The Forgiving Of The Paralytic - Mark 2:1-5 Series

Mark 2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered 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 paralytic, 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 and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Introduction

Dr. Jesus

What would you do if Jesus walked into the room here right now and said, “I will give you any kind of healing you want. Pick one thing that’s wrong with you, and I’ll heal it.” What would you pick?

All through Mark chapter 1 we got to see how the people of Capernaum answered that question. Fever, demons, leprosy, paralysis, various other diseases and injuries. And Jesus healed every one of them. What would you pick?

We finished up ch.1 before the holidays, so today we begin Mark ch.2, which starts with yet another healing. And to help us understand what’s going on in this section and what it all means, glance down real quick to v.17, where Jesus refers to himself as a doctor. Dr. Jesus. That’s how Jesus thought of himself. He was a doctor, which makes sense, right after that whole explosion of healings. It seems to make sense, but if you take a quick glance at the context of v.17, you’ll see that what Jesus meant by “doctor” has nothing to do with physical healing.

Look at v.16 – who are the sick that Jesus came to be a doctor for? Tax collectors and sinners. Jesus came to be a doctor, not for people who have physical illness, but people who have spiritual illness. But if that’s the case, what’s with all the physical healings? What’s the relationship between the physical healing and spiritual healing?

And what is spiritual healing? If I asked a doctor, “What does it mean to have the flu?... ” he would describe the process of how some virus gets inside the body and causes damage, and results in all the various flu symptoms. He could tell me all about what cancer does and how that works, or paralysis or allergies or brain damage or a sprained ankle. We understand all that, but what does it mean to have a spiritual disease? What does it mean for there to be something akin to a virus or an injury or a cancer – infecting your inner man – the immaterial, non-physical part of you?

That’s the language the Bible uses to describe sin. And here’s something important to understand – it’s not just an illustration or a figure of speech. Don’t think that physical disease as real disease, but spiritual disease is just a spiritual analogy that’s not literal. When you think of the immaterial part of you – your mind, thoughts, emotions, will, your beliefs – is all that just a figure of speech? No. That’s really you. It’s just as much you as your body is. It’s very real, and it gets broken and diseased and sick just as literally as your body does.

And Jesus came into this world to set up a medical practice to treat our spiritual diseases. So what is that like? What is it like to have Dr. Jesus give you treatment? What is it like to be treated by him, and what you have to do to get that treatment? Jesus is going to answer those questions tonight in a very vivid and very unexpected way. As we’ve already seen, Jesus is full of surprises, and he doesn’t disappoint here.

Review: Cleansing

It’s been a while since our last session, so let me refresh your memory on where we left off. At the end of ch.1, we left Jesus out there in the boonies. Jesus had cleansed a leper, and in the process, ended up trading places with the man, which is a profound symbol of how Jesus cleanses us.

And that whole account introduced Jesus as a spiritual doctor, because remember the guy didn’t say, “If you are willing, you can heal me.” He said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Even more than the physical disease, his biggest problem uncleanness. And ceremonial uncleanness was an illustration of spiritual filthiness before God. So curing that leper was a physical healing, but it was an illustration of spiritual cleansing.

Every time we sin, it makes us dirty. And we can all relate to that? We all know what it’s like to feel dirty and stained. That’s a horrible feeling, isn’t it?