Mark 2:1-13

Teaching Ministry of Jesus

Often we look at the miracles that Jesus did in His life and see that He is the Son of God. However, there are times that we are tempted to overlook the teachings of Jesus. Granted many people came for the miracle of healing, but they always got more than the miraculous. They were taught the things of the kingdom of heaven. This is what Jesus came to do. Mark 1:38

Mark 1:38 NASB95

He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

I find it interesting that we find few instances where a mass group of people believe in Jesus for doing a miracle. Most of them are astonished at the miracle but few believe that He is the Son of God.

People came to know Jesus as the Son of God because of His teaching. John8:30

John 8:30 NASB95

As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.

John 1:12 NASB95

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

John 4:41 NASB95

Many more believed because of His word;

John 8:31 NASB95

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John 4:39 NASB95

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”

The teaching ministry of Jesus revealed who He is with great clarity. The miracles substantiated His teachings and claims. John 10:37-38

John 10:37–38 (NASB95)

“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

Today we have the teachings of Christ recorded in the scripture and we have the ability to know and teach them to others. This is how others come to faith in Jesus Rom. 10:13-15

Romans 10:13–15 (NASB95)

for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

Saving Ministry of Jesus

As Jesus was teaching there was such a large crowd that a paralytic could not get to Him. So his friends dug a hole in the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus. Jesus looked at Him and said “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Wow! this is probably not what they expected. It didn’t seem as if it was what this man needed the most. The most obvious thing that this man needed was the ability to walk. So why did Jesus tell him that his sins were forgiven first and not heal him first?

That is the point of this story. Many see it as Jesus healing the paralytic man. This passage is not about the healing of the paralytic, but the proclamation of Jesus being God!

We see this in the response of the scribes. Mark 2:6-7

Mark 2:6–7 (NASB95)

But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

For anyone but God to claim to forgive sin was blasphemy. Since for the teachers of the law Jesus was not God, therefore he blasphemed. If they were right about who Jesus was, their reasoning was flawless. In Jewish teaching even the Messiah could not forgive sins. That was the prerogative of God alone. Their fatal error was in not recognizing who Jesus really was—the Son of God who has authority to forgive sins.

Walter W. Wessel, “Mark,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 633.

Jesus is the Son of God. He can and does forgive sin. Forgiveness of sin is the greatest need anyone has. It is our sin that separates us from God. Forgiveness brings us back into relationship with God!

It is the teaching of Jesus that reveals our sin. Rom. 3:23

Romans 3:23 NASB95

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

It is the teaching of Jesus that instructs us to repent of our sin. Acts 3:19

Acts 3:19 NASB95

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

It is the teaching of Jesus that reveals forgiveness of sin. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” John 3:16

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

It is the teaching of Jesus that leads to salvation.

Healing Ministry of Jesus

The miracles of Jesus were always meant to reveal that He is the Son of God. Mark 2:9-12

Mark 2:9–12 NASB95

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Jesus just proclaimed that He is God. He healed this paralytic to substantiate His claim. Only God can heal fully, miraculously, and immediately. Jesus just did this. If Jesus did this in front of all the people, then they should believe His claim to be God.

God often does miracles in our lives to reveal the same thing. He does this in a myriad of different ways. Healing, provision, protection, wisdom, forgiveness, salvation, and the list goes on. Jesus reveals himself today so that we will realize that He is God!