Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Heart of Opposition*

/Mark 2.1 – 3.6/

Pastor Oesterwind

 

*Review~/Introduction*:  Jesus preached, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (1.15).

Those who obeyed this message became disciples of the great King.

Though they often misunderstood the implications of their trust, nonetheless, Jesus patiently and lovingly taught them with great authority.

Discipleship is a process.

It begins with a call to repentance and belief; it deepens and flourishes into a relationship with the God who created us.

Discipleship is not us controlling God; it is God controlling us.

Our fourth sermon in our series on the Gospel of Mark explores the heart of those who refuse to follow Christ – the heart of opposition.

As we studied Mark 1, did you pick up on the coming conflict?

The scribes and Pharisees witness many people flocking to Jesus.

They prefer the authoritative teaching of Christ over the traditional and learned analyses of the scribes.

The leper will go to the priest.

What will the priest think of the God Man who does more than /declare/ a man healed; He actually has the authority to /heal/ him!

The conflict in chapter two culminates in a plot to destroy Jesus in the beginning of chapter three.

Religious leaders move from internal, mental reservations about Jesus toward open hostility and the plotting of murder.

The five conflicts in our text this morning illustrate a great need for all of us.

The psalmist wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (Ps 139.23).

Proverbs 4.23 provides the antidote for hearts in opposition to Jesus Christ:  “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Jesus said that “an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil” (Luke 6.45).

*/Transition:  There are five characteristics of hearts in opposition to the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

All five should prompt each of us who belong to Christ to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

First, we look at the…/*

 

Reasoning Heart (2.1-12)

*Explanation*:  The healing of the paralyzed man started a process of reasoning in the hearts of the scribes in this section.

They were offended by Jesus’ claim to forgive sins.

Read 2.1-12.

A paralyzed man is carried by four men who have faith that is undeterred by crowds and even a thick roof.

I tend to think it was the home in this context belonged to Simon Peter.

Many had gathered at the home.

Mark will speak of the gathering of crowds nearly 40 times before chapter 10.

While the crowds desire Jesus’ compassion and teaching, crowds in Mark do not repent and believe.

·         Crowds are fickle and can turn on Jesus in a moment.

·         Crowds are never a measure of success.

·         Crowds often stay in the dark – hence the parabolic teaching of Jesus.

·         The crowds gathered and Jesus preached the word to them (2.2).  Remember, it’s one thing to be a part of many who are gathered, it’s quite another thing to be a disciple.

Crowds stare; disciples commit.

The people gathered en masse and Jesus began teaching the word.

They stayed for His teaching just as they had flocked for His healing.

Roofs were flat in first century Israel.

They could be accessed by an exterior staircase.

The roof consisted of a thatch-work of poles and sticks.

The thatch was covered with mud and re-surfaced from time to time.

That’s why the roof needed to be broken through.

Often, families would spend time on the rooftop, enjoying the fresh breezes off the Sea of Galilee.

They would also use the roof as a place to eat and even pray, as Peter did at the house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa.

We expect Jesus to say to the paralyzed man after he is lowered, “Be quiet and come out of Him” or just simply walk over to the man and heal him with His compassionate touch.

We also expect that it will be the faith of the paralyzed man that heals him, but Jesus saw /their/ faith.

All of them had faith.

The four friends evidenced faith by going through extraordinary measures.

The paralyzed man certainly had faith as evidenced by his quiet trust in the authority of Jesus.

Jesus forgave the sins of the paralyzed man; related to that is the healing of this man – occurring later in the passage.

The faith of the paralyzed man is great faith because he suffered from a greater ailment than that of paralysis.

He came with the burden of his sins (Lenski, 99).

Your sins are forgiven you means your sins have been dismissed; in the very depths of the sea (Micah 7.19), remembered no more (Isa 43.25), as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103).

Since Jesus forgives sin and only God can forgive sin, Jesus must be God!  */When the forgiveness of sins is mentioned, the opposition comes from the scribes./*

Scribes had authority but not the authority to forgive sins.

Here, the text states that the scribes reason in their hearts.

Reason isn’t the enemy here; relying upon deceptive reasoning is the enemy.

Only God can truly search and know our hearts.

Jesus knows what the scribes are thinking.

He knows what is in man (John 2.25).

I can look at you and think that you don’t like what I’m saying, but it may be that you just had a bit of bad egg in your omelet this morning J

 

But the scribes are thinking that only God can forgive sin and surely /this Man/ (who is not God but worthless) is a blasphemer.

We can forgive people when they sin against us; only God can forgive sin an absolute sense.

Both Jesus and the scribes would agree on these points.

Where they disagree is whether or not Jesus could know that the sins of the paralyzed man are forgiven.

They believe that Jesus could not know this.

Jesus knows this.

He claims God’s prerogative for Himself.

For them, that is blasphemy.

Just as Jesus knew the deep, personal sins of the paralytic, He knew the hearts of the scribes.

He perceived it in His spirit.

Is it easier to say “Your sins are forgiven you” or “Arise, take up your bed and walk”?

It would be easy to say both of them; it would be difficult to say them both effectively.

That is, to say them and make good on saying them.

Jesus speaks and supernatural change takes place – all on the hinge of faith or belief.

He said both and both came to pass!

The scribes have need of forgiveness just as the paralyzed man did.

The difference between them is that the paralyzed man was aware of his need; the scribes were not.

We must look well to our inner motives, for these are the vicious factors and not merely what they produce.[1]

Jesus tells these people that the Son of Man has power or authority on earth to forgive sins.

Then, He says to the paralyzed man, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

You want proof that Jesus has the power to forgive sins and not just say it, just look at the command He issues to a paralyzed man.

* Son of Man

* GK = The Son of */the/* Man (unique Man not just another human being)

* The Son of Man not the Son of */Men/*

* The */Word/* made flesh – joining human nature to divine nature

* Lowly, suffering servant; great, powerful, and exalted God Man

* Occurs 14 x in Mark; a favorite designation for Jesus of Himself

* That the people believed the designation Son of Man had Messianic connotations may be seen clearly in John 12.34, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’?  Who is this Son of Man?’”

In other words they are saying, “We know the Christ of the OT, a Son of Man that lives forever, but how can He be lifted up?

Who is that Son of Man?”

But “/the Son/ of man” lifts this one man out from among all men as being one who bears this human nature in a way in which no other man bears it, who, while he is indeed true man, is more than man, is also ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος, “the Son of the living God.”[2]

The scribes are left with their thoughts while all the rest were amazed and glorified God.

They never witnessed anything like this.

They are not talking about the healing (cf.

chapter 1); they are amazed at the authority Jesus has to forgive sins.

*Application*:  The paralyzed man arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence or full view of them all!