New Testament Studies

The Gospel of St. Mark

By Robert C. Crowder

Lesson Eleven

Chapter two of Mark can be simplistically outlined as following:

• Christ heals one sick of the palsy. (Mark 2:1-12)

• Levi’s call, and the entertainment given to Jesus. (Mark 2:13-17)

• Why Christ’s disciples did not fast. (Mark 2:18-22)

• He justifies his disciples for plucking corn on the Sabbath. (Mark 2:23-28)

We will see that each of these four main areas continues to build the foundation of the ministry of Jesus.

By now you would think that we have enough background on Jesus healing people, casting out demons and even curing leprosy, that healing one sick of the palsy would be just another one healed.  Mark used the term, “And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases” and we were not given any history about them.  But in the beginning of Chapter two, we see that we are going to meet a man and his friends that are really dedicated to getting this man healed of the palsy.  But as we dig deeper, we find that not everyone in the crowd is very happy with the way things are happening and start to question and we find that things are not always what they seem on the surface.  This is why we study the Bible!

Mark 2:1-12  “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”

“And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.”

In the preceding chapter we left Jesus and His disciples “in the desert places” but still people came to Him “from every quarter.”  Jesus continued His ministry and in His actions showed His disciples that they must be where the people are.  The group shunned Capernaum for “some days” which can be seen as Jesus waiting until the latest excitement had a chance to quite down.  Jesus then entered back to Capernaum, “his own city”[1]

It didn’t take long for people to find out that Jesus was back.  We see the term “noised” which means to be reported or understood.  Jesus’ fame had grown so much that when people heard that He was back word got around.  Jesus was found “in the house” which was probably Simon’s.[2]  It would be natural for people to return to the location where they had last seen Jesus and the site of so much rejoicing.

“And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.”

Isn’t it interesting that everyone wanted to be around Jesus?  They had seen the miracles, many of them with their own eyes.  So they gathered, as many as could fit into the house and around the door because there was no more room inside.  They gathered around to see what was going to happen next.  So when the crowd was gathered, Jesus “preached the word unto them.”  The Greek for “word” is logos.  This is the first instance where Mark introduces us to something new.  Before Mark showed us that Jesus taught and preached the “gospel.”  Now Mark refers to that action of presenting the Gospel as preaching the Word.   Jesus is preaching ”the word of God; the revelation or doctrine that he came to deliver, called the word; and the word of God, because it was spoken or revealed by God.”[3]

This section of text (Mark 2:1-12) shows a change in His Ministry.  For what happened next gave Jesus an opportunity to make a clear connection between the performances of a miracle with the “good news” of the kingdom of God.

Not only were the local townspeople in attendance, but according to Luke 5:17 “there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by.”  We will now see that from this point Jesus will have the religious following.  The scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees had no love for Him or significance of His ministry, yet they constantly shadow Him wherever He went, mostly to split hairs at His doctrine, and to some extent out of curiosity to see His miracles.

“And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.”

Let’s observe that first of all we do not know who brought the man to Christ.  We do not know if they were friends, slaves or family.  But they brought their palsied friend to Christ.  The Greek word for palsy is paralutikos, which means "paralytic."  We know that the man could not walk to where Jesus was, so others brought him.  When they got to the house, there was no room for them inside so they got on the roof.  Houses commonly had a “flat roof that also covered the veranda of the house.  It could be reached by outside stairs.  This would explain the men’s access to the roof.”[4]

When they got to the roof, they had to “uncover the roof” or as Luke states they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.”[5]

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”

This is a very exciting scene.  Jesus is preaching to those gathered around Him when there was a disturbance.  People were digging up the roof and then they let the man down where Jesus could see him.  Jesus was moved by the faith of those that brought the man, climbed up on the roof, tore up the tiles and then lowered the man so that Jesus could heal him.  Jesus speaks saying, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”  Jesus did not say, “be thou clean” as he did with the one with leprosy, instead he said that his sins were forgiven.  What did Jesus mean?  “Nothing is said of the cause of the paralysis, but Jesus evidently recognized that the first thing he needed was the assurance that his sins were forgiven.  If this assurance were accepted, the physical cure would follow.”[6]

“But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?”

Uh oh.  Wouldn’t you know that just as there should be joy in the area Jesus perceived that the scribes were aghast that Jesus was speaking “blasphemies?”  For the scribes it was OK for Jesus to heal and even to preach the Gospel.  The verdict was still out on the miracle worker, but this was an insult to God.  Only God could forgive sins.   And they are right, but they do not understand yet that Jesus is God.

Can you imagine the shock when Jesus addresses the scribes by saying, “Why do you reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?”  Jesus perceived in His spirit what they were reasoning in their hearts.  I don’t know about you, but that must have “freaked-out” these scribes.  Jesus doesn’t even allow them to answer.  He continues by saying, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”

What do you think your spiritual and mental feelings would be if you had been in the audience?  Would you be joining most of the onlookers by glorifying God?  This man who could not walk and was carried in by others now picked up his own bed and left.  Could you imagine the smile on his face?  Or even better, how about the look on the face of those that brought him?

This is an important lesson that Jesus just gave to those onlookers.  This is the first time that we have Jesus healing somebody and forgiving the sins of the person.  Now the ministry has taken on an additional focus of the Gospel, which now includes the forgiveness of sins.

ã 2002 bobsbiblestudies