At the last evening of our book discussion group, I led a Scripture meditation of the paralytic being lowered down through the roof to Jesus. Scripture meditation is patiently thinking about the Scripture passage in light of God’s Holy Spirit. Our part is  slowing down and listening.

Richard Foster (author of many books including Celebration of Discipline) said,

The biblical foundation for meditation is discovered in the great reality of God speaking, teaching, and acting that lies at the center of the scriptural witness. God brought the universe crashing into existence by the word of his command. God said, “Let there be light,” and the big bang occurred. In the Garden, Adam and Eve talked with God and God talked with them—they were in communion… The 20-century Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when asked why he meditated, replied, “Because I am a Christian.”…The witness of Scripture and the witness of the devotional masters both invite us to experience, in the words of Madame Guyon, “the depths of Jesus Christ.” Full article

I had them imagine themselves at home in bed paralyzed from the neck down as I read the biblical account in Mark 2:1-12.

Everyone’s eyes were closed. I noticed one man moving his head from side to side as if he was paralyzed. I thought, he is really getting into this. When we got the the part where the paralytic is  lowered into the presence of Jesus and Jesus says, “you are healed” I saw him start moving his head around and a big smile came across his face.

When we shared what the mediation meant to each of us he shared that the day before he had injured his neck quite badly and that it was in much pain and was hard to move. When Jesus said, “you are healed” he felt the pain leave his neck immediately and he had full range of motion! We asked if we could share this testimony and he said sure.

Very interesting that merely meditating on a healing in Scripture can be used by God to bring about a healing.


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