“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the man who was paralyzed—‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’” – Luke 5:24
At a time when physical sickness, healing, and protection figure prominently in people’s thoughts, it’s important to realize that wasn’t Jesus’ top priority. Physical healing, wonderful as it is, can only benefit us for at most 70-100 years. That’s less than a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. And so Jesus worked physical healing to point us to His true purpose – spiritual healing.
Jesus came to reconcile mankind with our loving and holy God. He came “to seek and to save the lost”, forgiving sins, and giving us eternal life as an undeserved gift of God’s grace through faith in Him. The greatest work of Jesus isn’t found in remarkable miracles that touched some lives 2000 years ago, it is His sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the dead that made it possible for our sins to be forgiven and our relationship with God restored.
Our spiritual situation and that of our friends, relatives, and neighbors should be our highest priority during this pandemic. Like Jesus, we should lovingly care for the physical needs of those around us, tending to them lovingly, but as a means of pointing people to Jesus who heals their greater spiritual needs.