Here we find that Jesus has returned to Capernaum. Near the end of Mark 1, Jesus found Himself surrounded by crowds of people in Capernaum. They were flocking to Him due to the upsurge in His popularity as a healer and worker of miracles. But He surprised His disciples by saying that the time had come for Him to “go somewhere else to the towns nearby,” so that He could preach there. He said, “For this is what I came for.” So, He went out into the neighboring regions throughout Galilee preaching the gospel. But now He has returned. Mark calls it “home” in 2:1, probably referring to the home of Peter, where Jesus likely stayed much of the time. And word got out that He had returned. Not surprisingly, the crowds returned.
In this account, there are three distinct “scenes.” From these scenes, we learn see three important truths about Jesus, namely His characteristic activity, His controversial announcement, and His confirmed authority.
I. Christ’s Characteristic Activity (vv1-2)
When word got out about Jesus being back in town, crowds of people gathered around the house where He was staying. No doubt, they hoped He had returned to do more of the same that they had seen Him do before. More healing, more casting out demons, more of the miraculous. But Jesus had declared in Mark 1:38 to His disciples that these things were not the reason for His coming. He had come to proclaim a message. Imagine the disappointment of this multitude when they gathered so densely that they filled the house and flowed out the door when all He began to do was “speak the word to them.”
In the first 10 chapters of Mark’s Gospel, he makes reference to the crowds that gathered around Jesus forty times. But they are no indication of the success of Jesus in fulfilling His mission. Rather they are a distraction to it. They hear Him preaching, they observe and receive the benefits of His compassion, but never do we read of great crowds of people turning in faith and repentance to respond to His gospel message of salvation. It is one thing to be a part of the crowd that gathers around Jesus. It is quite another thing to follow Him.
There is much going on today in the name of Christ which amounts to little more than drawing crowds. We could put on a fancy show, or hire a rock-and-roll band to take the stage, or prop up our programs with all sorts of entertainment value and word would get out, and the crowds would come. Its being done all over town this very day. But we are unashamedly committed to the characteristic activity of Jesus – we are speaking the Word.
The church where I was ordained was well-known in Winston-Salem for its excellent music ministry. I would venture to say that many people came to that church just to hear the music. But my pastor, Dr. Mark Corts, used to tell us that if we heard anyone say that they were there for the music, to assume that they were lost and take immediate opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with them. Church is not a place for entertainment. If it is entertainment a person is seeking, there are plenty of places to find it. But the Church of Jesus Christ is a place foremost for edification where lives are built up in the faith, and for evangelism where souls are saved. Though we may desire to draw a crowd hear the Word, we must never make drawing the crowd the goal of efforts. Otherwise, we may find that the situation has become not unlike the one in this passage – the crowd has obstructed access to Jesus, and those who understand their real need for Him have a hard time getting to Him because of the crowd. Crowds gather to observe, to be amused, to analyze and critique. But Christ is not seeking a crowd of spectators. He is seeking individuals who will respond to His message of salvation in faith and repentance to follow and serve Him.
This holiday season, we will see some of the crowd. They come and go at Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day. They come to feel good about themselves that they have taken part in religious activity. Perhaps there are some today who fit that description. But we have lost the focus of our mission if we fail to challenge those in the crowd to take the next step of commitment and service to Christ. So, if you are just a face in the crowd today, we speak Christ’s word to you today, calling you as He did in Mark 1:15 to repent and believe in the gospel, and like the woman in Mark 1:31 to take action in serving Him. His characteristic activity was proclaiming the Word, and it must be ours as well.
But notice in the text that the scene of His characteristic activity becomes a scene for …
II. Christ’s Controversial Announcement (vv3-7)
The crowd was so thick that four men carrying a paralytic friend could not get him to Jesus. They were hindered by the overflowing mass of spectators. So, they climbed the outer stairs to the roof of the house and began to tear the place apart.
First-century homes in the near east used their rooftops the way we use porches and patios today. They were flat spaces where people would retreat for rest, for fresh-air, to dry their laundry, to eat, to pray, to meditate or otherwise find solitude. The roof would be supported by beams that rested on the house’s exterior walls, and those beams would be cross-hatched by smaller poles and sticks and covered with thatch. Over the thatched roof would be a layer of sun-dried mud.
In the midst of Jesus’ teaching, a faint scratching sound might have been heard as the four friends began to dig through the layer of mud. Soon, clumps of the hardened mud would begin falling down upon the occupants of the house. Then, pieces of straw and splinters and chunks of wood would begin falling, possibly even becoming hazardous to those on the inside. And then when the hole was opened, the paralytic man was lowered into the presence of Jesus.
Now most of those present would have found this highly offensive. They would have objected to what they would have assumed was an act of vandalism, impropriety, and rude interruption. But notice that this was not the response of Jesus. Verse 5 says that He saw their faith.
A. His recognition of faith (v5a)
Though Jesus had been calling for faith since His first public announcement in Mark 1:15, this is the first time we read of anyone responding with it. It is of interest to me that the same Greek word is employed in both verses: pisteuo, the verbal form in 1:15; pistis, the noun form here in 2:5. Now, we are not told exactly what these men believe about Jesus, but we know this: They have come to believe strongly that Jesus Christ holds the answer to this man’s problems. So they stop at nothing to get their friend to Him.
Notice that the text does not say Jesus “knew of their faith,” or that He “assumed they had faith.” It says He saw their faith. Faith takes action. This is the point of that perplexing passage, James 2:24, which says, “You see that a man is justified (that is, that he is saved) by works and not by faith alone.” James is not saying, contrary to the opinion of many including Martin Luther, that the man is justified by works. The Bible is explicitly clear that we are only justified by FAITH! But James is saying that you cannot see that a person is justified unless their faith produces action that proves that their faith is authentic. You cannot see faith unless it is manifested in action! Jesus could see the faith of these men because it prompted them to rip the roof off of Peter’s house. I would venture to say that Peter was not nearly as impressed by it as Jesus was.
I am going to assume that each of you knows someone who has not met Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus can satisfy the deepest need of that friend? Can that person see your faith in action? Or do your actions contradict that faith? Does Jesus see your faith? To what lengths are you willing to go to get your friend to Jesus? Would you enlist the help of others? Would you climb to a rooftop? Would you tear off a roof? The actions of these men demonstrated great faith in Jesus, and great love for their friend. And Jesus recognized their faith. So, we see …
B. His response of forgiveness (5b)
It may very well be that these men never thought of the man’s sins. They were concerned about his sickness – the fact that he was paralyzed. But Jesus sees through the man’s temporal felt need to the abiding and greater need on his heart. Physical infirmities have an expiration date – upon our deaths we will be relieved of them. But there is a more pressing, more eternal, if you will, need which must be met in this life, lest it produce an infinite weight of suffering in the next life. Though not all of us share the gravity of this man’s sickness, each of us shares his burden of sin. And it is that need to which Jesus speaks.
He says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” No matter what state a person may be in today, that individual has no greater need than to hear these words of grace spoken from the mouth of Christ. He may have to suffer physically for the rest of his days on earth, but the assurance of the forgiveness of sins means that he can look forward to a day when he will never be touched by pain or grief again. He will be welcomed into the gates of Heaven with full pardon of all that He has done. The Word of God promises in Revelation 21:4 that in that place there will be no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, or crying or pain. Songwriter Jim Hill put it this way in a familiar gospel song:
There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come, no more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forever more on that happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be!
There’ll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there. And forever I will be with the One who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be!
What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face—the One who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the Promised Land; What a day, glorious day that will be!
But our only hope for that day is that we know in this day that we have come to Jesus and received this pronouncement of His grace – “Your sins are forgiven.” This is controversial in our day. We live in a day where the prevailing opinion is that there is no such thing as sin. But my friends, if there is no such thing as sin, then how do we explain the need for a Savior? How do we explain Christmas? Christmas is about sin. That is what Matthew 1:21 says – “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Every tinseled tree, every packaged present, every red and green trapping is a testimony to the fact that we are sinners, and God loves us so much that He does not desire for us to perish eternally in our sins. Rather, He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life with Him. And apart from Him, there is NO OTHER HOPE of Heaven.
As controversial as it is in our day, it was just as controversial in First Century Capernaum. Notice that in vv6-7, the scribes in attendance begin to reason, “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” That is pretty good reasoning. It is deductive logic: Only God can forgive sins. This man claims to forgive sins. Therefore this man claims that He is God. Therefore He blasphemes.
Even though they are reasoning in their hearts, Jesus is aware of it. Do you realize that He knows how you reason in your heart? You don’t have to say it out loud – Romans 2:16 says that God will judge the secrets of men, and Hebrews 4:13 says that all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. I imagine that the scribes were quite shocked when Jesus began to address the secret reasoning of their hearts. I imagine we would be as well. But notice that He does not take issue with the content of their reasoning. In point of fact, they are correct in their premises, but it leads them to the wrong conclusion. Only God can forgive sin. Jesus does claim to forgive sins. Therefore, this is tantamount to His claiming to be God. However this is only blasphemy if it is not true. If He is God, then He does not blaspheme. But He has to demonstrate the validity of that claim. And He does so as we move to the scene of …
III. His Confirmed Authority (vv8-12)
Jesus puts a question to the scribes – “Which is easier, to say to paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up and pick up your pallet and walk’?” After all, if He says to the man, “Your sins are forgiven,” then who is to say whether they have been or not? That is hard to prove. But if He says to him, “Get up and pick up your pallet and walk,” well, that is something altogether different. Now there would have to be proof in the pudding, so to say. If the guy couldn’t get up, then Jesus is a fraud. But Jesus says in not so many words, “I will play by your rules, then.” And then He tells them that He will prove that He has the authority to forgive sins.
Verse 10 marks the first time Jesus uses the title “Son of Man.” It occurs 14 times in Mark, and each time it is a title that Jesus applies to Himself. He uses it three times with reference to the apocalypse, when He will come in judgment. He uses it two times with reference to His authority, to both forgive sins and supersede their manmade traditions. But He uses it nine times with reference to His atonement – that the Son of Man would suffer and die for the redemption of humanity from sin. In Mark 10:45 He says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The title is a reference back to Daniel 7:13-14, which says, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” This Son of Man which Daniel prophesied was the One to whom all the authority of God would be given, the One whom all mankind should serve, the One who would reign forever and ever.
And Jesus says, “To prove to you that I am that one, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He turns to the paralytic and says, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he did. It wasn’t done in secret, or in private. The eyes of everyone present saw it. And once again, we read now for the third time that the people were amazed at His authority, and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” Indeed they hadn’t. The scribes did not have this kind of authority, nor did the priests or anyone else who had ever claimed to speak for God.
This act of healing was a marvelous demonstration that Jesus is who He said He was, and could do all that He claimed to do. He is the One who can forgive sin – controversial as it was in His day, controversial as it is in ours – we insist that He is the only One who can. He is God in the flesh who came to this earth as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He healed the paralytic as proof of His identity.
The same Lord offers to forgive the sins of anyone who will turn to Him in repentance and faith today. Someone may say, “Well, what miracle will He use to convince me?” But Jesus said in Matthew 12, Matthew 16, and Luke 11, that an evil and adulterous generation seeks out signs, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah: “just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He rose from the dead on the third day following His death on the cross as our substitute, bearing our sins in our place, and that miracle is fully sufficient to convince all who long to experience the forgiveness of sins that He offers. He has fully demonstrated His divine authority to save, and will forgive anyone who turns to Him seeking salvation. You have no greater need in this life or the next, and no other hope outside of Him.
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