The other night I was watching part of America’s Got Talent and there was a gentleman who did “extreme contortion dancing.” He did things with his shoulders that made me wince.  He was able to move his body in ways that were very unusual.  One of the judges said that they had never seen anything like it before.  I would agree with that.

I imagine that the next morning there were more than a few conversations about the contortions of the dancer on America’s Got Talent. There were even more than a few people who brought it up on YouTube to show their friends.  It has most likely been pasted on a wall or two on facebook.  I’m sure that tweets can be found about his moves, and even his unique haircut. But my guess is that if we followed this man through the rest of his week or month, we would find that much of his life was average.  There would be those moments, that made us gasp, but eventually even that would fade if we saw it enough.

Jesus, in Mark chapter 2, heals a paralytic.  This mans story is amazing.  From the friends who brought him to Jesus to the controversy that broke out at his healing.

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² So many gathered 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 paralytic, 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 and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “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 the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralytic, 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!”
Mark 2:1-12 (NIV)

While there is much to be learned here about the faith of a few good friends, who are determined to bring their friend to Jesus.  Much could be said about their resourcefulness and about the crowd that was a constant in Jesus day.  But for me this time through this chapter I was captured by the last 7 words of this account, “We have never seen anything like this!”  I am sure that the next day in Capernaum, and the area it was being discussed.  Unlike the gentleman with the amazing dance moves, when the crowds followed Jesus for a few weeks or months this phrase became a norm.

Those 7 simple words are the story of Jesus “We have never seen anything like this!”  If we truly look into the life of Christ in the pages of Scripture, and in the lives of his people we are left with nothing else to say except, “We have never seen anything like this!”  So here is the challenge, as you find and discover those exciting new glimpses of Jesus, talk about them, post them on your facebook page, tweet about them, post a clip on YouTube.  Lets help Jesus go viral in our community and in our world.

<>< Just a beggar on a journey.  Craig

GodPonders by Craig McCourt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.