God’s Word Is Alive

Why People Get Sick and Die

Nobody wants to get sick, grow old and die. Yet this is what happens. Surely God did not mean for it to be this way. Then why do people get sick and die? Something that happened over 1,900 years ago in a crowded house near the Sea of Galilee points to the answer

Jesus Christ had just returned to his home city of Capernaum. (Mark 2:1; Matt. 4:13) He was now famous, particularly because of his wonderful miracle of healing a man that had leprosy. (Mark 1:40-45) So people from all around came to see Jesus. A great crowd squeezed into the house where he was living, as you can see here.

When four men brought a paralyzed man lying on a cot, they could not get inside the house. But they did not give up. They climbed up on the roof. It was a flat roof, and they made a large hole in it. Then they lowered right down into the room the cot on which the paralyzed man was lying. They certainly had a lot of faith that Jesus could help the man.

When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the sick man: “Your sins are forgiven.” This shows that there is a connection between sickness and sin. Think about that. When the first man, Adam, sinned by breaking God’s law, the penalty was imperfection and death. (Gen. 2:17; 3:19) After he sinned, Adam had children. So he passed on to them imperfection and death. This is the reason why people grow old, get sick and die. We have all inherited sin and death from Adam.​—Job 14:4; Rom. 5:12.

But can Jesus really forgive sins? Some of the people in that crowded room in Capernaum did not think so. So Jesus said to them: “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and pick up your cot and walk’?” At that Jesus told the man to pick up his cot and go to his home. And the man did! He was completely healed!​—Mark 2:2-12.

Just think of what this power of Jesus can mean for us! Under the rule of God’s kingdom, Christ will be able to forgive the sins of all persons who love and serve God. This means that all aches and pains and sicknesses will be removed. No one will ever have to grow old and die. What a wonderful prospect this is for the future!​—Rev. 21:3, 4.