Throughout the first two chapters of Mark, we see many testaments of Jesus’s healing the sick and inflicted. The backstory of this verse is that this man was so desperate for God’s healing and transformation that his friends dug a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was preaching. They laid the man on a mat and lowered him into the house to sit directly in front of Jesus. We all have times in our lives that we are in desperate need of God’s healing whether that is physical healing, emotional healing, mental healing, or places within our spiritual journeys that need to be refined. Not only does Jesus respond by healing the man, but He also tells him to “pick up his mat and go home.” The mat represents a past way of life, past struggle of opposition, and instructs him to now live differently. I am so thankful for the times in my life when God has worked in my heart or circumstances and instructed me to “pick up my mat and go home.” Has there been a time in your life when Jesus has done the same for you?
“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, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!””
Mark 2:10-11