EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED
Mark 2:1-12
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been invited to a party or an event for the first time? Do you recall the feelings you had when you arrived? Were your expectations disappointing or were they more than what you could have imagined.
This familiar New Testament story recorded by Mark illustrates the power of Jesus in not only meeting our expectations but giving us more than what we could ever imagine.
1. The Paralytics PROBLEM ( 1-5)
After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that he was back home.
In verse 1, we’re told that Jesus was “in the house.” At least, that’s what the New King James version says. This of course is a figure of speech, that means he was at home. In fact, that’s the way that the NIV translates it: “the people heard that he had come home.”
Now we know, of course, that Jesus grew up in Nazareth, but Capernaum and Nazareth are not far from each other. Luke 4 tells us that when Jesus went back to Nazareth, after his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, he was so thoroughly rejected by the people with whom he grew up that he left Nazareth and made Capernaum, which was a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, his home base for the three years of his public ministry.
It has been speculated that this may have been Peter’s house, where Jesus stayed in a room with the family of Peter and Andrew.
When the people found out that Jesus was at home, they began to gather in it. Although it was early in his ministry, Jesus was already starting to be quite a popular preacher and teacher.
Here was this man who was healing sick people all over the place. What did he have to say? Keep in mind that life in Palestine was a little more public than we are used to. Usually, the door would be opened in the morning and anyone was free to go in or out. It was never shut unless there was some special need for privacy. So, before long, the crowd filled the house and overflowed into the street, everyone trying to get closer to hear Jesus.
Now to better visualize what was happening I want you to try your best to picture in your mind the scene before us.
The house where Jesus resided, was typical of a middle eastern home. It was a small, one room structure with a flat roof. Access to the roof was by means of an outside stairway. The roof itself was usually made of wooden beams with thatch and compacted earth in order to shed the rain. Sometimes tiles were laid between beams and the thatch and the earth placed over them.
Mark says that four men brought a paraplegic to him. We are not told names, or even any relationship that existed between the paralytic or his four companions. Mark is also silent concerning how the man came to be paralyzed. Was it an accident? Did he contract a disease such as meningitis? Was he born paralyzed?
It was a common belief taught by the religious leaders, that such diseases were the result of the victims own sin or was judgment for some sin c omitted by a family member.
There was little hope or encouragement given to anyone in such circumstances.
The usual response would be to leave such a person to fend for themselves by begging.
These four companions were not content to leave their friend to beg, they wanted to see him healed and restored to wholeness.
When they heard Jesus was in town, they seized the opportunity to bring their friend to Jesus.
However, upon their arrival, they found the crowd so congested there was no way they could go through the front entrance.
When they weren’t able to get in because of the crowd, they climbed on the roof where they removed part of the roof and lowered the paralytic on his stretcher.
Then the paralyzed man was lowered down to Jesus, and when Jesus “saw their faith did something that was completely unexpected.
Jesus seeing their faith… This refers to the four friends as well as the paralytic.
In other words, when Jesus saw THEIR faith he turned to the paralytic and says your sins are forgiven.
This was more than what anyone expected. The four friends were simply desiring that their frined be healed so that he could live a normal life. We are not told how the paralytic felt through this whole phase, but I am sure he was equally surprised.
Forgiven of my sins? But I only wanted to be healed.?
Heres the point. Jesus knows our greatest need is forgiveness. Until this is dealt with, a person can never know real wholeness. Jesus begins with the need in the heart and when that is made whole, everything is made right.
When you give your life and trust Jesus, he gives you more than you could ever expect or imagine.
While this announcement astonished the paraytic and his friends, it infuriated others who were watching from the sidelines
The paralyitics problem is eclipsed by the Pharisees protest of Jesus statement.
2. The Pharisees PROTEST ( 6-7)
But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “He can’t talk that way! That’s blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins.”
And they were legally correct in their accusation. For anyone but God to claim to forgive sin was blasphemy.
The religious leaders were saying to themselves: "Who does this man think He is? He’s offering to forgive sins? Only God can do that! Besides, this man was not brought here for forgiveness, but for healing." You see, when God does something in our lives, Satan the arch enemy of our soul, he will always try to bring fear, doubt and confusion.
A few years back, Dan Brown wrote a fictious book called the davinci Code. It was later made into a movie.
In the book, Brown claims that The deity of Jesus was invented at the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.)
Dan Brown further claims that “Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. They had a child. After Jesus’ death, Mary fled to France. Today, there are physical descendants of Jesus’ bloodline.”
- The Da Vinci Code makes some wild assertions here. Brown claims that after Jesus’ death Mary fled to France in the wake of great pressure from the male disciples who wanted to twist what Jesus had taught and who Jesus was to their own liking. Mary, her marriage to Jesus, and their child posed threats to all that, so they threatened her into fleeing. Because of all this, unto this day there are physical descendants of Jesus through that French bloodline. Brown argues that all this, of course, was covered up by the church.
Now it is true that in 325 at the council of Nicea, it was being argued whether Jesus was trully God and trully man. The conclusion was the Nicean Creed which every orthodox Christian denomination including the PAOC ascribe affirming Jesus’ deity.
If Jesus was not who He said He was. Then he was either a liar or a lunatic. It would mean that he died on the cross and never rose again. We would be, as Paul asserts in 1 corinthians, still in our sins and the most miserable people on the planet.
But what did Jesus say about Himself ?
Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sin. Mark 2:5-7.
Jesus’ enemies believed He was claiming to be God. John 5:17-18.
But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” 18 So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.
Jesus claimed that knowing the Son was the same as knowing the Father. John 5:19-23.
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. 21 For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. 22 In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, 23 so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.
Jesus claimed for Himself one of God’s biggest names. John 8:58-59.
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM![a]” 59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.
Jesus didn’t stop people who worshiped Him. John 9:35-39.
When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?[a]” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
Jesus claimed He was alive before the world began. John 17:5, 24.
Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began… Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
Jesus didn’t rebuke Thomas when he called Jesus “God.” John 20:28.
The obstacle which caused the Pharisees to be blind to Jesus is the same obstacle which causes people today to fail to submit to Jesus’ Lordship, PRIDE. The reason more people come to church and leave without receiving from the Lord is PRIDE.
A man was putting a tin roof on his barn when all of a sudden he slipped and began to slide down the roof. He cried out to God to save him. No sooner had he got the words out of his mouth, a nail caught his pants and stopped him. When he stopped, he said, “Never mind, God. I took care of it.”
The problem isn’t that God doesn’t perform miracles anymore. The problem is we’re not looking for God to perform miracles.
And like the Pharisees, we miss out on Jesus because we think we are good enough, smart enough, talented enough that we don’t really expect God to do anything.
The Pharisees protest is further exasperated by Jesus pronouncement.
3. Jesus PRONOUNCEMENT ( 8-12)
Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, “Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking’?
This rhetorical question is meant to cement the truth that Jesus was proclaiming. Jesus continues to silence the Pharisees
Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . .” (he looked now at the paraplegic), “Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home.” And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Why didn’t Jesus heal the man first? After all that is why he was brought by his friends to Jesus.
Often times when we come to the Lord, we come with preconceived ideas of what we think Jesus should do.
However, since He is God, He knows exactly what we need first. The man needed his sins forgiven. He needed to be whole in his heart before he could be whole in his body.
You see, Jesus could have healed him them sent and him on his way. The tragedy is that eventually, the man would have eventually died. Then where would he spend eternity.
God knows your needs and how to meet them. He wishes for you to be whole.
Wholeness begins when our hearts are full of Gods forgiveness and salvation.
4. Two practical lessons
There are a lot of lessons that we could gain from this passage, the first and formost one is that But, again, I want to draw your attention to that phrase: “Jesus saw their faith.”
a. The greatest miracle is the power of Jesus to forgive sin.
It’s no challenge for God to heal, and since Jesus had come to be the sacrifice for sin, it was no challenge for him to forgive sins either. In the mind of God the death of Jesus upon the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, were already accomplished. In just a few years the plan of God would be fulfilled in the earth, but it was already a finished plan in Heaven. The plan of salvation was working and no power on earth or in hell could stop it.
Jesus knew that sin must be dealt with first. Then healing could truly come. Not only that, but he focused on salvation of the soul and that was the lesson that he wanted everyone to hear that day.
The paralytic was healed for sure, but most importantly, he was given eternal life that day.
Let us keep our focus where it needs to be. Health for this body is important for sure, but the most important thing in life is to have that eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ living inside of us. Keep your focus on things eternal.
The second essential lesson that we learn is that
b. The greatest ministry is to bring someone to Jesus
I want to draw your attention to that phrase: “Jesus saw their faith.”
Faith is never something just to be talked about. It is something that must be demonstrated in the way we live.
Paul Harvey once said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”
There’s Biblical basis for that statement. James said, “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18).
There’s a story in Mark 2 that demonstrates this principle. I want us to read and study the whole story, but for now, I want to draw your attention to four short words in verse 5: “Jesus saw their faith”. Most people would say, “You can’t ‘see’ faith. Faith isn’t in the physical, visible realm.” But it is. And Jesus saw the bold faith of these four men.
There is a boldness that comes by believing deeply that God means what he says. Someone has said, “When we are asked to describe our relationship with God, if the first adjective that springs to our minds is ‘polite,’ then we have a problem. It means that we are not listening. There needs to be a boldness with which we confront the Lord, and insist in his presence that we are going to take his word seriously and we likewise expect him to take us seriously.”
God wants us to make a difference in this world, in our schools and at work. If we are going to make a difference we must demonstrate bold faith in Jesus by bringing people to Jesus.
I want to briefly look at three qualities of their faith that I believe need to be a part of our faith as well.
I. Jesus Saw Four Men Who Cared
These were four men who weren’t thinking of themselves. They didn’t need a special blessing from the Lord. But they had a friend who did. And they went to a lot of trouble to get him the help that he needed. The reason is that he was important to them. They cared about him.
Someone has well said that "They won’t care how much we know until they know how much we care."
As the body of Christ today, we’ve got to be a people who truly care. Paul wrote, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with them that weep." (Romans 12:15).
In other words, CARE. Get involved in the lives of others. It’s so easy to sit back, wrapped up in our own lives and our own problems, so that we don’t really care about anyone else.
What a tremendous difference it would make if we would just spend a bit of each day looking for someone who has a need. It might be a brother or sister in the church. It might be your next-door neighbor. It might be someone who has a material need. It might be someone who needs a babysitter for a couple of hours. It might be someone who needs someone to talk to. It might be someone who needs some help with the housework, or a ride to the store. It might be someone who is anxious to learn more about God’s Word. Remember, "They won’t care how much we know until they know how much we care."
And that means more than expressing concern. It means actually helping people out with their problems, what one writer calls "getting your hands dirty in their lives." Can you imagine these four men visiting their paralyzed friend? They stop by to say hello, talk about their big plans for the week-end, then they start out the door saying, "Yeah, we’re going to hear this fellow Jesus speak. By the way, this Jesus has the power to heal anybody, even somebody paralyzed like you. Listen, if there’s ever anything we can do for you, you just let us know!"
They didn’t do that because they cared. And they showed that they cared about him by meeting his need.
James said, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?....Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ’Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:14-16).
Indeed, what good is it? Caring about people only has meaning when we are doing something. Jesus saw four men with a faith that cared. We need to have the same kind of faith. We need to be a people who care about one another, and a people who care about the physical and spiritual needs of the world around us.
II. Jesus Saw Four Men Who Wanted to Share Christ
These four men didn’t want to take the paralyzed man to a chariot race. They didn’t want to take him down to the lake to go fishing. They wanted to share Christ with him. And that made all the difference in his life.
The church needs to be a people with a faith that is anxious to share Christ. Like Andrew. Andrew is not one of the prominent apostles. Not like James and John, or Peter, his brother. But every time we read about Andrew, he’s bringing someone to Christ. He brought his brother, Peter, to the Lord. He brought the boy with the fish to Jesus. He brought some Greeks with questions to Jesus. No, he’s not recognized as great. But he shared Christ with the people around him. And when you stop to think about it, what could possibly be greater than that?
We ought to feel about Christ the way the apostles did when they said, "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20). They couldn’t hold it inside of them. They had to share it!
The four men in our lesson were men in good health. They didn’t need a special blessing from the Lord, but they brought someone who did. And that’s also the goal of all Christians. Indeed, what greater compliment could be given than to say, "He brought people to Christ"?
III. The Lord Saw Four Men Who Wouldn’t Give Up
These four men brought their friend to Jesus. But when they got near the house, they saw that there was no room to get through.
Now if you had been in their place, what would you have done if you had arrived at the house and seen all those people crowded and overflowing out into the street? Would you sit back and wait for the crowd to leave? Would you say, "Let’s just go home -- we’ll never get in"? Not these four men.
Now, if they had quit at this point, they would have had a good excuse or reason to go home. But they weren’t looking for a way out. It’s amazing how many people are looking, it seems, for a reason to get out of doing something. They always seem to have a “reason” for their unfaithfulness to the things of the Lord. The New Testament calls them excuses.
What ar some reasons or obstacles people give for not getting involved?
• I’m too busy
• It’s not my job
• It’s too difficult
• I don’t have what it takes
Someone has made the point that, Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
But these four men had a faith so great that it refused to die in the face of obstacles. They didn’t want to quit. They couldn’t bring themselves to say, "We can’t do it." They were determined that nothing would stop them from seeing Jesus. Their friend was sick and Jesus had the power to heal. And they were determined that they would bring the two together, at any cost to themselves.
And that is exactly what it took – a cost. It cost them the time to carry him to the house. It cost them the effort to carry him to the roof of the house. It cost them the trouble to tear up the roof and let him down. It cost them the favor of the people on whose heads the rubble was dropping as they ripped up the roof. And it probably cost them the money to pay for the roof to repair it. But they were willing to do whatever it took. And it probably increased their faith, because difficulties test us, and thereby cause our faith to grow.
You see, our failures as churches and as individuals generally lie not so much in our obstacles and problems as they do in our lack of faith. We’ve already decided what’s not going to work and who’s not going to respond and what can’t be done. And somehow that soothes our conscience a little bit when we don’t do anything because "it wouldn’t do any good anyhow."
There are many who are anxious to cry, "It can’t be done." And until we put forth the effort, it won’t be done. But so much can be accomplished when we recognize the power of God.
" For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.."(Philippians 4:13).
The Lord’s work has not always been accomplished by talented people or intelligent people or strong people. But it has always been done by people who believed in the power of God, who did what they could, relying on God to supply the rest.
I have wonderful news for you: Jesus is alive and He is well! His church is alive and it is well! And I have discovered that any place will do if God is in that place. And any ordinary man will do if God is in that ordinary man.
Many would say today: "Nothing significant can happen in an ordinary man." The expectation is to have university degree in order to be used and do something that is significant. I was told that people will not listen to you if they know that you have no high education. This is not true, Jesus used ordinary people, fisher-men and unlearned people, who later turned their known world up side down.
But I want to repeat this: Any place will do if God is in that place; and any ordinary man will do if Christ Jesus is in that ordinary man.
God has entrusted a hurting world into our hands. What are you doing about it? Remember that you and I are the light and the salt of the world.
When we look at our hands, what do we see?
1. Do we see busy hands - too busy to reach out to the needy?
2. Do we see dirty hands - too sinful to count for Christ?
3. Do we see delicate hands - too delicate to reach the unkempt?
4. Do we see careless hands - too apathetic to realize our responsibility?
I pray and hope that that will not be the case. My prayer is that we will see serving hands coming from a loving heart in which Christ Jesus resides.
RESOURCES
COMMENTARIES
Full Life Commentary to the New Testament, Roger stronstad
The Expositors Bible Commentary, Mark
The Gospel of Mark, William Barclay
The Bible Exposition Commentary, Warren Weirsbe
Sermon central
Jesus Saw Their Faith, Alan Smith
Hope For The Hurting! by Ruben Rivis
Bringining Our Friends to Jesus by Jason Cole
The Da Vinci Code: Fact Or Fiction (Part Two: Did Jesus Claim To Be God?) by Jim Butcher
Scripture refernces are quoted from the New Living Translation, and the Message.
