidents break our limbs and often take our lives? Why do we have to hurt, why do we hurt each other, why is their so much pain in our lives?

Pain is our choice, not God's. God cannot sin nor does he tempt people to sin. We sin because of our nature (we are all Adam's offspring) and our own free choices. The clay has no claim against the potter here. He did not push. We fell.

Pain is the ripple effect of life. So is happiness, by the way. We humans were not made to be nomads. We share germs, we share joy, we share sorrow, and we share pain. There is an ugly side to the pain. A child abused by their parent is more likely to abuse their own child. A woman raised by a promiscuous mother is more likely to get pregnant out of wedlock. A son of an alcoholic is more likely to get into trouble with drugs and alcohol. I could go on, but you get the point.

Yet pain cannot stop the prevenient grace of God. Providence allows pain to cut into our lives so that the potter can take the pain and make something truly beautiful out of our lives. Things that take us by surprise, even hurt us, are no surprise to the potter who holds our life in his hands.

Do you believe God is the potter? Do you believe the promises of God? Do you believe Romans 8:28ff? Do you believe God used the pain of paralysis to bring this man to the point of forgiveness of sin, acceptance by God, and the amazing grace gift of eternal life?

Then, you understand the providence of pain. Now, let's talk about the cure.

The Cure for Pain

Obviously, this man found it. He came in through the roof on a pallet, and plainly walked out the front door on his own two feet. He could feel again, and it felt good. His need was so great that desperation drove him to the feet of Jesus, and at the feet of Jesus he found the cure.

And I'm not even talking about his paralysis. What ultimate good would it have done if Jesus had healed his body and left his soul in jeopardy? He would have enjoyed a few years of good health and then spent eternity in hell.

Remember that Jesus did not come primarily to perform miracles. He came to preach the gospel. He came to be the gospel. Jesus is the miracle, Jesus is the parable, Jesus is the crucifixion, Jesus is the resurrection, Jesus is the great physician, and Jesus is the only cure for the pain of sin in your life.

So put yourself on the pallet. You cannot come to Jesus, you have to be brought. The providence of grace, what might otherwise seem like an accident or injury brings us into the presence of God. Like Jesus read the scribes' minds, like he read the mind of the man on the pallet, he can read yours, too. He knows what has been done to you, and he still cares. He knows what you've done, and he still loves. Christ alone can take away your sin. It only takes his word but it requires that you take him at his word. That's saving faith.

And saving faith is always conjoined by repentance. When he cures you, when he forgives you and saves you, it changes the direction of your life. You cannot help but gladly, willingly, and joyfully do what he commands you to do. Others will be amazed, glorify God, and say, "We have never seen anything like this."

When you bring your greatest need to Jesus, because he is the Lord, he will take away your sin and radically change your life. The problem of pain is no match for the Prince of Peace.