Customer Service at the DMV?
Every once in a while we experience an event so incredibly wild and stupendously crazy that what went down breaks all the rules of what we thought could ever happen.
That unexpected upset by an total underdog over a powerhouse that suddenly turns into a blowout. A total snoozefest explodes into the best party ever. Hospitality and customer service so crazy good at the DMV that you think you’re at the Apple Store’s Genius Bar.
Each is a complete surprise that blows the lid off the joint.
A First Century Flash Mob
In the second chapter of his bio of Jesus (Mk 2:1-12), Mark describes an event so unexpected, so sudden, so ludicrous, so improbable that nobody saw coming. And I mean nobody. The time is around 30 AD. The scene is the modest home of a couple of local commercial fishermen in the boondocks of Galilee.
A crowd suddenly gathers when word gets out that the amazing new Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth is in the ‘hood. It’s a First Century flash mob. The people just keep coming. And coming. And coming. Before you know it, there are more folks standing in the front yard than inside the house.
A Hole in the Roof
We haven’t even got to the crazy part. Without any warning, four friends are ripping apart the roof of a crowded house so they can get their buddy down to Jesus. But that’s small potatoes compared to how the Lord rips apart folks’ perception of who He is and what He can do.
Let’s just say it’s the day Jesus blows the roof off the place.
Jesus’ Earthly Home Office
We pick up the action with the Son of God coming back after laying low after publicity got WAY out of hand (Mk 1:45). “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home” (v1).
Capernaum is a small blue collar town that’s known for it’s fishing fleet. It’s earning a new rep as Jesus’ temporary headquarters for a large chunk of His three-and-a-half year ministry. Call it the Son of God’s earthly home office.
Peter’s Version
The phrase “back home” is actually “in the house” in the original Greek. You can pretty much bet our Savior has set up shop at Peter and Andrew’s home, the scene of that crazy Sabbath of healing and exorcism (Mk 1:29-34).
Remember, the second Gospel is actually Peter’s version of Jesus’ bio as told to John Mark. That was the commonly belief of the early followers of Christ believed this. As a result of his source VERY close to the story, Mark consistently drops knowledge we don’t find in the other two versions of this event (Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:18-26).
Crowded Inside and Out
We see one of those juicy tidbits in the very next verse. “Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door” (v2). Thanks to Pete, Mark is the only Gospel writer to let us know that it’s so crowded inside that it was crowded outside!
This is like one of those a crazy house parties teenagers throw when their parents are out of town. Relax, I’m NOT talking about your kids. They would NEVER try to pull anything like that, would they?
Getting in the Way of God
Picture the scene. People are hoping meet the One they’ve heard so much about. There’s just one problem. They can’t get anywhere close to Him. That stuff still happens to this day. Too many times we put too much stuff in folks’ way that makes really hard to get near Jesus. They may hear about Him. But they never meet Him.
You know the kinds of stuff I’m talking about. In some churches, you have to dress a certain way. In others, you got all sorts of rules to follow and hoops to jump through. And some others, we get so hip and relevant that you can’t see our Savior through the smoke machine and laser lights.
The Life of the Party
For those who could make it inside the house, they have a front row seat as Jesus is “preaching God’s Word to them” (v2). Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Christ says this is THE big reason He has come (Mk 1:38-39; 3:14; 6:12; 13:10; 14:9). He’s sharing the awesome news of God’s gracious Gospel. More on that in a moment.
You can actually translate this phrase as “He was talking to them about the Word.” Jesus may have been preaching but He just as well could be involved in something a lot less formal. Think of it as more of a casual conversation.
All throughout the four Gospels, we consistently see Christ as life of the party. This would be a perfect example. As the center of attention, He’s leveraging the moment to tell people in Pete’s living room all about His good, good Father. And why not? The grace of God is His favorite topic.
Locked and Loaded for the Lord?
So what do I love to talk about when I’m hanging out with my friends? The latest movie franchise? My most recent show that I’ve binged watched on Netflix? The playoff chances of my favorite team? Hey, there’s nothing wrong with any of those (Okay, you’re on shaky ground if you pull for the Patriots, but that’s another matter for another day).
Does my love for Jesus and what He’s done in my life regularly pop up in my conversations. Does His grace naturally flow out of me? No, I’m not talking about cramming an awkward list of religious rules down folks’ throats. Am I so consumed with Christ that I can’t contain myself when I’m with others?
I like how Pete puts it. “If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way” (1Pet 3:15-16). Sometimes people may not ask. Other times they will. When they do, am I locked and loaded to talk about the Lord?
Four Men and a Friend
Meanwhile things are about to pick up back at the shindig at Pete and Andy’s place in Capernaum. “Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat” (v3). Once again, Mark provides a fact we don’t see in Matthew or Luke. He tells us how many guys have come together to carry their buddy to see Jesus.
We don't get the back story of why he’s disabled. Mark uses a Greek term (Gr. παραλυτικος/paralutikos) five times in this short passage which describes someone unable to walk, disabled, weak, feeble, or lacking strength. It’s actually a compound word which literally means “destroyed on one side.” Whatever happened to him, he’s severely paralyzed. MacArthur speculates the poor guy could actually be a quadriplegic.
When We’re Running on E
While we don’t know his medical history, we do know he has four great friends. These guys have rallied around him in order to do for him what he couldn’t do for himself. Sometimes we have to carry a friend who’s too weak to carry themselves. Not when they’re physically weak, but emotionally and spiritually feeble as well.
Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel on God but a great friend came along who was willing to sit right there in the mess with with you? Keep an eye out for people you know who might be running on E. Maybe it’s their faith. Maybe it’s their heart. Maybe it’s their body. Be the kind of friend Paul writes to the Galatians about. “Share each others burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).
When You Can’t Go Through, You Go Over
Imagine the reaction of these four friends when they pull up to Peter and Andrew’s house and see people filling the front yard. Instead turning around, they get creative. “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above His head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus” (v4).
They don’t go through the crowd. They go OVER it! Homes in First Century Palestine are a bit different than the two-story brick transitional on the cul-de-sac just down the street. These places had rooftop patios for cooling off at the end of the day and sleeping on a hot night which you could access by an external stairway.
Unroofing the Roof
Instead of the asphalt shingles on most American homes, the roof is made of slabs of burnt or dried clay placed on wooden beams. That’s how the four friends are able to take apart the place apart so easily.
Mark describes how “they dug a hole through the roof” (v4). He has a pretty cool way of saying it in the original language. “Dug a hole” (Gr. αποστεγαζω/apostegazo) and “roof” (Gr. στεγη/stege) come from the same root word. In other words, they literally “unroofed the roof”!
Meanwhile in the Living Room
Put yourself in the living room with Jesus and the lucky few who made it inside the house. You hear some scratching above you. Suddenly pieces of the ceiling begin falling on you. Before you know it, there’s a good-sized hole and someone’s being lowered on a stretcher right in front of Christ!
The effort and ingenuity of these four men is something to see. They literally tore the roof of the joint that day! If you’re like me, you may be wondering what’s going through Jesus’ mind when He see this crazy scene. What’s His reaction going to be? Will He freak out at the dust in His hair? Will He be upset that they interrupted what He was saying?
Seeing Their Faith
The Lord is anything but upset. Nope, just the opposite. “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’” (v5). Did you catch whose faith He saw? “Seeing THEIR faith” (v5 emphasis added). These four guys have just put their trust that Jesus could and would heal their buddy on display for everyone to see.
Jesus’ own kid brother James is blunt when it comes to legit trust in God. “Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless” (James 2:17). These men didn’t just stand outside the crowd wishing and hoping Jesus might be able to do something for him, they did something!
An Obvious Faith
Their faith got busy. Their faith got down to business. They didn’t just talk the faith talk, they walked the faith walk. They put their faith into action and on the line. They were going to do anything and everything possible to get their boy to Jesus. And when they did, He saw THEIR faith!
This is when I need to take a long, hard look at the guy in the morning mirror and ask some very blunt questions. I may talk a good game at times but do people actually see my faith? Is my trust in Jesus blatantly obvious by what I do? Do I put the needs of others ahead of my own because of my faith in Christ?
A Symptom of Spiritual Disease
Back inside Pete and Andy’s house, Jesus is about to kick things up a notch. What? You thought that four guys busting through the roof to lower their disabled friend was wild enough? Oh baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Christ’s response to the whole stretcher-through-the-ceiling move is about to rock everyone’s world. He tells “the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’” (v5). Sins? You assumed they brought their buddy because he couldn’t walk. Our Savior diagnoses the man’s deeper problem and understands his physical disability is actually just a symptom of his spiritual disease.
Apparently this man’s sin has resulted in severe impairment. A boatload of Bible scholars see Jesus’ forgiveness to mean the guy’s paralysis is the direct result of his rebellion against God. Sometimes it’s not. Take the blind man Christ heals during the holidays (Jn 9:1-3). But sometimes we can connect the dots of our disobedience with our disease.
Not the Only Sinner in the Story
This is a great time to remember that the paralyzed gentleman isn’t the only sinner in the story. That description fits everybody in the crowd at the house. Peter. Andrew. The four faithful friends. It also includes the author of the story everyone who has ever heard it. As a matter of fact, it also includes everybody who hasn’t!
That’s because we all we’re all sinners. You. Me. Us. Them. It’s Paul’s big point in a letter to Roman believers. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom 3:23). “Everyone” and “all” pretty much covers it, don’t you think?
Our Sinless Savior
Everybody except Jesus. He’s the sinless Son of God who does for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. He came to live the perfect life that we failed to live. He came to die the brutal death for our sin that we should have died. He rose to a glorious new life that we don’t deserve.
Here’s the Good News in a nutshell. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2Cor 5:21). In other words, Jesus exchanges us His complete perfection for our sinful rejection. Trusting in that trade results in God’s forgiveness.
Blasphemy!
Back at the crowded house in Capernaum, things are about to get, shall we say, messy. Here’s how Mark puts it. “But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ‘What is He saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!’” (v6-7).
Apparently these religious experts got there early for front row seats. They saw it all. The hole in the roof. The lowering of the stretcher. If that didn’t blow their minds, Jesus’ offering of forgiveness to the paralyzed man sure did.
Putting God in a Box
Just who are these guys? They’re what are often called scribes. They’re men who study the Old Testament and interpret them for the average Joe. That’s all well and good but they rarely stop there. They don’t just teach the lesson. They like to help God out by cooking up with their own crazy curriculum loaded with extra commands.
As a result, God has to fit into THEIR box and play by THEIR rules. And that’s why they get their religious undies in a bundle when Jesus has the gall to forgive someone’s sin. The scribes blow a gasket because the new Rabbi in town is claiming to be God by doing things only God can do!!
Jesus Claims to Be God
You may hear people say Jesus never claimed to be God. He may have been a radical who challenged the status quo. But NOT God. He may have been a miracle-working healer. But NOT God. He may have been a great teacher. But NOT God.
Well, let’s be clear. That’s EXACTLY what Jesus is doing here in Mark 2. The religious police don’t turn on the blue lights because He teaches and heals. It’s all because Jesus is claiming to be God. And according to the OT, that’s a capital crime (Lev 24:10-23; Num 15:30-31).
The funny thing is that they’re both wrong and right…all at the same time! They’re absolutely right. Only God CAN forgive sin. But their totally wrong. It’s NOT blasphemy…because Jesus IS God! The Lord isn’t just tearing apart their box and ripping up their rules. He’s tearing the roof off the joint!
Putting a Leash on the Lion
Too many times I end up taking a page out of the scribes’ playbook and try to limit our unlimited God. Go ahead, put a leash on the Lion of Judah and see how that works for you. He’s going to do what He wants to do. NOT what I expect Him to do.
“The LORD does whatever pleases Him throughout all the heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths” (Ps 135:6). Did you catch that? Whatever He wants. Wherever He wants. That includes both a First Century Galilee or 21st Century America and anywhere in between. It’s all part of being God.
Exposing Dark Secrets
But not only does the Lord see the faith of the four men and their friend, He knows what’s rattling around in the heads of the religious teachers. “Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking” (v8-9). He doesn’t just forgive sin. He exposes are darkest secrets.
Even if the scribes didn’t roll their holier-than-thou eyes, the Son of God reads them like an open book. Jesus’ best buddy John puts it this way. “No one needed to tell Him about human nature, for He know what was in each person’s heart” (Jn 2:25). Nobody reads a room or knows a crowd better than Christ. And that’s still the case.
Take Your Best Shot
Whether the Son of God supernaturally reads their minds or just caught the scribes rolling their it really doesn’t matter. Suddenly He drags them from the sidelines onto center stage. “So He asked them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk?” (v8-9).
It’s Jesus’ way of saying, “Go ahead, boys. Take your best shot. Give it a try. Pick one…forgive his sins or heal his disease. Your choice. You call. Let’s see what you got.” From a spiritual sense, it’s impossible for anybody but God to forgive someone’s sin. From an earthly sense, it’s unthinkable for anybody but God to heal paralysis. What’ll it be?
He’s Got the Godly Goods
The Lord doesn’t leave us hanging. “‘So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.’ Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ‘Stan up, pick up your mat, and go home!’” (v10-11).
Jesus is about to demonstrate to the scribes and everybody else jammed in the joint that He’s got the godly goods. He’s Messiah. He’s got authority. He can forgive sin. He can heal disease. In other words, He’s God.
A Description of Divinity
This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus drops His favorite nickname for Himself, the Son of Man. He’s dusting off one Daniel’s favorite descriptions of divinity. Danny gives us a prophetic play-by-play of something he saw in the heavenly throne room.
“I saw Someone like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into His presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that the people of every race and nation and language would obey Him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed” (Dan 7:14-15).
Calling Himself the Son of Man is Jesus’ not-so-subtle announcement that He is God. God the Father has given Him complete authority to do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, wherever He wants. He will rule forever. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Messiah and King of Kings.
Love through the Roof!
I’m not saying what the four guys did for their disabled friend wasn't something to see. They ripped the roof off the place in order to get their buddy to the Lord. But that’s JV compared to what Jesus has done. The Son of God didn’t just descend through a hole in the roof. He dove all the way from heaven to earth in order to save us. God’s love for us is through the roof!
Forgive sin? Piece of cake. Don’t believe Him? Just sit back and watch Christ restore full mobility to a paralyzed man. “And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before!’” (v12).
The Ultimate Walk off
Jesus drops the mic on the scribes. Good night. Game over. Drive home safely. He didn’t need to say another word to these religious bullies. When the man walks home, Jesus delivers the ultimate walk off. He’s God. Period. End of discussion.
Jesus blows the lid off the joint. He unroofs the roof. And He still does.
©2017
Jay Jennings
Every once in a while we experience an event so incredibly wild and stupendously crazy that what went down breaks all the rules of what we thought could ever happen.
That unexpected upset by an total underdog over a powerhouse that suddenly turns into a blowout. A total snoozefest explodes into the best party ever. Hospitality and customer service so crazy good at the DMV that you think you’re at the Apple Store’s Genius Bar.
Each is a complete surprise that blows the lid off the joint.
A First Century Flash Mob
In the second chapter of his bio of Jesus (Mk 2:1-12), Mark describes an event so unexpected, so sudden, so ludicrous, so improbable that nobody saw coming. And I mean nobody. The time is around 30 AD. The scene is the modest home of a couple of local commercial fishermen in the boondocks of Galilee.
A crowd suddenly gathers when word gets out that the amazing new Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth is in the ‘hood. It’s a First Century flash mob. The people just keep coming. And coming. And coming. Before you know it, there are more folks standing in the front yard than inside the house.
A Hole in the Roof
We haven’t even got to the crazy part. Without any warning, four friends are ripping apart the roof of a crowded house so they can get their buddy down to Jesus. But that’s small potatoes compared to how the Lord rips apart folks’ perception of who He is and what He can do.
Let’s just say it’s the day Jesus blows the roof off the place.
Jesus’ Earthly Home Office
We pick up the action with the Son of God coming back after laying low after publicity got WAY out of hand (Mk 1:45). “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home” (v1).
Capernaum is a small blue collar town that’s known for it’s fishing fleet. It’s earning a new rep as Jesus’ temporary headquarters for a large chunk of His three-and-a-half year ministry. Call it the Son of God’s earthly home office.
Peter’s Version
The phrase “back home” is actually “in the house” in the original Greek. You can pretty much bet our Savior has set up shop at Peter and Andrew’s home, the scene of that crazy Sabbath of healing and exorcism (Mk 1:29-34).
Remember, the second Gospel is actually Peter’s version of Jesus’ bio as told to John Mark. That was the commonly belief of the early followers of Christ believed this. As a result of his source VERY close to the story, Mark consistently drops knowledge we don’t find in the other two versions of this event (Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:18-26).
Crowded Inside and Out
We see one of those juicy tidbits in the very next verse. “Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door” (v2). Thanks to Pete, Mark is the only Gospel writer to let us know that it’s so crowded inside that it was crowded outside!
This is like one of those a crazy house parties teenagers throw when their parents are out of town. Relax, I’m NOT talking about your kids. They would NEVER try to pull anything like that, would they?
Getting in the Way of God
Picture the scene. People are hoping meet the One they’ve heard so much about. There’s just one problem. They can’t get anywhere close to Him. That stuff still happens to this day. Too many times we put too much stuff in folks’ way that makes really hard to get near Jesus. They may hear about Him. But they never meet Him.
You know the kinds of stuff I’m talking about. In some churches, you have to dress a certain way. In others, you got all sorts of rules to follow and hoops to jump through. And some others, we get so hip and relevant that you can’t see our Savior through the smoke machine and laser lights.
The Life of the Party
For those who could make it inside the house, they have a front row seat as Jesus is “preaching God’s Word to them” (v2). Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Christ says this is THE big reason He has come (Mk 1:38-39; 3:14; 6:12; 13:10; 14:9). He’s sharing the awesome news of God’s gracious Gospel. More on that in a moment.
You can actually translate this phrase as “He was talking to them about the Word.” Jesus may have been preaching but He just as well could be involved in something a lot less formal. Think of it as more of a casual conversation.
All throughout the four Gospels, we consistently see Christ as life of the party. This would be a perfect example. As the center of attention, He’s leveraging the moment to tell people in Pete’s living room all about His good, good Father. And why not? The grace of God is His favorite topic.
Locked and Loaded for the Lord?
So what do I love to talk about when I’m hanging out with my friends? The latest movie franchise? My most recent show that I’ve binged watched on Netflix? The playoff chances of my favorite team? Hey, there’s nothing wrong with any of those (Okay, you’re on shaky ground if you pull for the Patriots, but that’s another matter for another day).
Does my love for Jesus and what He’s done in my life regularly pop up in my conversations. Does His grace naturally flow out of me? No, I’m not talking about cramming an awkward list of religious rules down folks’ throats. Am I so consumed with Christ that I can’t contain myself when I’m with others?
I like how Pete puts it. “If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way” (1Pet 3:15-16). Sometimes people may not ask. Other times they will. When they do, am I locked and loaded to talk about the Lord?
Four Men and a Friend
Meanwhile things are about to pick up back at the shindig at Pete and Andy’s place in Capernaum. “Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat” (v3). Once again, Mark provides a fact we don’t see in Matthew or Luke. He tells us how many guys have come together to carry their buddy to see Jesus.
We don't get the back story of why he’s disabled. Mark uses a Greek term (Gr. παραλυτικος/paralutikos) five times in this short passage which describes someone unable to walk, disabled, weak, feeble, or lacking strength. It’s actually a compound word which literally means “destroyed on one side.” Whatever happened to him, he’s severely paralyzed. MacArthur speculates the poor guy could actually be a quadriplegic.
When We’re Running on E
While we don’t know his medical history, we do know he has four great friends. These guys have rallied around him in order to do for him what he couldn’t do for himself. Sometimes we have to carry a friend who’s too weak to carry themselves. Not when they’re physically weak, but emotionally and spiritually feeble as well.
Have you ever wanted to throw in the towel on God but a great friend came along who was willing to sit right there in the mess with with you? Keep an eye out for people you know who might be running on E. Maybe it’s their faith. Maybe it’s their heart. Maybe it’s their body. Be the kind of friend Paul writes to the Galatians about. “Share each others burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).
When You Can’t Go Through, You Go Over
Imagine the reaction of these four friends when they pull up to Peter and Andrew’s house and see people filling the front yard. Instead turning around, they get creative. “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above His head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus” (v4).
They don’t go through the crowd. They go OVER it! Homes in First Century Palestine are a bit different than the two-story brick transitional on the cul-de-sac just down the street. These places had rooftop patios for cooling off at the end of the day and sleeping on a hot night which you could access by an external stairway.
Unroofing the Roof
Instead of the asphalt shingles on most American homes, the roof is made of slabs of burnt or dried clay placed on wooden beams. That’s how the four friends are able to take apart the place apart so easily.
Mark describes how “they dug a hole through the roof” (v4). He has a pretty cool way of saying it in the original language. “Dug a hole” (Gr. αποστεγαζω/apostegazo) and “roof” (Gr. στεγη/stege) come from the same root word. In other words, they literally “unroofed the roof”!
Meanwhile in the Living Room
Put yourself in the living room with Jesus and the lucky few who made it inside the house. You hear some scratching above you. Suddenly pieces of the ceiling begin falling on you. Before you know it, there’s a good-sized hole and someone’s being lowered on a stretcher right in front of Christ!
The effort and ingenuity of these four men is something to see. They literally tore the roof of the joint that day! If you’re like me, you may be wondering what’s going through Jesus’ mind when He see this crazy scene. What’s His reaction going to be? Will He freak out at the dust in His hair? Will He be upset that they interrupted what He was saying?
Seeing Their Faith
The Lord is anything but upset. Nope, just the opposite. “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’” (v5). Did you catch whose faith He saw? “Seeing THEIR faith” (v5 emphasis added). These four guys have just put their trust that Jesus could and would heal their buddy on display for everyone to see.
Jesus’ own kid brother James is blunt when it comes to legit trust in God. “Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless” (James 2:17). These men didn’t just stand outside the crowd wishing and hoping Jesus might be able to do something for him, they did something!
An Obvious Faith
Their faith got busy. Their faith got down to business. They didn’t just talk the faith talk, they walked the faith walk. They put their faith into action and on the line. They were going to do anything and everything possible to get their boy to Jesus. And when they did, He saw THEIR faith!
This is when I need to take a long, hard look at the guy in the morning mirror and ask some very blunt questions. I may talk a good game at times but do people actually see my faith? Is my trust in Jesus blatantly obvious by what I do? Do I put the needs of others ahead of my own because of my faith in Christ?
A Symptom of Spiritual Disease
Back inside Pete and Andy’s house, Jesus is about to kick things up a notch. What? You thought that four guys busting through the roof to lower their disabled friend was wild enough? Oh baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Christ’s response to the whole stretcher-through-the-ceiling move is about to rock everyone’s world. He tells “the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’” (v5). Sins? You assumed they brought their buddy because he couldn’t walk. Our Savior diagnoses the man’s deeper problem and understands his physical disability is actually just a symptom of his spiritual disease.
Apparently this man’s sin has resulted in severe impairment. A boatload of Bible scholars see Jesus’ forgiveness to mean the guy’s paralysis is the direct result of his rebellion against God. Sometimes it’s not. Take the blind man Christ heals during the holidays (Jn 9:1-3). But sometimes we can connect the dots of our disobedience with our disease.
Not the Only Sinner in the Story
This is a great time to remember that the paralyzed gentleman isn’t the only sinner in the story. That description fits everybody in the crowd at the house. Peter. Andrew. The four faithful friends. It also includes the author of the story everyone who has ever heard it. As a matter of fact, it also includes everybody who hasn’t!
That’s because we all we’re all sinners. You. Me. Us. Them. It’s Paul’s big point in a letter to Roman believers. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom 3:23). “Everyone” and “all” pretty much covers it, don’t you think?
Our Sinless Savior
Everybody except Jesus. He’s the sinless Son of God who does for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. He came to live the perfect life that we failed to live. He came to die the brutal death for our sin that we should have died. He rose to a glorious new life that we don’t deserve.
Here’s the Good News in a nutshell. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2Cor 5:21). In other words, Jesus exchanges us His complete perfection for our sinful rejection. Trusting in that trade results in God’s forgiveness.
Blasphemy!
Back at the crowded house in Capernaum, things are about to get, shall we say, messy. Here’s how Mark puts it. “But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ‘What is He saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!’” (v6-7).
Apparently these religious experts got there early for front row seats. They saw it all. The hole in the roof. The lowering of the stretcher. If that didn’t blow their minds, Jesus’ offering of forgiveness to the paralyzed man sure did.
Putting God in a Box
Just who are these guys? They’re what are often called scribes. They’re men who study the Old Testament and interpret them for the average Joe. That’s all well and good but they rarely stop there. They don’t just teach the lesson. They like to help God out by cooking up with their own crazy curriculum loaded with extra commands.
As a result, God has to fit into THEIR box and play by THEIR rules. And that’s why they get their religious undies in a bundle when Jesus has the gall to forgive someone’s sin. The scribes blow a gasket because the new Rabbi in town is claiming to be God by doing things only God can do!!
Jesus Claims to Be God
You may hear people say Jesus never claimed to be God. He may have been a radical who challenged the status quo. But NOT God. He may have been a miracle-working healer. But NOT God. He may have been a great teacher. But NOT God.
Well, let’s be clear. That’s EXACTLY what Jesus is doing here in Mark 2. The religious police don’t turn on the blue lights because He teaches and heals. It’s all because Jesus is claiming to be God. And according to the OT, that’s a capital crime (Lev 24:10-23; Num 15:30-31).
The funny thing is that they’re both wrong and right…all at the same time! They’re absolutely right. Only God CAN forgive sin. But their totally wrong. It’s NOT blasphemy…because Jesus IS God! The Lord isn’t just tearing apart their box and ripping up their rules. He’s tearing the roof off the joint!
Putting a Leash on the Lion
Too many times I end up taking a page out of the scribes’ playbook and try to limit our unlimited God. Go ahead, put a leash on the Lion of Judah and see how that works for you. He’s going to do what He wants to do. NOT what I expect Him to do.
“The LORD does whatever pleases Him throughout all the heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths” (Ps 135:6). Did you catch that? Whatever He wants. Wherever He wants. That includes both a First Century Galilee or 21st Century America and anywhere in between. It’s all part of being God.
Exposing Dark Secrets
But not only does the Lord see the faith of the four men and their friend, He knows what’s rattling around in the heads of the religious teachers. “Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking” (v8-9). He doesn’t just forgive sin. He exposes are darkest secrets.
Even if the scribes didn’t roll their holier-than-thou eyes, the Son of God reads them like an open book. Jesus’ best buddy John puts it this way. “No one needed to tell Him about human nature, for He know what was in each person’s heart” (Jn 2:25). Nobody reads a room or knows a crowd better than Christ. And that’s still the case.
Take Your Best Shot
Whether the Son of God supernaturally reads their minds or just caught the scribes rolling their it really doesn’t matter. Suddenly He drags them from the sidelines onto center stage. “So He asked them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk?” (v8-9).
It’s Jesus’ way of saying, “Go ahead, boys. Take your best shot. Give it a try. Pick one…forgive his sins or heal his disease. Your choice. You call. Let’s see what you got.” From a spiritual sense, it’s impossible for anybody but God to forgive someone’s sin. From an earthly sense, it’s unthinkable for anybody but God to heal paralysis. What’ll it be?
He’s Got the Godly Goods
The Lord doesn’t leave us hanging. “‘So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.’ Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ‘Stan up, pick up your mat, and go home!’” (v10-11).
Jesus is about to demonstrate to the scribes and everybody else jammed in the joint that He’s got the godly goods. He’s Messiah. He’s got authority. He can forgive sin. He can heal disease. In other words, He’s God.
A Description of Divinity
This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus drops His favorite nickname for Himself, the Son of Man. He’s dusting off one Daniel’s favorite descriptions of divinity. Danny gives us a prophetic play-by-play of something he saw in the heavenly throne room.
“I saw Someone like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into His presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that the people of every race and nation and language would obey Him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed” (Dan 7:14-15).
Calling Himself the Son of Man is Jesus’ not-so-subtle announcement that He is God. God the Father has given Him complete authority to do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, wherever He wants. He will rule forever. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Messiah and King of Kings.
Love through the Roof!
I’m not saying what the four guys did for their disabled friend wasn't something to see. They ripped the roof off the place in order to get their buddy to the Lord. But that’s JV compared to what Jesus has done. The Son of God didn’t just descend through a hole in the roof. He dove all the way from heaven to earth in order to save us. God’s love for us is through the roof!
Forgive sin? Piece of cake. Don’t believe Him? Just sit back and watch Christ restore full mobility to a paralyzed man. “And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before!’” (v12).
The Ultimate Walk off
Jesus drops the mic on the scribes. Good night. Game over. Drive home safely. He didn’t need to say another word to these religious bullies. When the man walks home, Jesus delivers the ultimate walk off. He’s God. Period. End of discussion.
Jesus blows the lid off the joint. He unroofs the roof. And He still does.
©2017
Jay Jennings
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