Last week, as we ended chapter one, we saw that Jesus is the authority. This week, as we start chapter two, we see an intensification of this theme, Jesus is the divine authority, for not only does He have the authority to heal, as we saw in chapter one, but he also has the authority to forgive sins. This, on the outset of His ministry, turns the religious authorities against him, for in their mind Jesus commits blasphemy.
As we look at this passage, the first thing that jumps out at us is the four friends of the paralytic, they are bold aren’t they? Now it is clear that the four friends of the paralytic were Presbyterians…see, they had to be Presbyterians, for if the four men were Anglicans, they would tell the man, “Before we bring you to Jesus, we’ll have to check to see if it is alright the bishop first”. If the four friends were Unitarians, they would tell the man, “When Jesus heals someone, he isn’t healing in a literal way, it is just metaphorical, so there isn’t any sense in bringing you to Jesus. Anyway, this whole thing about healing just a story, you shouldn’t really get your hopes up.” If the four friends were Dispensationalists, they would say to the man, “Healing is not for our day and time, you see, those kinds of things just don’t happen in our day.” If the four friends were Baptists, they would say to the man, “Are you baptized?” If they were Methodists they would have said to the man…ask the Anglicans. And if the four friends were Pentecostals, they would say to the man, “Ok, We’ll bring you to see Jesus, but only, if you have enough faith?”. But because the four friends were Presbyterians, they said to the man, “It appears that you are predestined to be healed, so let’s get going”.
Yes, I am aware that there were not to be any Presbyterians for another 1500 years…
Jesus has been traveling all over the region and he returns now to Capernaum. Jesus has left the town of Nazareth and it appears that He makes Capernaum His new home, as verse one states that, “he had come home”. Though it is not stated, the house is most likely Simon and Andrew’s house. The four fishermen and Jesus have traveled around the area and have come back home and everyone knows that they have arrived. The same thing happens to Jesus that happened the last time he was in town, all kinds of people show up. They fill the house, and the whole area around the house. Remember, we saw last week that the people were not coming to Jesus for the right reasons, that is why he left the town. Jesus has come to preach a gospel of confrontation, confrontation of our sin, but these people are coming because they heard Jesus was a great teacher, and that he could do miracles, they are not in any way concerned with their sinful lives. So the scene is this: Jesus is inside the house teaching about God, and people are packed around the house hearing him through the open door and through windows. It is a very compact situation.
And then the four friends and the paralytic arrive. They are late – this is the second sign that they are Presbyterians….You can’t get around the fact that they were late. You know, if they had arrived early, or even if they were on time, they wouldn’t be in this situation, would they? They are in this dilemma because they couldn’t get it together. Jesus could have told them, “your lack of planning, does not constitute an emergency for me”. I believe that some of the most fervent prayers offered in modern day life are the result of our being late….”Lord Just let the light stay green…Lord, a close parking place….Don’t let the police see me speeding…”you know what I’m talking about. A lot of the problems we have in our lives, to our dismay, are not caused by others – they are dreamed up and executed by none other than ourselves. I think if we looked to modern day pop psychologists we would be told that these problems we build up for ourselves are a result of our own immaturity, marginalization, a difficult childhood or our economic status…but if we asked Jesus Christ why we cause so many problems for our selves Jesus would reply, “It is because of your sin”. Yes, it is because of our sin. Remember, we saw in chapter one of Mark that Jesus had come to confront our sin. We’ll see this strongly as we work through this Scripture this morning. They were late. It doesn’t say why they were late, but in spite of the reason, the four friends are there with the paralytic man.
It is clear that they are friends and not a committee. A committee is a group of people who by themselves can do nothing, but together as a group, they decide they can do nothing. Theses friends are going to make something happen, and here I think we see some insight into a deeper definition of faith. Now there are times where we find ourselves in a situation where we have tried everything possible and there is no more that we can do, and we have to let go, give the situation to God and let him take care of it. Then there are times where we have to act in our faith, there are times we have to move forward despite every sign, at every turn, that tells us, this will not happen, you can go no further – yet still we need to continue on.
Many, many people were in the way for these five friends. There was no way into the house. They were out of luck. There was no way to God. They had placed themselves into a difficult situation. But these men have faith; The friends clearly believe Jesus can heal this man. Now, it is not the faith of the friends who saved this man, is it? It was the faith of these men who brought him to a place where he could hear the Lord Jesus deal with him individually and personally. What was their belief? It was that Jesus really was able to do the impossible, and if Jesus was able to do the impossible, then it would be possible for them to get to him. Do you hear that? If Jesus is able to do the impossible, then it is possible or you to get to Him.
A friend I grew up with, has always been a person who is very – upfront. She has never let an obstacle get in the way of where she was going. Growing up, I was always getting embarrassed by how brash she was. For example, there was a large movie theater in the area that was super popular. It was one of those places that showed about a dozen different movies in several different theaters. Today we find this everywhere, but years ago this place was the only place around that showed more than two movies at once. Well, there was always a crowd at this theater, and on Friday nights, forget it. There always was a long line that wrapped around the building, this of course did not deter Rhonda. We would arrive at the movie theater, park the car, and Rhonda would march right up to the front of the line, past a long line of people, and ask the first person in line what movie they were seeing – it was always something different than what we were planning to see. She would then say, “We are seeing a different movie, can we cut in front of you?” I would cringe, ready for a shocked response from the person in line…but almost every time they would say, “why sure, get in line” and there we were. If they said no, Rhonda, would just ask the next person in line. By the third or fourth person we would be in line and into the theater in no time.
Rhonda always seemed to be short on money, but of course, that didn’t ever stop her. At bridge toll booths, she would ask if she could go across or free, no story, no explanation, just, “Can I go across the bridge free today”, and, what do you know, many times they said, “sure, go right ahead” Parking. Rhonda rarely paid for parking. She would park in a parking place that said reserved, or employees only, and then walk into the business and ask, “Can I park there for a few hours?” – you know the answer. Even out at a restaurant she would leave the table and go ask the manager if she could have coffee, a dessert, or maybe a milkshake for free with her meal, they were happy to comply.
If Rhonda lived in Galilee in the time of Jesus, Rhonda would be one of the four friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus, for she would not let any obstacle deter her.. These friends had many obstacles in front of them, but that did not stop their faith. They get around the crowds and move to the back of the house and so in verse 4 we read, “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.”
These type of houses usually had stairs on the outside of the building that led to the roof. People would use the roof for all kinds of things like drying food or laundry, folks made good use of their rooftops. The roof would have been made of sticks and thatch covered with mud and then sometimes tiles on top of that.
These friends were now at a point to see the fruit of their faith as they had overcome the many obstacles in front of them. The first obstacle was overcoming a lack of faith, that was the start of this whole shebang; The second obstacle was going around all the people in the way, that was thinking out of the box; The third obstacle, the roof, they just boldly went right through, a bold faith emboldened more by being so close to the source and the fourth obstacle, they used to their advantage, gravity….and a stream of light comes into the house – their faith had literally placed a light on the subject – could Jesus heal this man, would Jesus heal this man?
The nature of the affliction of the man, beyond the fact that he was unable to walk is unknown. The technical Greek term used here is of paralysis from a disease affecting the nervous system. Whatever, exactly was going on with the man, the fact is, he couldn’t walk, and he never was expected to walk.
Idaho where Police received a phone call from a worried citizen who reported that he had seen the same car pass by his home five times. That in itself would not have been enough to call out the cops. But, the caller continued, the car was driving in reverse. Police later reported that they stopped a teen-age girl after a number of complaints that a car had been seen going around the neighborhood in reverse for some time. When the police approached the stopped vehicle the girl had a very logical explanation of her strange behavior. She told police that her parents had let her use the car, but they had reversed their decision when they discovered that she had put too many miles on it. “I was just trying to unwind some of it,” she said.
The friends cannot turns things back, only Jesus can.
So the man is plunked right in front of the man, Jesus sees the men’s faith (verse 5) and he says to the man, “You are healed!”. And the man go up and walked. Wait. That’s not what happened. Jesus doesn’t say that does He? The men go through all this work, moving forward with a bold faith…and Jesus says, what? “Son, your sins are forgiven”.
Forgiven – That is startling, it seems inappropriate or even irrelevant to the situation at hand. Don’t worry about the man’s sins, attend to his needs! My guess is that everyone, including the four friends are silent. See we see in verse 6 that the teachers of the law are thinking to themselves, they are speechless in response to Jesus words. Why is that? If Jesus had said anything else it would have not been a problem, but saying your sins are forgiven that is shocking that is blasphemy, for the teachers of the law knew best of all, only God himself can forgive sins. 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Remember last week we talked about how Mark was showing that Jesus is the authority – he drives out demons, he heals, he speaks with authority, and here Mark shows us that authority even further, from the person of Jesus himself. We see that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, and therefore claims to be divine.
Now why would Jesus tell the man he is forgiven, rather than just healing the man? In the OT healing and forgiveness are frequently interrelated concepts. They may be interchangeable. We see this in Psa. 41:4 I said, “O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” And in Psa. 103:3 “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,”. We also see that by repentance God brings healing, 2Chr. 7:14 “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” So Jesus, understanding the bible well, He sees forgiveness of sins and healing going hand in hand. Therefore his initial statement is: you are forgiven. This pardon is the recognition that the man can be made whole.
What the teachers of the law object to is that Jesus claims to speak for God and more than that, the teachers of the law think a declaration of forgiveness is easier than healing. But the declaration of forgiveness is not only more essential, but is more difficult. Jesus is not simply saying that I’ll let go what you have done to me, He is saying that literally, your sins are gone, vanished, no more. So the religious leader are mad at him calling him blasphemous in their hearts, which is by the way punishable by death. This is in fact the start of the basis for three years later when they are able to get Jesus executed – the charge blasphemy.
I have to stop right here and point out how amazing this is. Here these men who are well trained in the things of God, have before them one who has never taught so well on the things of God, who heals right in front of them who publicly casts out demons and they have no clue who Jesus is. Trained religious leaders can’t see it, four fishermen can. Remember, the kingdom of God is very real, but it is hard for us to see.
American Beliefs Inconsistent: Most Americans are on a spiritual journey, but many seem to not see the kingdom of God.
· 80% of Americans agree that an individual should arrive at his or her own religious beliefs independent of any church or synagogue.
· 1 in 3 Americans define spirituality without God or a higher authority.
· 84% of Americans believe that God performs miracles and 79% believe the miracles described in the Bible actually happened.
· Yet only 40% go to church regularly leaving 39% of the American population claiming they believe in the miracles of the Bible, but do not go to church.
· 43% of non-Christians and people of no religious faith have asked for God’s intervention at some time in their life.
· 67% of Americans say they have prayed for a miracle and 77% believe God or the saints heal sick people given no medical chance of survival.
· 63% say they know someone who claims to have experienced a miracle, and 48% believe they have personally experienced or witnessed one.
These men cannot see what is right in front of them, even as we as Americans, have difficulty seeing the kingdom of God as it is lived out right in front of us. Jesus, knowing this says in verse 9- 11, 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
They are startled by the healing, for it is through this healing that Jesus proves that his sins are in fact, forgiven. Jesus is assuring them that he not only has the right, but also the authority. This announcement of radical healing of sins and is a pronouncement that the kingdom of God is here.
The kingdom of God is here, and it is among us, through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we saw today was that Jesus is willing to heal us, but sometimes we have to push through a series of obstacles – the first being a belief that he has the authority over anything in our lives. But first and foremost we need to deal with the sin in our lives. This is what Jesus want to deal with first, then other things will fall into place.
- I hope this sermon has helped you in writing your sermon for your congregation. God bless - Peter.
Note for those using the sermon series: Mark 2:23-3:12, the Scriptures coming up next, were preached on by our associate pastor and our youth director while I was on vacation and are not available on Sermon Central. I pick up the text at Mark 3:13 where we discuss the calling of the 12 disciples and the sin that is unforgivable.
