The Gospel Of Mark Chapter 2-His Power Continued

His Power-Over the paralytic

Mark 2:1–12 (NASB95)

1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 “But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” 12 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.”

Mark 2:1 (NASB95)

1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

This is Jesus and his disciples returning from their evangelistic tour. This translation says several, some translations say a few, and yet some others say many. The definition of several as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “more than two but fewer than many”. I will leave it at that.

Mark 2:2 (NASB95)

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

Obviously it was not too long as everyone still remembered the healings and casting out of demons.

Mark 2:3–12 (NASB95)

3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 “But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” 12 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.”

How many of you have an asterisks before the word “came”, in verse 3? This denotes that the word has been changed from a present tense verb (a word that describes what a subject is doing), to a past tense verb. The translators felt it would be an easier read for us English speaking folks to understand.

Mark 2:3–4 (NASB95)

3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

How many of you would like to have friends like this man? This could not have been easy. First, they had to get to the roof, then they had to lift this man to the roof, possibly while he was still on the pallet. Research that I found online the roof was probably made from “beams and branches of trees covered with a mixture of earth and straw”. This men had to be careful so as to not collapse the roof. I would assume this would be a slow process. Could you imagine preaching all the while you hear people on the roof, digging and cutting. These had to be faithful and caring friends.

Mark 2:5 (NASB95)

5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus seeing their faith, not the faith of one, or two, or three, or four or the just the faith of the paralyzed man. “Their Faith!” Jesus, did not rebuke this interruption to his teaching, to his preaching. First, he showed compassion. The word “Son” is an affectionate term. Then Jesus states “your sins are forgiven.” John D. Grassmick states: In the Old Testament disease and death were viewed as the consequences of man’s sinful condition, and healing was predicated on God’s forgiveness.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB95)

14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Psalm 41:4 (NASB95)

4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

This passage was probably inspired by the attempted rebellion of David's son, Absalom.

Psalm 103:3 (NASB95)

3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;

In Psalm 103 David expresses his gratitude to the Lord God for all He has done for him.

I would say Jesus knowing our hearts would know that this man’s sin is what caused his physical condition.

But not all sin is the cause of physical illness or disabilities.

John 9:1–3 (NASB95)

1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Speaking of knowing our hearts.

Mark 2:6–7 (NASB95)

6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

They realized Jesus was claiming to be God. They obviously had seen or heard about the casting out of the demon earlier as told in Mark Chapter 1 and I would feel sure they had heard of the previous healings, which is why they were there.

Mark 2:8–13 (NASB95)

8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? 9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 “But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” 12 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.” 13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Mark 2:8 (NASB95)

8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

We sure can look good on the outside. We can be really good chameleons at times. We can at times fool each other, but we will never be able to fool God. Listen to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 17:9–10 (NASB95)

9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

Mark 2:9–11 (NASB95)

9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 “But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

Which one is easier? To say your sins are forgiven or to heal someone of a visible illness/disability? I would say on the surface of this question, the obvious answer would be to forgive, but there is no visible proof that this action/this healing takes place. By making this statement “Your sins are forgiven” Charles Ryrie writes: “Christ was asserting a prerogative (a prerogative is a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual).” Jesus is asserting that he is God. The scribes already thought “who can forgive sins but God alone?”

The scribes were the scholars, they studied the Torah, the studied the sayings of other Rabbi’s. We are told by Barclay that the Rabbi’s had a saying “ ‘There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him’… to the Jews a sick man was a man with whom God was angry.” (Barclay)

Then Jesus does a mic drop moment:

Mark 2:10–12 (NASB95)

10 “But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” 12 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.”

BOOM!

Now, if you will remember,I said on the surface the forgiving of sins appears to be the easier of the two. But I want you to think a little deeper. Because ultimately the forgiveness of sin was to be the harder, because he would eventually have to sacrifice His life for the forgiveness of our sins! And he knew exactly what this would entail!

I want to touch briefly on the title Jesus gives Himself “Son of Man”

This title “Son of Man” is used 14, times by Jesus in the Book of Mark and and a total of approximately 80 times by Jesus in the 4 Gospels.

He could have used King, Judge, or Christ. But he did not. Any of these titles would have affirmed the Israelites idea that the Messiah was coming to defeat the Romans (world), to rule over the Romans (world), to Judge and punish the Romans (world) and to establish a new Kingdom. Eventually this will come to pass in the second coming. Listen to what Daniel states:

Daniel 7:13–14 (NASB95)

13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

But, it is not the case in the first coming.

John 3:16 (NASB95)

16 “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.

Isaiah 53:5 (NASB95)

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Jesus came to serve and to save.

Jesus uses the title “Son of Man” in two different ways in the Gospels. One way is to say He is the son of God and that He has authority.

Mark 2:10 (NASB95)

10 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,

Matthew 26:64 (NASB95)

64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Another way is in his connection to his death, rejection, suffering, and resurrection:

Matthew 8:20 (NASB95)

20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Mark 8:31 (NASB95)

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 9:31 (NASB95)

31 For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”

His Power-Over a tax collector

Mark 2:13–20 (NASB95)

13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Mark 2:13 (NASB95)

13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Jesus was fulfilling His Ministry of preaching/teaching. Remember back in chapter 1?

Mark 1:38 (NASB95)

38 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.”

Romans 10:17 (NASB95)

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Mark 2:14 (NASB95)

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Levi, we know him better as Matthew, which is his surname. So Matthew is his last name, his family name.

A tax collector, Jewish tax collectors were looked down upon, they were considered traitors, they were called a publican, which means they purchased a tax franchise from the Roman government, so as to collect taxes on behalf of the government and anything they collected above what Roman required they got to keep. They became wealthy at the expense of their country men.

“When a Jew entered the customs service he was regarded as an outcast from society: he was disqualified as a judge or a witness in a court session, was excommunicated from the synagogue, and in the eyes of the community his disgrace extended to his family.”

Sounds like some of the politicians we have today.

Levi/Matthew never hesitated, his faith and obedience was immediate. This show that true salvation is an instantaneous action, by His faith in Jesus Matthew was saved.

As Walter Wessel puts it: In one way, this was more than a sacrifice than some of the other disciples made. Peter, James, and John could more easily go back to their fishing business, but it would be hard for Levi to go back to tax collecting. “Tax collector jobs were greatly sought after as a sure way to get rich quickly.”

Mark 2:15–16 (NASB95)

15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”

We see Jesus is spending time with sinners, with who society see as the worst of the worse. Today, instead of tax collectors, we may say Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives, drug dealers, prostitutes, women who have had abortions, men who have raped women and the list goes on.

Look how Luke describes this scene:

Luke 5:29 (NASB95)

29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

It’s not like Matthew could have invited anyone else and who better to invite but fellow sinners.

Jesus came to serve, to save all people. He loves all people.

Mark 2:17 (NASB95)

17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These Pharisee’s and Scribes were religious people, they thought they did not need to be saved. They were so focused on the law they forgot about compassion. They forgot about Love and forgiveness. They forgot about asking for forgiveness.

Jesus quotes an old Jewish proverb states “If they are not sick why do they need a physician”. Those that believe themselves to be healthy do not seek a doctor. Jesus is not saying the scribes were righteous, He knows that no one is righteous not even one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NASB95)

20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Psalm 143:2 (NASB95)

2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.

These scribe new these O.T. verses. Jesus was basically calling them hypocrites.

I guarantee Jesus was talking to these sinners about the sin in their lives and why they needed a savior, why they needed to confess and repent. He spoke to them as a physician would, He has identified the cause of the illness, now here is the cure.

Mark 2:18–20 (NASB95)

18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

God is not against fasting. Fasting has it’s time and place. For the disciples of Jesus the time was not now. Jesus uses the illustration of a wedding, Jewish weddings we were week long parties, a time of celebration, a time of Joy and fasting did not take place during the wedding celebration.

But, if you notice in verse 20, he tells the scribes there will be a day coming that His disciples will fast.

His Power-Over the old religion

Mark 2:21–22 (NASB95)

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

This parable about garments and wineskins is an illustration about His ministry, His message. His message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, was not and could not be connected to the old and external traditions self-righteousness and ritual. such as fasting. Fasting does not make you righteous, fasting does not save you.

His Power-Over the Sabbath

Mark 2:23–28 (NASB95)

23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Here we see an example of the overt burdensome of the Law. It is not the Law that God gave that was so burdensome, it was the addition of man’s law to make one seem more religious, or to beat (not literally beating) ones flock into submission. Meaning if you cannot be righteous on your own, we will create enough rules that you will be forced into righteous by man. of course this is a false Theology.

Let’s look at Deuteronomy 23:25

Deuteronomy 23:25 (NASB95)

25 “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

God made provisions for His people in case they became hungry on the Sabbath, this is not to be confused with a farmer actually harvesting his crop on the Sabbath.

Mark 2:25–26 (NASB95)

25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

Now, we see Jesus get testy with these so called experts, these scholars that are supposed to know the Torah. He asks “have you never read what David did? Did you skip that section of the Torah? It is one thing to know scripture, it is quit another to apply what you know.

Jesus is about to give them a lesson. He is speaking of what took place in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. I will let you read that on your own.

Jesus showed an important principle – human need is more important than religious ritual. The Sabbath was meant to serve man. Again they are so focused on the works, on the ritual they have forgotten compassion, mercy, and love.

I have a quote here: “Any application of the Sabbath Law which operates to the detriment of man is out of harmony with God’s purpose.” (Campbell Morgan)

Mark 2:28 (NASB95)

28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

This last statement was even more dramatic. Jesus declared that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. If He, the very Lord of the Sabbath, was not offended by His disciple’s actions, then these critics should not have been offended either.