Mark 2:1-22; Can Jesus Do That?

Sermon in a sentence: Yes, Jesus has that authority.

Jesus Can Forgive Sinners (vs. 1-12)

Jesus has done miracles like the other prophets, but God alone can forgive sins.

Isaiah 43:11 ESV

I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Isaiah 43:25 ESV

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

God often blesses his people with the same measure as their faith. (2 Kings 4:1-7, John 2:7)

Elisha and the Widow : 2 Kings 4:1-7

The waiters filled the jars up to the brim at the wedding : John 2:7

Jesus Can Use Sinners (vs. 13-17)

He called a social outcast like Levi to follow him. (Mark 3:18, Matthew 9:9)

Matthew left everything. Unlike the fishermen, he could not go back to his old job.

Matthew was a tax collector and Simon was a zealot.

We need to remind ourselves that we are the sinners, not Jesus, in this situation.

The scribes were so self-righteous that their couldn’t see their own sin.

Jesus Can Feast With Sinners (vs. 18-22)

The disciples of John and the Pharisees used legalistic tradition. Jesus was using a new kind of authority.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 2. Eating with Sinners (2:13–17)

The new thing in Christianity is not the doctrine that God saves sinners. No Jew would have denied that. It is the assertion ‘that God loves and saves them as sinners.’