Mark 2:1-12 - Jesus has Authority to Forgive
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
I love movies that grip you and don’t let go.
I love movies where you can’t predict the ending
There’s masterful build-up and you have no idea what’s going to happen.
Then BAM—The unexpected happens, then you’re left in amazement.
My dad and I went and watched the new Karate Kid in theaters
When Dre Parker goes to the tournament to take on his school bully Cheng.
During the tournament, Master Li instructs the members of his dojo to take Dre out and they seriously hurt his leg.
Dre goes into the last fight wounded.
Master Li told Cheng to break Dre’s leg
So he tries
Dre is laying on the mat, tears in his eyes, leg seemingly broken.
builds himself to his knees, then wrestles us the strength to get to one foot, and takes the stance of the serpent that he learned from his training with Mr Han, the movie’s Mr. Myogi.
The theater irrupts in applause and cheering because there was no hope in Dre standing up
Yet, he stood up!
Master Li’s face was in shock!
Jesus is beginning His ministry
He’s preaching, healing people, calling and making disciples, doing miracles
He’s really causing a stir everywhere He goes right now.
1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus is in Capernaum, where He used as a base for His ministry
They are crammed into a house
The house is overflowing out the door
There is no more room. This party is not fire-code compliant.
There are people everywhere!
Jesus is inside, Jesus is preaching to eager listeners
Among His audience are scribes, who we will see have frequent run-in’s with Jesus
They are trying to figure out who this disease-healing, demon-rebuking teacher is.
Suddenly five men show up--Four men have brought their cripple friend on a mat.
They want to get into the house, but they couldn’t even get near the house because of the number of people.
People are looking back at them, making eye contact. Seeing four guys carry a cripple guy on a mat then turn away unmoved.
When pushing through doesn’t work, they begin to formulate this plan.
Imagine the planning conversation:
1st. “Why don’t we climb up on the roof?”
2nd. “What good would that do, genius? Jesus is inside, not outside.”
1st. “Yeah, I know that, dude. Let’s just take the roof off.”
3rd. “You can’t just remove a roof!”
1st. “Why not? Do you have a better plan?”
4th. “I don’t see a better option. We have to get our friend to Jesus. Upsy-daisy.”
The roofs on the houses in Palestine were often open to sit or stand, or hang out in the cool of the day.
Think a deck
Sturdy enough to walk on.
Jesus is inside preaching and the people are beginning to hear footsteps on the roof.
Then there’s noise and dirt begins falling on their heads.
Jesus Himself is dodging the dirt clumps
I’ve been distracted while preaching, never like this.
This is far more than a crying baby. The roof is legitimately falling on his head.
Jesus has likely lost everyone’s attention at this point of His sermon.
More dirt falls, more tiles are removed, and there’s this gigantic hole in the roof.
This is a great demolition job.
This gives a literal meaning to “They tore the roof off the place.”
I can only imagine the thoughts going through everyone’s head.
“What was that about!?” “That is MY roof!”
“You said you wanted the skylight here, right?!”
After a short pause, they see a mat tied with ropes and a paralyzed man on it, is lowered right in front of Jesus.
Imagine the look on everyone’s face.
Jesus looks down at this paralyzed man, then back up to his friends.
What look is on their faces?
The second is anxious and wipe eyed
The first is big smiling with a thumbs up**
They’ve got to be thinking, “Alright, let’s see what Jesus will do.”
Whatever Jesus saw was the face of faith.
This is an absolute delight and trust in the power of Jesus.
This is the first mention of “faith” in the gospel of Mark
Notice how the word “faith” is linked to an action rather than knowing or feeling.
We don’t know these guys’ theology.
We don’t know if they understand the doctrine of the Trinity.
Their faith is not their knowledge, but their active trust that Jesus is sufficient for the deepest and most heartfelt needs
We know nothing about what they believed, except the fact that they take action, believing that Jesus can do something about their friend’s paralysis.
These are good friends.
Good friends lead their friends to Jesus.
Surround yourself with good, godly friends.
I have to imagine that Jesus looked up at them with a smile and winked
Jesus looks down at the guy, and says “Son, your sins are forgiven” (v. 5)
This is a major statement.
Notice the past tense: “Forgiven”
Jesus hasn’t gone to the cross yet? He hasn’t absorbed the punishment of God?
What are we to make of that?
God’s plan to save us is ironclad.
Absolute
There’s no way this isn’t going to work.
Jesus is going to go to the cross—He’s not going to back out
He’s going to take the punishment for our sin
He’s going to forgive it
Everything that haunted this man
All the shame and guilt he felt
His guilty standing before God
Forgiven.
Forgiven fully, freely, and forever.
Now this causes a major ruckus.
There were some Pharisees in the crowd.
Jesus had been getting more and more popular with every sermon and healing.
Jesus has been teaching in their synagogues
“They were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22)
He’s getting popular, the Pharisees are getting curious.
Jesus’s authority to heal is flexed all over chapter 1.
Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever
He heals a leper, and many other with illnesses.
He’s becoming the talk of the region.
These Pharisees want to see what’s going on because Jesus is preaching in synagogues and casting out demons.
They’re here to see what’s going on when they hear Jesus make this statement: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
This turns into a problem.
7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Their job was to teach the law and to make sure everyone else follows the law.
They were people of letters.
So to their credit, they recognized that the proclamation of forgiveness wasn’t a passing comment but a declaration of deity
Jesus just claimed that He has the authority of God!
They know what Leviticus 24:15-16 says.
Blasphemy means irreverent speech against God
This was a serious charge with serious consequences.
This statement was punishable by death!
They’re accusing Him of slandering God!
They’re stating that He’s insulting, dishonoring, and provoking God
“Who does He think He is?!”
Jesus’s words were indeed blasphemous…unless He is in fact God!
The scribes were correct that only God could forgive sins,
God and God alone has the authority and right to forgive sins.
God is holy, pure and righteous
He has been sinned against
Meaning that mercy and forgiveness are in His hands.
In order to forgive, wrong must be done to you.
We have wronged God by sin.
No one can forgive sin but God because no one but God is guiltless of sin.
They’re thinking, “If Jesus can forgive sins, then Jesus is God.”
But this is exactly what Jesus was getting at!
They did not believe Jesus was the Son of God!
Mark is showing us just like he did in chapter 1 that Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is the Son of God
8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
This is amazing because the room is full and He knows exactly what their hearts are saying.
They didn’t verbalize anything, yet He knew!
He gives them this major juxtaposition
What’s easier?
The spiritual authority or a physical impossibility?
They hear this, not expecting that He could ever make a cripple man walk.
They likely looked at him in annoyance thinking, “yeah, right. That’s impossible.”
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Jesus introduces to us a specific title that will be found around 81 in the Gospels.
Jesus’s favorite title is when He refers to Himself as “The Son of Man.”
A man of divine origins
The titles “Son of God” and “Son of Man” are used interchangeably through the Bible to describe Jesus.
This is a Messianic title pointing to both the humanity and deity of Jesus.
This title was used in Daniel 7:13-14 “13 “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. 14 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.”
Jesus is not only invoking the phrase, “Your sins are forgiven,” but He’s describing Himself as the Messiah!
Everything Jesus was about to do carried weight—It all goes to this point:
Jesus has authority to forgive sin
Jesus has authority to forgive sin
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
This man had never walked before!
Jesus just did the physically impossible without breaking a sweat!
The people are dazzled!
“We never saw anything like this!”
Luke 5:26 “26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.””
Jesus had healed diseases and cast out demons in front of people, but He just gave them undeniable proof.
The educated Pharisees can’t explain this away.
The former paralytic couldn’t use his legs and now he can!
The man who never walked just ran out the door!
Jesus just showed that He has authority over the physically impossible.
It’s easy for us to marvel at the physical healing, because that’s what we want for our loved ones.
Sarah has been sick for months
Doctors have no answers, no leads
Hope and expectation are dwindling day by day
So it’s easy for me to read this passage and want the physical healing
But don’t miss the point
The emphasis is not on Jesus’ miraculous power to heal, despite our fascination with it.
Jesus did not heal first, He healed to prove He has authority.
Both physical healing and forgiveness are beyond human ability, and come as a gift from a gracious God.
The purpose of the healing was to point to a deeper reality.
The healing wasn’t the point, the forgiveness of sin was the point.
He just gave them a physical example of what He does for your sin.
Jesus has authority to forgive your sin
Jesus has authority to forgive your sin
The man was broken. Unable to move. His legs were worthless.
The man’s legs hung from his body as if they were dead.
We are broken and unable to move toward God.
We cannot live holy lives because we are spiritually dead in sin.
Just as Jesus restored the man’s legs, He’s saying He can restore our souls to God the Father!
This is one of the great turn-arounds of the Bible!
We can have a resurrected life just as Jesus was resurrected!
Physical healing wasn’t even the most impressive thing Jesus did!
Jesus’s greatest miracle was the resurrection!
He secured our redemption and forgiveness of our sin!
Everything we’ve broken and every sin we’ve committed can be forgiven in Christ.
Our anger
Our doubts and fears
Our sexual sins
Our blasphemies, idolatry, and self-indulgences
Everything that keeps us away from a right and life-giving relationship with God
Everything that prevents us from experiencing the joyful life in Christ through in the Spirit
It all can be forgiven in a moment!
Notice how quickly Jesus said the man was forgiven!
It was the first thing said when they tore the roof off!
Notice how quickly the man was healed when Jesus told him to get up!
“immediately!” (v. 12)
If you need forgiven of your sin
Sincerely turn from you sin
In faith, come to Jesus
Your sins can be forgiven in Christ today.
If you’re here and you don’t follow Jesus, the Son of God has authority to forgive your sin.
If you’re a Christian, you need to proclaim this gospel to everyone, including yourself.
Being forgiven of sin drives us into the arms of Jesus.
The Christian life is spent living forgiven in Christ.
Big Idea: The Son of God Has Authority to Forgive Sin
Reading
Reading
Mark 2:1-12
Intro (Grad their heart and attention)
Intro (Grad their heart and attention)
History (Need to know)
History (Need to know)
Capernaum
Village northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee
Mark writes that He was “at home”
He’s referring to the city of Capernaum
The gospel writers would refer it as “His own city.” After Jesus left Nazareth, Capernaum became the base of His ministry.
Blasphemy
Appears here and in the trials of Jesus.
The two themes of blasphemy and the Son of Man occur in both passages.
The Authority of God
Points (Need to apply)
Points (Need to apply)
Big Idea: Jesus has authority to Forgive sins
Points
Jesus is the Son of God (refer back to sermon from 8/27 - Mark 1:1-15)
Jesus has the authority to forgive sins
One in essence with the Father
Jesus has authority to forgive your sins
Ending (Need to walk away with)
Jesus has authority to forgive YOUR sins
Prayer
Prayer