Introduction
Last Sunday I introduced Jesus as the Great Gasper. He is the one who causes gaspers – making other people gasp. And he has done some pretty amazing things to make people gasp – casting out demons, healing the sick, even cleansing lepers. Sometimes, though, it is the audacity by which he speaks and acts. Mark’s first report of the people being amazed was over the way Jesus spoke with authority. Here was someone who indicated that he did not need any other human authority to back up what he had to say. If you can remember, I had also pointed out that the way he cast out demons and healed diseases indicated that he did so more out of exercising authority rather than power. Demons were compelled to obey him; the ease by which he healed indicated that the very diseases obeyed.
And then consider last Sunday’s passage in which Jesus cleansed a leper. There he did what had not even been imagined before. Jesus, the holy, touched the leper, the unclean, and made him clean. The act itself caused a great deal of gasping, because, as we saw in Scripture, such contact should have brought defilement on Jesus and judgment on the leper. There is no precedence for what Jesus did. Where did he get the audacity to even attempt such a thing? No rabbinical authority, and no biblical authority for that matter, indicated that he could touch a unclean person without becoming defiled. He seemed to be acting on an authority of his own.
Authority, Mark seems to be raising the question before us – what kind of man possesses such authority? In our passage this morning he clearly is raising this question. It is this issue that initiates his first run-in with religious authorities. But more importantly for us, the answer to the question gives us the basis for our own hope of salvation.
The Story
Jesus returns to Capernaum. The last verse of chapter one stated that he could not enter a town openly because of the news of his healings. He has managed to slip in probably Peter’s home, which has become like a home to him. Nevertheless, word gets out and Jesus again is surrounded with people. This time the crowd is so great that there was no room even outside the door of the house.
Interestingly enough he wasn’t healing; he was preaching the word. We already have been given a synopsis of that word in 1:15. He taught about the kingdom of God, specifically that it was near, and he taught about repentance and faith. We have to remember, healing is not the ministry Jesus had come to do; it was to preach the good news.
But healing certainly was the goal of five men, one to be healed and the other four to get him healed, as verse 4 shows: 4 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. Probably the men got on the roof by climbing stairs that would have been on the side of the house leading up to the flat roof. This was common as roofs were used for a variety of purposes – sleeping in the evening to take advantage of the cooler air, storing supplies, and so on. There would have been a 3-foot balustrade around the perimeter according to biblical law.
It was not common, however, to dig holes through roofs. They would have had to remove the tiles paving the top and then dig through the hard beaten earth or rubble to the framework supporting it, which would then have been broken through. It would not have been a small hole. They had to lower through it a man stretched out on a cot. Carrying the paralytic up the stairs and lowering him through the roof onto the ground must have been a laborious task.
Clearly, these men were determined and expectant. They had the same belief as the leper that Jesus could heal, and they had the further expectation that he would. The only obstacle for them to overcome was getting to Jesus, and that they were determined to do. Apparently they did not want to take any chances of missing him. Perhaps they had been among those waiting for Jesus the first time he was in Capernaum and had slipped away in the morning. They were not going to let that happen again.
You’ve got to wonder what was happening in the house while the men are digging through the roof. It’s not as if they found a trap door that they could quietly open and then lower their friend before anyone realized what was happening. Surely Jesus and the crowd would have first heard the digging and certainly would have noticed parts of the ceiling falling down on them. Here is another time for gasping even for Jesus. What would Peter have been thinking, assuming this was his house? On second thought, we probably do not want to know what Peter was thinking!
What did the men say? “Sorry about the mess. Do you mind if we drop in? If you could just take a moment to heal a friend, we’ll be on our way.” Well, Mark won’t let us in on the details. All we get is Jesus’ response after the paralytic is let down. And, as if to top what the men did, Jesus performs another gasper of his own.
Mark records: 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic… It is obvious what he is going to say: “Be healed.” Maybe he would pull the man up by the hand as he spoke. What else would he say? This:“Son, your sins are forgiven.”
“Your sins are forgiven.” Where did that come from? There is no indication that the paralytic is known as a sinner. In his teachings and healings, Jesus never connects a man’s physical ailment or misfortune to his sin. Is he making that connection now? I really don’t know. I don’t why he says these words to this man and not others, or if he did say it to others, why Mark only records this one time. But it is evident why Mark does record it. Look at what happens next.
Mark writes, 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?” The teachers of the law, also known as scribes, were the biblical scholars and authorities of their day, and they were not pleased with Jesus’ comment. But though they were reacting negatively to what Jesus had said, Mark would have us consider the same questions. Why is Jesus talking like that? Just who does he think he is?
Well, he is going to give us something to think about. 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? In my dim way of thinking, I would always reply mentally, “Both are easy to say.” Nothing difficult about speaking. But Jesus’ point is this: “which statement puts me most on the spot to prove my authority?” The teachers of the law could have said, “You didn’t remove the guilt of his sins.” Then Jesus could have replied, “Did too.” And they could have gone on and on: “Did not.” “Did too.”
To say, “Get up, take your mat and walk,” well, his so-called authority would be revealed for what it was very quickly and very clearly. Quickly and clearly Jesus put himself to the test: 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. You got that? Mark wants it understood – in full view of them all. Test passed.
Now we might still question exactly what the healing miracle proved. We already knew Jesus could heal. What’s forgiveness got to do with it? We need to think as the Jews would have thought. The physical healing signified the spiritual healing. In general, Jewish thinking was that sickness and misfortune were the result of sin. Perhaps Jewish teachers did not link all ailments to specific sins, but they did understand that in some way such misfortunes were related to God’s favor being removed. The healings that took place, even the miraculous healings of Jesus, indicated that the offenses of the persons had been removed and God’s favor restored.
So, it would not have been shocking if after Jesus had healed the paralytic, he then said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Everyone would have understood that he was simply making an observation or giving assurance of what God had evidently done. What threw everyone off was pronouncing forgiveness before the healing. Why did he do that? To make the point that he wasn’t simply pronouncing what he believed God had done for the man or was about to do. He himself was forgiving the man’s sins.
By reversing the order of healing and forgiving, he demonstrated that he was more than a prophet given a word of insight by God, but that he possessed the very divine prerogative to forgive. The authority to heal signified the authority to forgive. As Jesus said in verse 10: But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....”
The words, your sins are forgiven, were more than a pronouncement; they were an act performed by one with divine authority to do so.
Lessons
What then are we to make of this story? As we think about this, let’s put ourselves in the right perspective. Our tendency is to approach application in a detached, passive way. We listen to the story; we mull it over and then pick out what is useful for us. Hopefully, the preacher will be good at making application so we don’t have to do too much thinking for ourselves. But from Mark’s perspective, he has told this story to confront us with the claims of Jesus. Mark is pressing us with the question, “What are you going to do about what you have just heard? What are you going to do with Jesus?” Or again, we read Scripture and hear it proclaimed with the mindset of “what about it?” “Tell me what I should get from this that will be helpful to me?” The reality is that God is speaking to us, saying, “What about it? What are you going to do about it? You’ve read and heard about my Son; what are you going to do?”
Let me give some ideas, first from the action of the paralytic and his friends. What was Jesus responding to when he pronounced forgiveness? It was the men’s faith: When Jesus saw their faith, he said… Have you ever asked the question, “What does God want from me?” He wants faith. He wants us to believe him and believe in him.
Do you want to be forgiven of sin? Then believe God forgives those who turn to Jesus for forgiveness. I know that it seems too good to be true or too easy. Surely God must require something more from us, some good work to prove ourselves or make up for our sins. Well, there are two things we could do: from now on live perfect lives and at the end let God’s judgment fall on us. To live perfectly is what’s required, but since we have already sinned, judgment must still come. Our only hope is faith in Jesus to heal and forgive us. The faith of those men for healing was squarely focused on Jesus alone. They believed in him that he could heal, and they believed him that he would. That’s what their action showed. That’s the action we need to take.
Jesus likes aggressive action. The woman who breaks through the crowd to touch his robe; the blind man who calls out to him when others try to keep him quiet; the adulterous woman who breaks into a Pharisee’s home to wash his feet; the Syrophoenician mother who refused to accept what appeared to be his refusal to heal her daughter; all of these individuals he commended. Why, because they were pushy? No, because they believed in him, so much so that they trusted no one and nothing else. We need to have the same attitude.
We often confuse acts of humility and pride. If I had been in that house listening to Jesus, I probably would have been angry with those men. What impertinence to destroy someone else’s property, disrupt Jesus’ teaching, and believe that he would happily heal their companion. Surely, they could have waited. But, what Jesus saw were men filled with love for their friend and with hope in him. And what he sees in our passiveness is not humility, but pride that we don’t embarrass ourselves or find that he really cannot make a difference.
We should be convinced that Jesus is able and willing to forgive. We should be doing whatever we have to do to get to him. To say, “My sin is too great,” is not humility; it’s arrogance. Jesus possesses the authority of God to forgive. Believe him! To think you are too far gone or too unworthy is to refute the very claims of Jesus to save all who call upon him. The men on the roof didn’t think that, and Jesus made it clear he didn’t think so either.
To continually express doubt that Jesus is God who brings forgiveness for our sin is ultimately nothing more than obstinacy. Saying that you need more proof or more convincing arguments may be valid when you first hear the gospel, but surely you have no excuse when the words and works of Jesus are revealed to you. Jesus expected his miracle to be proof enough to convince everyone of his claim to divine authority. You may not have seen the miracle, but the claim and the evidence have been laid out before you. If you still have doubt, then dig through whatever roofs you must to get to Jesus and experience for yourself his forgiveness.
The bottom line is that we must decide and act. Mark closes the story recording, This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” It is appropriate that the people were amazed; it is good that they gave praise to God. But neither is enough. They each had to decide for themselves that more than a miracle-worker, here was a man who could forgive their sins and put them right with God. They needed to commit themselves to him. They needed to receive what he gave and receive him on his terms.
It’s not enough to appreciate Jesus and the effect he has had on so many people. It is not enough to regard him as an important person in history to respect. He has put the challenge before us all – that we may know the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] has authority on earth to forgive sins…
Communion Service
The Lord’s Supper reminds us that though it may have been easy for Jesus to say “Your sins are forgiven,” it was not easy to pay for those sins. The paralytic’s forgiveness came not because Jesus waved them away with his hands, but because he would some day stretch them out to shed his blood on a cross. Sometimes we Christians are accused of promoting cheap grace. We must regard God’s forgiveness as cheap since we don’t have to work for it. We don’t work for forgiveness because we regard too valuable the work of Jesus in obtaining it. To work says that his work wasn’t quite valuable enough. But no, his sacrifice is more than enough to bring forgiveness and to nourish our souls.
I said that the friends of the paralytic did whatever was necessary to get to Jesus and that we should do the same. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that there is no barrier to dig through or climb over. There is but one act for us. Come. Hear and believe the call of our Savior. Come. Cast your faith on me. Place your hope in me. By my body you are reconciled to God; by my blood you are cleansed and forgiven. Come.
