Mk 2:1-12 Healing the Paralytic
There is a central message in the whole Bible. In biblical terms, we call this central message the gospel, or the good news. This good news is centred at a historical person, whose name is Jesus. Without Jesus, there will be no such good news; and without this good news, the whole Bible has lost its centre, and so is our Christian faith. That is why the following question is very important: “Who is Jesus?” Yes, who is Jesus? This question seems to be very easy for some people here that we often take it our granted. We may answer that Jesus is Christ, or in more details, he is the Son of God, or he is the king, the prophet, or the high priest. While these answers are all correct, we cannot take the answers as pure knowledge, just like any other knowledge which may help you to survive in this modern world. The question itself demands more. It demands that once we recognize who Jesus is, the next step is to think about our relationship to him. Therefore we may be able to change the original question as, “Who is Jesus in our life?” In today passage, we have a good answer to this question.
When Jesus had finished a journey of preaching around the country area in Galilee, he came back to the house of Peter and Andrew, which was in the bush town Capernaum. At that moment Jesus’ name was so famous in the region that he drew a large crowd coming to him. The cloud was so large that many people could not entred the house but just stood outside, and even they blocked the front door. Now there came a paralytic man together with his helping friends. Obviously this paralytic man wanted to be healed by Jesus. However, they could not find a way to get into the house, so they found a clever way to bypass the crowd by digging a hole on the roof and lowered the paralytic into the place where Jesus was sitting. But, to everybody’s surprise, Jesus did not heal this man straight away, but instead told him something unexpected:
From Jesus’ words we can see a couple of things. First of all, he has the authority to forgive sins. But not all people believe in his words, including some people who were familiar with the teachings in the Old Testament. In this passage, the teachers of the law were puzzling whether Jesus had such an authority. Then Jesus asked them one question: Which one is easier? In this world, there may be some people who have good medical knowledge for healing; there may even be some people who have certain supernatural power, but nobody can claim that he can forgive sins. The Old Testament teachers knew that very well. Only God has such authority, because when we commit sin, no matter the nature of our sinful act, ultimately we are offending God who has created us and granted us his glory. And since we are offending God, depriving the glory he has given us, then only God can forgive us. Then, who is Jesus? In V.10 Jesus claims: “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. In this case, Jesus has the authority same as the authority of God who can forgive sins. Who is Jesus? Actually the Gospel of Mark has already told its readers in the very first verse of Chapter One: . Yes, Jesus is the Son of God. That’s why he has the authority to forgive sins. And he does not just have to authority to forgive the paralytic in 2000 years ago, but today he still has this authority, and through him all our offending acts and thoughts could be forgiven. Only through him we could be reconciled with almighty God who has the sovereignty over time, space and history.
The second thing we can see is faith, because faith is the most important thing about our relationship with Jesus. In the passage, can we find any reason why the paralytic was healed? Because of his faith. V.5 reads: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Same as the paralytic, we must have faith in Jesus before our sins are forgiven. We must trust in his words, and believe that he is the one who was sent from God. What are his words? Perhaps we can look into what Jesus was preaching in V.2? Again, the Gospel of Mark has already told us beforehand. Look at 1:14-15 < After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" > Yes, his words are about the coming of the kingdom of God, and repentance and believe. Today these words are still the words Jesus wants to tell us. He said the kingdom of God is near, and he appeals to us to repent and believe in his words. In my hand I have the Bible, here contains the witnesses from Jesus’ apostles. They have witnessed how Jesus was sent from the Father God, died on the cross for our sins and then resurrected in glory after three days. Because of his death and resurrection, for those who believe in him their sins will be forgiven. Therefore faith in Jesus comes together with repentance, when we trust in Jesus’ words we also have to repent. Faith and repentance is the central part in our relationship to Jesus, and also the central part in the relationship to God the Father. We firstly relate to Jesus through faith, and therefore we are able o relate to the Father, and the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In the end, I like to ask one more question: which one is more important? Sin forgiving is more important or miraculous healing? Perhaps it is easier to find your own answer by reading the last sentence in this passage: If you think the miraculous healing is the reason which amazed the people, then the healing is more attractive to you. And if you think people were amazed because Jesus could forgive sins, I think you are on the right track. Healing is good, but what is more important than freeing from the condemnation in the final judgment? At that moment, the sinner can escape from the wrath of God! As what I have said, through faith in Jesus he has reconciled with God, no more condemnation! In terms of the story structure, sin forgiving is also the focal point in this story, rather than the miraculous healing. Now back to us, the fundamental question to us is, whether we want to relate to Jesus through faith and repentance, once you recognize who Jesus is.
When Jesus had finished a journey of preaching around the country area in Galilee, he came back to the house of Peter and Andrew, which was in the bush town Capernaum. At that moment Jesus’ name was so famous in the region that he drew a large crowd coming to him. The cloud was so large that many people could not entred the house but just stood outside, and even they blocked the front door. Now there came a paralytic man together with his helping friends. Obviously this paralytic man wanted to be healed by Jesus. However, they could not find a way to get into the house, so they found a clever way to bypass the crowd by digging a hole on the roof and lowered the paralytic into the place where Jesus was sitting. But, to everybody’s surprise, Jesus did not heal this man straight away, but instead told him something unexpected:
From Jesus’ words we can see a couple of things. First of all, he has the authority to forgive sins. But not all people believe in his words, including some people who were familiar with the teachings in the Old Testament. In this passage, the teachers of the law were puzzling whether Jesus had such an authority. Then Jesus asked them one question:
The second thing we can see is faith, because faith is the most important thing about our relationship with Jesus. In the passage, can we find any reason why the paralytic was healed? Because of his faith. V.5 reads: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Same as the paralytic, we must have faith in Jesus before our sins are forgiven. We must trust in his words, and believe that he is the one who was sent from God. What are his words? Perhaps we can look into what Jesus was preaching in V.2? Again, the Gospel of Mark has already told us beforehand. Look at 1:14-15 < After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" > Yes, his words are about the coming of the kingdom of God, and repentance and believe. Today these words are still the words Jesus wants to tell us. He said the kingdom of God is near, and he appeals to us to repent and believe in his words. In my hand I have the Bible, here contains the witnesses from Jesus’ apostles. They have witnessed how Jesus was sent from the Father God, died on the cross for our sins and then resurrected in glory after three days. Because of his death and resurrection, for those who believe in him their sins will be forgiven. Therefore faith in Jesus comes together with repentance, when we trust in Jesus’ words we also have to repent. Faith and repentance is the central part in our relationship to Jesus, and also the central part in the relationship to God the Father. We firstly relate to Jesus through faith, and therefore we are able o relate to the Father, and the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In the end, I like to ask one more question: which one is more important? Sin forgiving is more important or miraculous healing? Perhaps it is easier to find your own answer by reading the last sentence in this passage:
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