Series Introduction:

This week we are continuing our sermon series, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” where we are focusing on how different people encountered Jesus and answered this question for themselves. So far we have looked at Peter the fisherman, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the rich young ruler, Nicodemus the Pharisee, and a Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well. 

This week we will be looking at an encounter Jesus had with a man who was physically paralyzed and utterly unable to help himself. He was a man who needed physical healing, but also a healing that went deeper than just the flesh. He needed a healing that no man but the God-man could provide. 

Scripture Reading: 

• Mark 2:1-12
• 1 Peter 2:24

Opening Prayer:

Father God, we thank you for another opportunity to gather together and worship you. We thank you for the forgiveness we have received through your Son, Jesus Christ. I pray that as we enter into this time of preaching, that you would give me words to speak. I pray that you would open up hearts and minds to receive your word. May all that is said and done be for your glory. Amen

Introduction:

Our account in Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus returning to the region of Capernaum after he had spent the last several months preaching and performing miracles in the region of Galilee. We are told that “it was reported that he was at home” or “in the house” (Mark 1:1) which probably meant he was staying with someone (some think it might have been Peter’s family). Somehow or another word got around that Jesus was back in town, and the home in which he was staying quickly became overcrowded so that people had filled the house to capacity and were overflowing out the front door into the street. Had they had fire-codes back in that day, this would certainly have been a safety violation. 

Why were so many people pushing and shoving to get to be near Jesus? We are told that Jesus was “preaching the word to them” (Mark 2:2), and while I am sure many had come to hear his teaching, I imagine that more than a few were hoping to see one of the signs and wonders that he was said to have performed in Galilee. We know that one man in particular was hoping that he might experience a healing like many in Galilee were said to have experienced. He was suffering from bodily paralysis, which was probably a palsy of some sort that made him unable to get up and move himself around independently. We are told that four men had worked to bring this man to Jesus, probably each one carrying an edge of his mat, only to find that they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd of people that had already gathered around him. But as we also saw in our passage, these men were not going to give up so easily.  

Determined Faith 

This paralyzed man and his friends had faith that if they could come to Jesus, this paralysis could be healed. These men may not have grasped it yet, but these men were working not only for their friend’s physical health, but also for his spiritual salvation. They set out to do for their friend, the best thing that any of us could do for any of our friends, they brought him to Jesus. In order for anyone to find the healing that we all need in their soul, they have to come to Jesus. Some will seek him out on their own, but most of us need to be brought. 

You do not need to be paralyzed bodily to be paralyzed inwardly. The Bible often uses the word “dead” to describe our spiritual state before we are spiritually brought to new life in Christ. We are, in a sense, living dead. Physically alive but spiritually wasting away. Yet somehow each of us who are in Christ we came to salvation through Jesus. Maybe it was a family member or a friend who brought you to Jesus through their testimony or by bringing you to a church gathering where you heard the Word preached and you felt the Holy Spirit breathe new life into your soul. Most of us were, at one time or another, like this paralyzed man until someone (or perhaps several someones) brought us to Jesus. 

My mother and father modeled faith for me and encouraged me to seek out faith for myself. They also prioritized church attendance and made sure I always had a community of believers that cared for me and poured into my spiritual growth. I came to faith at a young age, and I believe a great deal of that was the result of my parents and my church family repeatedly bringing me to Jesus until I was ready to come to him in faith on my own. 

How many times were you brought to Jesus before you were ready to believe? Let us be grateful that someone (or more likely several someones) was willing to put in the effort to bring us to Jesus. We should also be grateful that the people who brought us to Jesus did not give up at the first obstacle. 

Satan creates obstacles, not only for us to come to Jesus but also for any time we try to bring someone to Jesus. He will throw obstacles in our path, he will make sure that we never feel up to the task, that the timing is never good, and that the most important things never feel high priority. We have to be persistent, and sometimes thinking outside the box.

It was common during Jesus’ day to have a ladder or an outside stairwell that led up to the roof of a house. Roofs were flat and made of straw and matted stone bound together with a clay like substance. If built correctly, these roofs were sturdy enough to support a decent amount of weight, enough for several people to walk around on, and they often served as a second story to the building. These men decided that if they couldn’t go through the main door, they would have to make a door of their own: 

“And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.”

Mark 2:4, ESV

I like to imagine how this scene must have unfolded from the inside. Back in that day Rabbis would sit down to teach, so Jesus was probably sitting with his back to the wall or in the corner of the house. The house was filled to capacity so that the doorway was blocked. Jesus had already been teaching on the scriptures for some time when all of a sudden some dust and small debris from the roof started to fall down. Then before you know it there’s a hole in the roof and sunlight is streaming in. The hole gets larger and larger until suddenly a mat with a man lying in it is lowered down into the room.

I am sure this caused quite a lot of fuss and confusion. I bet more than a few people who squeezed into the house at the last minute suddenly found themselves pushed back out into the street to make way for this unexpected visitor. Say what you will, but this was an effective way to get Jesus’ attention. 

Forgiven Through Faith

We are told that Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the paralytic and the faith of the men who went to such extremes to bring him before Jesus. It is here that Jesus makes an incredible claim:

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Mark 2:5, ESV

There are so many things worth pointing out in just this one verse. First, the man clearly came in hopes that he would be physically healed, but Jesus instead proclaims forgiveness for the man’s sins. The human mind sees physical problems to be fixed, but Jesus realizes that this man’s spiritual healing was far more important than the physical healing. Physical health is a good thing, but in this fallen world even a physically healthy body is only a temporary blessing. Whereas a soul forgiven by God has the assurance of eternal life. We might occasionally get our priorities out of order, but know that the most important thing any of us can have is the assurance that we are forgiven by God and are made new by His love. 

Second, notice the way in which Jesus proclaimed forgiveness. He did not hesitate in forgiving the man at all, and he forgave tenderly and with great compassion. Jesus did not embarrass the man, shame him, or give even a hint of resentment or hesitation. If you recall the woman at the well we focused on last week, Jesus pointed to her sin – not to condemn or to shame – but so that she would recognize her need for forgiveness and come to him to receive the living water that he alone could offer. Jesus apparently knew that this man needed no prodding. He came in faith to be restored, and Jesus pronounced spiritual restoration. 

Notice in verse five that Jesus calls the man “son” which is the Greek word for a child. His sins were forgiven and he had become a child of God. Jesus’ response to this helpless sinner was the same as it would be if a helpless child was lying at our feet. He had compassion, tenderness, and a desire to make right was wrong. I hope you understand that no matter how dark your sins may be, Jesus can pronounce them forgiven. If the Son of God calls you a child of God, then you are a child at that very moment and nothing can ever take that away from you. 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39, ESV

And the third thing I want you to see in this Mark 2:5 is that Jesus proclaims forgiveness out of his own authority. Jesus did not say “Father God, please forgive this man,” or “If it be your will Father, grant this man forgiveness from his sins.” Jesus forgave the man in his own name and by his own power and authority. 

If you had a neighbor who committed a heinous crime against you, and I told that neighbor that they were forgiven, my words would carry no meaning. I was not the one who was harmed by their crime. It is up to the victim of the crime whether or not they choose to forgive, and even if the victim chooses to forgive that does not mean that the one who committed the crime is innocent. You see, when we sin we are always sinning against God. Our sins might hurt ourselves and those around us, but God is always the one we sin against first and foremost. 

King David was a righteous and God fearing man for most of his life, but in a moment of weakness he committed a grave sin. He slept with a woman who was not his wife, and she became pregnant with a child while her husband was away at war. To cover up his crime, David arranged for the woman’s husband to be placed in a dangerous situation so that he would certainly die in combat, which he inevitably did. 

Now we would look upon this situation in our human mind and say that David clearly sinned against this man and his family. He had adultery, murder, and deception added to his list of sins, and yet after the David was confronted over his sins and brought to a place of repentance he wrote: 

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

Psalm 51:4, ESV

When we sin, we always sin against God, and so in order to be truly forgiven we must seek out forgiveness from God Himself. This is why Jesus’ statement “Son, your sins are forgiven” troubled the Scribes who were gathered to evaluate whether or not Jesus was a legitimate prophet of God. 

The Source of Forgiveness

We are told that the scribes did not even voice their concerns at this point, but in their hearts they began to question the legitimacy of Jesus. 

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Mark 2:6-7, ESV

Now I want to give the scribes a little credit here. If Jesus was not the Son of God, then the scribes would have been right to question and doubt Jesus. He was speaking for God, and doing so out of His own authority, which would have been Blasphemous if Jesus was any other person. Had Jesus been merely a rabbi, merely a prophet, or merely a great religious leader then he still would not possess the authority to forgive sins. I hope you realize that as a pastor I cannot forgive your sins. If one of you did something wrong against me I could choose to forgive, and not hold you accountable, but unless you are forgiven by God you will be held accountable one day in the court of heaven. 

Even Peter, arguably the most prominent of Jesus’ disciples declared: 

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Acts 2:39-8-39, ESV

In whose name can we repent and receive forgiveness? It is not in the name or authority of Peter. It is not in the name or authority of the Church. No, it is in the name and authority of Jesus Christ. 

The good news is that Jesus Christ was not a blasphemer. He is the Son of God, and he has the authority and the power to forgive sins, including yours and mine. Jesus offers tender and compassionate forgiveness to all who will come to him in faith, but his forgiveness is not just mere words to make us feel better. It carries the weight of a legal pardon from the throne of God himself.

The Impact of Being Forgiven

What happens next is a visible outward sign to all who were gathered that day that Jesus was from God: 

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But 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, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Mark 2:8-12, ESV

First, Jesus reveals that he knows the hearts of men by addressing the questions that the scribes were asking in their hearts, but had not spoken out loud. Then, he performs a miracle to mirror the inward miracle of forgiveness. Just as the man’s soul had been given new life, so too now was his body given new life. What was dead and powerless now was alive and active! 

When the biblical authors write about miracles, they often refer to them as “signs” or “wonders” which I actually prefer to the term “miracle.” The point of a miracle is almost never merely the miracle itself, but that the miracle can serve as a sign, pointing us to God at work. They are wonders, meant to stir our minds and our imaginations towards the things of God. 

The man’s new walk would forever be a reminder of the day that he received salvation and forgiveness from God. The mat he carried was a testimony to where he was before God, and how he had been restored physically and spiritually. This man did not yet know the cost of this forgiveness and restoration, but Jesus did. 

Jesus would have his body broken on the cross, so that one day we could have eternal life in glorified bodies. Jesus tasted death on our behalf, so that we could inherit eternal life.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24, ESV

 It was a costly forgiveness, but a forgiveness that Jesus made out of love for you and me. The forgiveness that Jesus offers is not merely overlooking our sins, it is true healing, true restoration, and true reconciliation. The forgiveness of Jesus makes it as though we never sinned, because he took the punishment we deserved as our substitute on the cross, and clothed us the righteousness that only he has earned. Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, can we be restored, made new, and adopted as rightful heirs of the Kingdom. 

Prayer of Decision:

Father God, we thank you for the forgiveness and new life that we have received through the costly sacrifice of Christ, made on our behalf. Help our lives be a testimony to the goodness you have shown us, and help us to do all that we can to bring others to you in order that they too might receive forgiveness. We love you, we thank you, and we ask all theses things in your Son’s name, Amen.