And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him, because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”Immediately he arose, took up his bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” Mark 2:1-12
The Bible teaches that sickness and death entered this world through the misused freedom of our original parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3). Since then it has been the saga of humankind to deal with all kinds of diseases and sickness. And in the Scriptures, we can read that Jesus not only cured diseases by laying His hands on some people, but also like our text, merely had to speak the word, and this man, a paralytic was healed. Let’s go deeper into God’s Word. First off, let’s take notice that by now Jesus had made quite an impact on the lives of the people around them. And so now we read that He’s entered a house in Capernaum, and word got around that He was there. So they gathered there, in what I’m sure was a tiny house and all, that the people crammed their way into the house, and there was no way for anyone to make entry through the door. A second observation is what drew the people, And He preached the word to them.(v.2) God draws His people in where His Word is being taught and rightly divided. The works of the Lord are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them.(Psalm 111:2) Imagine being taught the Scriptures by Jesus Himself, the good news of the gospel, that salvation is by grace alone, our response through faith alone, for the forgiveness of sins.
So Jesus was sitting in this house. The place was packed both inside and outside, you couldn’t even get near the door because of the multitude of people. And here come four men carrying perhaps their friend or family member, and they become desperate, because they know Jesus is near by. So it is with us today. We have this chronic and reoccurring problem with our lives, if its medical, doctors don’t seem to know what to do? If its something else, financially, or the loss of a loved one, whatever the case it may be. How desperate do we become in finding Jesus Christ for our lives? We know He is near, but are we desperate enough to “breakthrough” the barriers of what other people might think of you, by doing so? Seems we care often too much of what another person might think of us, instead of what God says to us in His word. In this case, these men became so desperate that they tore through the roof of this house so that could lower their friend down in front of Jesus. They didn’t care what others might think of their actions. They did what they believed to be the right thing for their friend.
Jesus saw their faith—When Jesus saw what lengths they went to just get His attention, and to bring healing, He deemed it to be that their faith in Him was strong. And He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Now, imagine the reaction from these four friends at Jesus’ words was probably that of disappointment. “Lord, we didn’t bring him here to be saved!” “We brought him here to get healed!” But Jesus is taking care of the most important thing first. He sees the condition of our heart, and knows what it needs most. So we too must ask ourselves, “What is really most important, my loved one’s healing, or their salvation?” Better to have suffered in this life so that it would draw me to Christ, that I might be saved, than to go on with life without ever concerning myself to what awaits me after this life, eternally separated from God for my sins were never dealt with in this life.
Now what is so significant of this healing is that it cannot be explained? This was not about a man’s ability to believe, but about withered twisted legs that became immediately and visibly whole again at the authority and word of Jesus. Yet, the greatest miracle God can ever perform and work in any of our lives is the miracle of freeing us from the power of sin and transforming us into the kingdom of light.
The scribes response—What these men were there for our text doesn’t say, but most definitely they were listening to Jesus speak to the crowds about the kingdom of God, as rulers and teachers in the synagogues they knew the Law of Moses; but when they seen His actions which included this miracle of healing, rather than believing like the rest of them the amazing work of God; they reason in their hearts that He, Jesus is an imposter, because He is giving His authority to forgive sins. “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They were absolutely right about the second statement, but were dead wrong on the first. And immediately Jesus picked up on their thinking and reasoning inside. I love this! We can never hide our true nature from God, He is the One who created us! David wrote in Psalm 139: O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether(vv.1-4). David understood that nothing inside of him could be hidden from God. A valuable lesson for us too!
Which is easier—To say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk? Well, if you’re Jesus Christ, neither one of them is difficult. Here is an observation: To say “Your sins are forgiven you.” Is in fact easier to say, because we cannot see the condition of the heart. Yet, when in fact to see a miracle of physical healing right before your eyes would be more difficult for us to say, convincingly, because of the response would be immediately made known to verify this. Yet, Jesus is giving us the priority of the heavenly kingdom. Which the spiritual life of man comes before the earthly natural life of man. Indeed, it is looking at the bigger picture, of where we will spend eternity at.
Beloved friend, The Greek word translated “amazed” is existemi or literally “to be beside oneself,” but the reaction of the crowd was not just of awe of this never seen before and unexplainable act. The miracle also prompted the crowd to glorify God (v.12). The onlookers recognized that the source of the miraculous healing was the Creator God who had initiated the healing process by supernatural means. Now they had reason to take Jesus at His word seriously when He offered to forgive their sins. Jesus said to His disciples on the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light so shine before men, that when they see your good works, they glorify your Father which is in heaven.”What Jesus demonstrated for us is that we should be Christians who love God in how we love others. Meaning our works on this earth which can be seen by men, should be bringing glory to God the Father, by His love radiating through us, so that others may live and give their praise at what they have witnessed in the lives of believers, and they too would desire for all eternity to be in the presence of God.
May the Lord bless your walk with Him today!
