Mark 2:5 says this: 'When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."'
This is the same verse I used for the previously posted song, but one thing that I realized just the other night was that there was a certain order to things. Jesus says something here that could be a simple translational effect, but for me I believe means something deeper.
Whenever you talk about what we believe as Christians, you here the phrases 'sanctification' and 'justification'. (If I mess up horribly in the next paragraph, forgive me, it's most likely mot that my theology is screwed, but that my words are.) So which comes first, the sanctification or justification? As a protestant Christian, I've grown up being taught that justification comes first. I believe it. That's the whole message of the gospels. God sent his Son to die for you because you just can't make it on your own. Basically, we all fail the sanctification process. We just cannot be good enough for a perfect God. So instead he gives us the gift of his Son so that we may be justified in him. That is when the process of sanctification takes place, but it is a God-driven process, not man-driven. (We are impossibly bad at driving.)
So now that the theology lesson is over, take a look at this: Jesus says "Son, your sins are forgiven." The italics are my own emphasis, but take a look at it. Think about it. Meditate on it. Jesus didn't always call the people he spoke to in a familial way, oftentimes he said "friend." So why this. Is it simply a term of endearment, a common address of the times, or a translational quirk? I think everything is said and done for a reason.
Jesus called him son before he said your sins are forgiven. He claimed him as his own before anything else. Child, your sins are forgiven. Child, your sins are forgiven.
I serve an uncommon God who knows exactly how to meet the common needs.
How cool is that?
--MovingGirl
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