In Mark 1 and 2, we observe Jesus the Messiah coming to deliver His people from their enemies, i.e., from Satan and his demons, sin, sickness and later, the last enemy death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
By chapter 2, Jesus has already demonstrated His Messianic authority by speaking the truth with power. He delivered a person from demon possession, healed a person of leprosy, another from a fever and in Mark 2, we will see Jesus exercising His authority as Divinity to forgive sins and heal its effects.
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:1-12)
In this text we see three groups of people:
Complacent Crowd
Fervent Friends
Sardonic Scribes
Complacent Crowd
When Jesus arrives in Capernaum, He enters into a home of possibly one of the disciples but we are not sure. When word got out that He was there, all sorts of people including the religious teachers crowded into and around the house listening to what Jesus was teaching.
On several occasions Jesus spoke openly about the people’s motives for coming. Some came for sensationalism—to see signs and miracles and feel the thrill of excitement - others came for the food.
This complacent crowd was amazed at His teaching, His authority and even praised God for what they had witnessed but had not experienced any fire in their own hearts or change in their own lives.
Fervent Friends
While Jesus was teaching, we see four men carrying their paralyzed friend on a stretcher to the house. In those days, this type of physical sickness was considered a curse from God. No one in society would want to be seen with this type of person.
But what we know is the man on the stretcher and his four friends who had active faith and confidence in Jesus, didn’t care what anyone thought. They were determined to get their friend through the crowd and brought directly to Jesus. But they couldn’t get through the crowd of people who were blocking the front door. What is more surprising is that when the crowd saw the paralyzed man, no one moved aside to let him in. What does that say about the crowd? Passive, complacent, indifferent, self-centered?
These four fervent, faithful friends persisted because, as we later read, they genuinely believed that Jesus was the Messiah and had the authority to heal.
“They knew they needed to get their friend into Jesus’ presence. ”
So while Jesus was teaching, these four were digging through the roof. Obviously everyone heard them and then saw the dirt as it showered down on them. After removing the roof, these men lowered their friend through the now-exposed beams to the floor below. Imagine seeing this paralyzed man being lowered right in front of Jesus.
In verse 5 Jesus sees their persistence as evidence of faith - confidence that He was able and willing to heal him.
Genuine faith is a response to Jesus’ authority and power to answer. If you want your own friends and family members to come to faith in Christ, don’t stop praying for them and taking the opportunities God gives you to share Christ with them.
Sometimes we need to answer painful questions about ourselves, about our faith, our walk with Jesus, issues of purity, commitment, and conduct. And sometimes we need others to help us to see it, to face it, own it, confess it and bring it into the light of God’s Word so we can be healed, reconciled to God, so we can get up and go on.
But in Matt 9:2 Jesus said “have courage” to face your sins and shortcomings, and you will find that like this paralyzed man, Jesus will not condemn but forgive, so that we can be healed, have peace with God, be set free to get up and go on with our lives!
Sardonic Scribes
Sardonic means - caustic, derisive, arrogant, cynical, scornful, disrespectful, and taunting. If you look at verses 6 and 7, it says,
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2: 6-7)
For the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts
(2 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 139, Psalm 44:21). Only God knows the secrets of our hearts (Luke 16:15).
So Jesus asked them “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? The question implies that anyone can walk around saying they offer forgiveness of sins but who could do both? Jesus went beyond pronouncement to proof - He said:
10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10).
The scribes knew that according to Rabbinic teaching “A sick man does not recover from his sickness until all his sins are forgiven him, as it is written, ‘Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases’ [Ps. 103:3]”.
What Jesus was about to do would be clearly understood by all observers that this man’s healing was directly associated with the forgiveness of sins. Which only God would have the authority to do.
So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all (Mark 2:11-12).
“In full view of them all” (i.e., the entire crowd, their friends looking down from the roof and especially the teachers of the law, who had challenged Jesus’ authority to forgive sins), the ex-paralytic experienced God’s faithfulness as he obeyed the command and got up, rolled up his mat and walked out.
His friends saw the result of their faith as they simply brought him in front of Jesus.
“This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!””
Again, the response of the crowd - the complacent crowd, the fervent friends, and the sardonic scribes...were all astonished and praised God.
People need to know that their sins can be forgiven, and lives healed through faith in Christ - even though in almost every case there will be challenges and barriers.
They can know the joy of being restored in their relationship to God through Christ if we are willing to be fervent friends. Jesus came to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, the new exodus, the new beginning in Christ, victory over our enemies, the devil, sin, and death. It is the gospel that holds the cure for our deepest need.
As believers, it is also tempting to deal with our surface symptoms in our own lives but never face the heart issues. We all know when something is not right between us and God or between us and others. We all have a need for inner healing, in our heart and soul in our relationship with God and with others.
We need the Spirit of God and at times fervent friends to help us see these areas, to face our sin, own it, confess it, and bring it right in front of Jesus, into the light of God’s Word, so we can be forgiven, healed, reconciled to God, so we can be set free, get up and go on with our lives.
Nothing happened in the lives of the complacent crowd or sardonic scribes. It can happen very easily that we could become complacent or sardonic but when we chose to be fervent friends and intentional with our faith there will be a great reward!
