mark 2:1-2:12

1. When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.
2. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
3. And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.
4. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.
5. And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
6. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7. "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8. Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, *said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
9. "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, `Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'?
10. "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He *said to the paralytic,
11. "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."
12. And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Point 1: the faith of the four (and the paralytic) was effective

1 of 3. situation: they think jesus can heal their friend who can't walk.

problem: jesus has a reputation.

his healings have won him an adoring crowd, which makes sense.
so when he rolls back into capernaum, the crowds show up.

he takes the opportunity to speak truth ('the word') to the crowd.

solution: they go through the roof.

note...you've got to realize how silly this is.
they took a disabled guy, with no leg control, up on the roof on his mat. so they could lower him down on some ancient rope.
probably wasn't even wearing a helmet.

"dug through the roof" vs "tiles"

mark says they "dug an opening" in the roof, while luke says they removed tiles (matthew just says they brought him to jesus).
- some people say this is a bible contradiction.
- some people say that luke's word for tile is better translated as 'packed clay', esp as tiles were maybe not common at this point here(?)
- some people say that tiles were laid on a packed clay roof (what i've heard most).
i honestly don't know, but i think it's a stretch for it to be a contradiction.

2 of 3. they obviously had some beliefs about jesus...

they believed that jesus could heal their friend.
who had faith?

the four had faith, as did the man. jesus speaks of "their faith" (plural), and since he addressed the paralytic, it seems safe to assume that he is included in the plural.

note: most of the time, maybe all the time, the miracles recorded in the gospels are done for those with belief.

this is not a comment on where that belief comes from.
but in as you look through mark and the other gospels, note that 'most' of the people jesus heals had faith.

there are cases in acts where the apostles heal people, and no comment is given about their faith. that doesn't mean that they had some or didn't have any though...no comment is offered.

3 of 3. they took action on their belief.

maybe obvious, but worth stating.
they had faith, and their actions showed it (even to the point of doing some ridiculous things).

note: this is another case where jesus heals someone who sought him out.

most of the time, maybe all the time, the healings you'll read about are cases where someone seeks jesus out.

sometimes it's a friend or representative (peter's mother in law, jairus' daughter, the paralytic's friend.
sometimes it's the person himself/herself (the bleeding woman, blind bartimaius)

application: prayer is effective.

this is a loose as the text doesn't say this directly - but the principle is the same.

- these people had beliefs about jesus' ability
- these people had a desire
- these people made a request (with some effort)

that is the basic idea behind prayer (except that god is not physically present).

quick encouragement to offer, somewhat related to this:

remember that god has the power to give good gifts.
remember that he wants us to ask.

question: the paralytic came to be healed; when jesus said, "your sins are forgiven", did the paralytic get what he wanted?

in other words, was the paralytic's faith that jesus was a healer, or that jesus was messiah and could forgive his sins?

short version: the story doesn't say.

the story isn't about the paralytic primarily.
it's about jesus.

that's our cute transition to the next point, the main purpose...

Point 2: the forgiveness and divinity of Christ

1 of 3. to make a point, jesus forgives sin instead of healing first...

rhetorical substitution...he took the opportunity to make a point about himself.

he's, at minimum, challenging expecatations.
remember who they thought jesus was...

- a prophet (mark 8:27,28)

Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets."

- messiah (king)

the triumphal entry shows this piece

instead, jesus is claiming to be god.

2 of 3. the scribes understand the point...but can't consider it

- they catch that jesus has said something that only god can say.

6. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7. "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"

- they miss (at least before the miracle) that he's actually god.

no comment on what happens later - maybe some of them followed jesus, or did so post-resurrection.
unimportant to the story - the story is making a point to the reader, not to the scribes.

3 of 3. jesus gives some sensory data to his divinity (a miracle!)

the scribes are upset...jesus goes to show that he may in fact know what he's doing.
interestingly, he gives two miracles to prove his point:

first - he answers the question they haven't asked.
second - he heals the paralytic.

this is good evidence for the crowd, scribes, and disciples that he had god's power...at minimum.

his clear evidence of power will leave people with two options; he's either validated by god, or he's validated by satan.

jesus gives his own summary for the event in v10 - "so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"

he even calls himself the son of man, probably linking himself to the messiah figure in daniel

ezekiel is also called the term...a lot. but daniel uses the term in an interesting way, and in jewish literature this was more important.
daniel 7:13,14

13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.

jesus is calling himself god, or at least messiah in an extraordinary sense, by calling himself the son of man, and by saying he can forgive sins.

application: you must believe that sin is against god.

Q: why can only god forgive sin?
A: because sin is against god.

the old testament says this:

this point is made in the Old Testament nicely, which is why the scribes knew what was up.
ex: 34:5-7

5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD.
6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.
9 He said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.”

isa 43:25

25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

psa 51:1-4

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

logic requires this:

moral right and wrong depends on a moral authority, i.e. not a human...god.

that's a huge idea to me. humanity can not make morals, only advantageous or less-advantageous.

"don't sleep with your secretary or your wife will make your life hell."
"don't lie or no one will believe you."
those are true ideas...but they aren't "wrong", just worse.

the idea of "wrong" involves guilt and sin. and you need someone with authority to make that so...god.

we need to view our sin as against god.

we believe our sin is against others

when we sin, we justify it by talking about the other persons sin.
"i hate my mom, she's never cared about me."
how did you do the last time your spouse hurt your feelings? was that sufficient justification for you to sin?

it's not (or at least not primarily).

we sin against god, the one who created right and wrong.

david said it best..."against you, you only, i have sinned and done what is evil in your sight" (ps 51:4)
- that should be motivating

other people may arguably deserve your sin. but that's not how this works.

- that should be terrifying

god hates sin.
did you listen to hebrews? 10:31, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

application: you must remember that forgiveness is from god.

1. your sin is against god, it's his to forgive.

you have guilt crawling all over your history (we all do), guilt against god.
any understanding of forgiveness has to start with guilt, and any understanding of personal forgiveness needs to begin with an understanding of our own guilt.

there is some comfort to understanding it all as against god, and knowing that he forgives sin.

2. jesus' life was about forgiveness.

he came to die, to offer payment for our sins.
what he does here with the paralytic is central to his incarnation (becoming a human like us).

3. jesus' forgiveness is given to us.

what we read about in mark still applies.

those who believe that jesus is the son of god, who offers forgiveness to those who believe in him...are christians, and have the forgiveness of godthose .

jesus' shed blood still stands as a covering for our guilt, as a marker of god's forgiveness.

the mercy of god!

god's gift of mercy to us is the core of peace.

in close...paul's words from rom 5:6-11

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Mark 2:1-2:12

intro: the effects of sin...

mark 2:1-12