The Cancer of Sin

I received good news last week. I do not carry the gene mutation that predisposed my sister to the cancer that took her life. My mother, my other sister and her daughter all carry that gene mutation. Pretty scary knowing that a time bomb is ticking away that may or may not go off.

I didn’t inherit that cancer-causing gene, but I inherited a worse gene mutation, and there is a 100% chance that my children and grandchildren have also inherited that mutation. It is the gene that predisposes me to sin. And this mutation is more deadly than any other.

Jesus healed the sick, but that was not why He came. He came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. He came to call people to repent – of things that most of us consider sin - and to repent of religion.

After Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, crowds of people came to Him to be healed. And He healed them. But the next morning He went off to pray, and the Father said it was time to move on. He told the disciples, “Let us go somewhere else…so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38) But wherever He went, there were people clamoring to be healed. He always asked those He healed to keep it to themselves, but they couldn’t, and so the crowds followed Jesus everywhere.

And so in Mark 2, Jesus is again surrounded by people as he is teaching in a home. Here, four men bring their paralytic friend to Jesus. They cannot get through the crowd, and so they dig through the roof and lower their friend right in front of Jesus, interrupting His sermon. What is it that Jesus does when He sees their faith? Does He heal the man straight away? No, instead He speaks to the man about his sin issue. I imagine that Jesus was teaching about the good news of the kingdom and about sin. The four men have presented Jesus with a great sermon illustration. Jesus calls the man, son, and declares that his sins are forgiven.

It is not until the teachers of the law begin to mutter, that Jesus addresses the man’s physical condition. And He does so to demonstrate that He has the power and authority to forgive on the basis of faith alone.

Sin is like cancer – it lies dormant, unseen, deadly. Some sins are quick killers – the obvious ones –abuse, murder, drunkenness, robbery. Some are slow killers – the acceptable ones – gluttony, anger, lust. And some are silent, unknown to others – greed, envy, pride, self-righteousness. But all of them are deadly. All of them eat away at the person that God intends me to be.

We all carry the gene mutation for sin. We all need a doctor. The murderer, the glutton and the self-righteous person are all the same. I received good news from the genetic center last week, but there is better news still. And the very good news is, rescue has come, simply believe.