The Roots of Conflict

Introduction

Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark 2, Mark 2. We are thankful and blessed that you have chosen to join us this morning as we worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together. Also welcome to those who are joining us online it is a privilege to worship with you today.

There were a lot of things that happened this week. One item of note that we as Christians should recognize is this is the 502nd anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. It is providential that this week is the commemoration of that and that we are where we are in the book of Mark because the two have some important issues in common. But more on that in a minute.

Mark has been moving us very quickly through the ministry of Jesus. And so far His ministry hasn’t had many issues. You could say that everything has been going Jesus’s way. His preaching has been well received, in fact the crowds have been awed by the authority with which He taught them, even if the point of His teaching has largely been missed. His preaching has been supported by various healings a few of which we have looked at over the last few weeks. In fact His ministry is so popular that He couldn’t go anywhere without being mobbed by a crowd.

But this morning’s text is going to start a shift that will progress through out the rest of the Gospel and culminate in the crucifixion. Mark has been called the Gospel of Conflict and we’re going to start to see the roots of this conflict in our text this morning. It is funny what a word can do. The wrong word in your home can start a fire that could take years to put out. The wrong word or words in public can ruin a reputation. Here we’re going to find out that the root of the whole conflict between Christ and the religious leaders of His day all surrounded one three letter word and how He and they differed on how it should be handled.

Let’s look at our text now and then we’ll dig a bit more into the root of this conflict and see three different reactions that happened during this incident and how they are still happening today.

Mark 2:1–12 CSB

When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic— “I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home.” Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

It is no secret in our world that sin is the most significant issue that faces mankind. There are many different religious systems that seek to deal with this overarching human problem. Although it has no concept of original sin, Hinduism does have a concept of sin and the idea that sins are paid for over the course of successive lives or are “atoned” for by the individual through many different methods - some may require a fine, some are paid for by doing good acts and some are paid for through yoga and meditation. While it doesn’t have the concept of sin ingrained within it, Buddhism does teach that each individual is responsible for their good or evil deeds and must face the consequences.

Even the secular world has an understanding of sins and what they can mean to a society. It’s why we have laws to govern our society. The atheistic regime of China, while denying the existence of a God does acknowledge the need for moral standards to govern their society. This last week the government of China rolled out their “Outline for Implementing the Moral Construction of Citizens in the New Era.” This comprehensive document covers everything from defending China’s honor, how to raise the national flag to being civilized eaters in public, sorting garbage and the “full development fo etiquette and courtesy.” Other nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, have moral police that roam the streets looking for infractions against their national morality.

The thing about each of these systems - and the reason why this being the 502nd anniversary of the start of the Reformation is so important - is that none of them have a viable solution for the forgiveness of sins. Each one of them place the payment of sins penalties on the individual. Out text this morning takes a different view of the expiation of sin and I don’t want you to miss this so listen close - that is the most significant point of this text. It’s found in verse 10. Jesus is speaking and he says

Mark 2:10 CSB

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic—

This is the key point of the whole text - that the Son of Man, a term used by Jesus to refer to Himself, has the authority to forgive sins. Not to pronounce them forgiven by God, but to actually forgive them. This statement is the root of the whole conflict that we’re going to find through the rest of this book. The presumption of Christ in claiming to be able to do what up to that point only God could do is the cause of the conflict that will eventually lead to His final declaration for the forgiveness of sins “It is finished” on a hilltop outside of Jerusalem.

Well that’s the whole point of this passage - that Jesus has the power and the authority and the right as truly man and truly God to forgive sins. So that’s it, uh, we can wrap up and get to lunch early. But if we do I think we’re going to miss some other significant information that this text holds for each of us this morning. You see there are three reactions to Jesus in this text that are instructive for us. Most of us don’t need convincing that Jesus has the power and the authority to forgive sins. Although if you’re here today, or you’re watching, and you do need to be convinced of that it is our prayer and hope that you would contact us either after the service here in the worship center or through our website. But I would venture to say that whether we need convincing or not, we fall into one of three categories of people that we’re going to see in this text today. We’re either a stretcher-bearer, a skeptic or a sinner. The stretcher-bearers or those who as the question how far is to far, the skeptics or those who as the question how much is too much and finally the sinner who asks a little bit of a different question - can this really be real?

The Stretcher-bearers - How Far is Too Far?

Mark starts off by telling us that Jesus had returned to Capernaum “after some days”. He had just been on a somewhat successful speaking tour throughout Galilee but had also had His tour hijacked by the proclamation of a false message by a leper that He had healed. This resulted in what Mark testifies to in Mark 1:45 that Jesus could no longer openly enter into a town but instead was relegated to the outer regions and the deserted places. It is likely that even during this return to Capernaum that He had tried to enter the city in secret maybe for some much needed rest after several weeks of ministry. But as is always the case He is found out and it is reported that He is at home. This is most likely back at the home of Simon Peter, the location where He had spent time healing many and then had left to begin His tour.

As is always the case in Scripture Jesus presence automatically gathers a crowd. The business of the town stopped in an instant and everyone flooded to the door of Simon Peter, so much so that the entire home was filled and they were spilling out into the street. And as is often chronicled for us in Scripture He began the day by teaching them. This is one more reminder that for Christ in His ministry the priority was always on the preaching of the Word and the miracles that accompanied it were only to support the teaching not to be the main focus.

Now we are presented with the first group of individuals that we will look at this morning. The stretcher-bearers. Our English text simply calls them “they”. This is interesting because there is no such designation for them in the Greek text. The word is implied in the verb tense that is used and so our translators have even had to supply us with the word they. The text tells us that they came, carried by four of them, they were not able to get through, they removed and finally that they lowered. In each case the word they or them had to be supplied. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what my point is and why am I beating this horse.

The reason is this - throughout Sunday school and for most of our lives we have been taught that these men were all friends and that this is what drove them to bring this man and go through all this effort to get Him to Jesus feet. But I would submit to you that this does not have to be the case. These could have simply been four men who, as they were walking to see Jesus, took compassion on this man and carried Him to Christ. They could have been men who wanted to see the miracle worker in action and so they thought to pick this man up because he was a prime candidate for the healing miracle and so they were hedging their bets that they’d get to witness it. I think this last one is unlikely because of the effort that they went through to get the man to Jesus feet.

This was not a simple endeavor. Houses in Capernaum and throughout Galilee all had flat roofs where the occupants could retire at the end of the day and meditate like Peter did in Acts 10, eat food or just rest. They were generally covered by a latticework of branches or logs and then covered with pitch and mud. Tiles would be laid on top of this foundation to provide an external living space. In the parallel account in Luke 5 it literally says that these men “unroofed the roof”.

The men were undeterred by the obvious distraction that their actions would have caused in the teaching environment below as they dug through the roof and lowered this man right in front of Jesus. They were willing to go to extraordinary lengths to get this man in front of Christ - even damage another man’s home and property. And so we are presented with a question in these men’s actions. How far is too far? How far is too far to go to bring someone to Christ? What is it that you are willing to experience, what obstacles are you willing to climb over to bring someone to Christ?

Now I’m not encouraging you to go rip the roof off a neighbor’s home or to damage property like painting an overpass with Jesus is King message. But are you willing to risk your reputation? Your relationships? How far is too far for you to go in bringing someone to Christ? And this also plays into why I made so much of an issue over these men being the man’s friend - we don’t have that information. Even in the parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke we are only told that some men brought this paralytic to Jesus. We often get caught up in the idea that we have to have a deep, longstanding relationship with someone before we can present them the Gospel - which in our day and age is the equivalent of bringing them to Jesus - and we don’t. We simply have to have four characteristics.

Through out church history these four men have been given allegorical names - Sympathy, Cooperation, Originality, and Persistence.

They saw a man in a plight that he could not get out of and they had sympathy on him to bring him to Christ. Do we have the same sort of sympathy for sinners that we come into contact with daily? Those who are paralyzed by their past or the consequences of choices they’ve made or simply those who are still dead in their sinful state. Do we have enough sympathy to bring them to Christ? Charles Spurgeon once said this

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXXIV “She Was Not Hid.” (No. 2,019)

Do you want to go to heaven alone? I fear you will never go there. Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that.

Now that might sound harsh - but we have been told to be witnesses. That we are to be a light to the world but all to often the church has taken that light and we’ve hidden it under our bushels because of fear of uncomfortable situations. Can we not look around at the world and see that it is hurting and we have the solution. Do we not care enough to pick them up and bring them to His feet?

But all of this takes the characteristic of the second man - cooperation. We are not to be lone rangers standing like Athanasius “contra mundum” - alone against the world. We need to all be working together, striving together for this to happen. No one single man could have picked up this paralytic and brought him to Christ and no one person can lift every sinner to the Savior.

A modern example of this is found in Toy Story 4. At the very beginning of the movie there’s a rain storm raging outside the home and RC, the beloved toy car, has gone missing. He’s been left outside and is in danger of being washed away by the rising tides of the rain water rushing down the side of the driveway towards the gutter. The toys inside the house can’t have that so the hero Woody and slinky dog bravely jump out of a second story window to try and reach him. Alas they are just too short of reach and he is going to be washed away until at just the last second the barrel of monkey boys join in and the chain is long enough to save RC.

I know it is completely out of character for me to use a contemporary pop culture reference but that is what we need to be doing to save sinners. That is the true definition of fellowship. Koinonia - the Greek word for fellowship means much more than pot lucks and coffee dates. Although I will say the food last Sunday was excellent - even if you all did eat all of our chicken and dumplings - that is our modern definition. The Biblical definition is joining together and striving for one end - the spreading of the Gospel. We should all be beating a door to Arnold Moss to find out how we can help as a part of the outreach team.

And it takes originality - we have to find new ways to do it in our modern world. And this is great news for those who might be uncomfortable speaking to someone. There are people out there who just want to talk - anonymous chat room apps on our phones are a great way. Now you have to do that safely and smart because there are lots of dangerous people in those sites as well but it can be an opportunity to share the Gospel through typing rather than speaking.

The reverse trick-or-treat bags we just handed out. The new mover mailers we send as a church. A note on those - this last month 100 new mover cards were sent out on behalf of our church. Arnold has the names. Could you take a few moments to visit one person on that list? What I’m getting at is that there is no cookie cutter method to our evangelism and that we can be even more inventive through the internet. We should be using every tool we have to get the Gospel out to those who need to hear it.

Finally there is persistence. We can’t give up. These men were cut off by a crowd of people but they didn’t let that stop them - they found a way to get to Christ. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’ve been praying for someone to come to Christ for years - don’t stop. Maybe you’ve witnessed to 50 people and not one of them submitted their life to the Lordship of Christ - don’t stop. The prophet Jeremiah preached for 40 years in Israel and saw not one convert. We must not give up. Because, just like these men, we’re not only fighting the person’s sinful heart - sometimes we’re fighting the crowd.

The Skeptics - How Much is Too Much?

Surrounding Jesus that day was a crowd of people. It is important to note that being part of the crowd around Jesus is not the same as being a disciple of Jesus. The men we just looked at, the stretcher-bearers, demonstrated their faith by bring this man to Jesus and lowering him through the roof right at Jesus feet. The Scripture even tells us that “seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Wait, what. That would have been the crowd’s reaction. And prominent among the crowd would have been the scribes and they would have been part of the crowd preventing the stretcher-bearers from getting through to Him with their charge. You see we have to ask ourselves another question when it comes to this text - are we stretcher-bearers or are we simply part of the crowd? Are we helping to get people to Jesus or are we keeping them away from Him?

The scribes in this story were a part of the crowd. In fact they would have been those among the crowd who were the closest to Jesus because that was how they were. They always desired to be center stage or as close to that as they could get. And so far they had been okay with what Jesus had been doing - even if His teaching had been more authoritative than theirs. They were good as long as all He was doing was preaching and healing - they even overlooked the initial healings that took place on the Sabbath.

But presuming to forgive sins was too much in their estimation. There was no expectation within intertestamental Jewish thought that the Messiah or any other eschatological figure could forgive sins - this was reserved for God alone

Deuteronomy 6:4 CSB

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Because sin was against God and God alone it was only God who could forgive sins. Forgiveness of sins remains everywhere the exclusive right of God.” The reason is that in every sin, even in sins committed ostensibly only against one’s neighbor, God is the party most offended. Thus in his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, David, who in one affair breaks at least three and perhaps four of the Ten Commandments, confesses to God, “ ‘against you, you only, have I sinned’ ” (Ps 51:4).

Their outrage here tells us that Jesus wasn’t merely saying “Son, God has forgiven your sins” as if He was speaking for God. Rather Christ, speaking on His own authority was telling this man that his sins were forgiven. This was something that was unheard of in Jewish thought. The priests and prophets could only pronounce that God had forgiven sins through a sacrifice or some other act of turning back to Him. But here there is not sacrifice but only the pronouncement of Christ that this man’s sins had been forgiven.

This also gives us a clue into what may have been the cause of this man’s paralyzation. Throughout the Old Testament and the first century world sickness and injuries were often viewed as judgement as a result of some hidden sin. As we’ve already seen this was the case with the fever that Jesus healed in Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and also in the leper story that immediately precedes this morning’s text. It was entirely likely that Jesus starts with this man’s sins because this particular paralysis was the result of some sinful action. This is just too much for the scribes to accept. They couldn’t accept this - it was a situation of how much is too much.

And so here we see them questioning. And the text reveals to us the sovereignty of Christ - something they again fail to pick up on. Verse 6 says that they were reasoning in their hearts - they weren’t in the back whispering amongst themselves. Not only does Mark tell us in verse 6 that the scribes were reasoning this in their hearts but note verse 8 that Jesus perceives this in His spirit. And so He asks them directly “why are you thinking these things?”

The things they were thinking were not light hearted or minor issues. In the Jewish world there was no charge more severe or that carried more dire consequences than that of blasphemy. The Jews had three levels of severity when it came to blasphemy. The first was a person could be charged with blasphemy if he spoke evil of or against the Law of God. Both Stephen and after him Paul were accused of this in the book of Acts. The second level was to speak evil of the name of God or evil with respect to God directly.

Exodus 20:7 CSB

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

This crime, that of cursing the name of the Lord, was punishable by death according to Leviticus 24:10-16. The third form, and the worst form, was when a sinful person claimed to possess divine authority or equality with God. This is the crime the scribes were accusing Christ of here. They were incensed that He would place Himself in the role of and take upon Himself the prerogative of God. So they were offended that Jesus would have the temerity to assume that He could forgive sins.

Today’s skeptics have taken this offense to an even greater measure. Today skeptics would take it even a step further asking how can Jesus even presume to accuse them of sin? They would say that even that suggestion of sin is too much. The world would complain that to look down on this man or to accuse him of sin for his “condition” was wrong. After all, he could have been or was born that way. If anything God it is Your fault because You made him this way. To accuse him of some sort of sin would be to make him feel bad for what he is. How dare we even presume to broach the subject of sin let alone assume that Jesus has the power to heal and to forgive sin. We live in a world that would look at us and say that preaching the Gospel is too much.

We have the cross to point back to. Here though, Jesus poses a rhetorical question to these scribes to silence them and also puts the question to the man on the mat. Look at verses 9 and 10.

Mark 2:9–10 CSB

Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralytic—

Jesus here applies a moniker to Himself that He uses more than 80 times in the Gospels. It is interesting that it is really only used by Himself to refer to Himself. After the Gospels through out the epistles He is always referred to as Christ or Lord. He calls Himself the Son of Man. It is not meant to convey the idea that men are now somehow able, through the coming of Christ, to forgive sins. Rather it is a specific name that He uses for Himself. We will see Him refer to Himself as the Son of Man another thirteen times in this study - most notably after we reach chapter 8 and Simon’s confession of His identity. For now though He tells throws the scribes on the horns of a dilemma as, mid-sentence without giving them a chance to respond, Christ brings in the third character in our scene.

The Sinner - Can this Really be Real?

The phrase in verse 10 where it says that Christ turns to the paralytic provides an awkward moment in both the text and in the room where He stood over the man. The man had to have been slightly in shock and taken aback by the events that had transpired that day. One minute he was lying next to the road begging for food and money. The next four men had him picked up on a litter and were taking him to see Jesus - the one he’d heard about, the miracle worker. Then think of the disappointment when the crowds were so big that he couldn’t get near and the mix of apprehension and elation as the men talked about digging through the roof. I would have probably said something like “sure that’s a great idea - you’re on the roof with full use of your faculties to run if anyone in the house doesn’t like the fact that you just dug a hole in their roof. Me I’m going to be lying on the floor - I’m not sure how this is to my benefit.” And then the weightless feeling of being lowered through that roof when they obviously overruled his objections to land right at Jesus feet.

And all this commotion over sins being forgiven and could He, should He do that. Maybe he felt the renewal of his spirit when Christ pronounced that his sins had been forgiven - and that’s exactly what it was. It was a pronouncement that all of his sins had been forgiven - not just the one or ones that had led to his current status but every one of his sins had been forgiven by Jesus.

But now Jesus was fixing His piercing eyes on him. Telling him to get up, take his mat and go home. And there isn’t even a moments hesitation - his body is immediately regenerated physically and he stands up, takes his mat and went out in front of everyone. It was a physical manifestation of what had already happened to him spiritually. There is no question, there is no doubt in this man’s mind or heart what had just happened to him. He was healed. There was no question of “can this really be real?” It was real and he knew it.

Jesus waited until after He had pronounced this man’s sins forgiven to heal him to demonstrate not only His power over the physical realm but also the spiritual as well. And not only that He had power in the spiritual realm to cast out unclean spirits but that He had the authority to pronounce men’s sins forgiven.

It was real - and the crowd recognized it. Mark 2:12 says that everyone was astounded and that they were all giving glory to God saying “we have never seen anything like this!” And that is exactly how we should react anytime we hear of a sinner who has come to Jesus. Let me ask you - is that how you reacted when you heard the news about Kanye West becoming a Christian? Maybe - because he is such a celebrity and he can do so much for the Kingdom. But what about someone who doesn’t have a name like that? Do we rejoice the same way? In Luke we read that the angels rejoice in Heaven over every soul that is being redeemed and we should too.

Conclusion