Mark 2:1-12- The Son Of God Can Forgive All Sins!

Community Church, two weeks ago we saw in Mark 1:37-38 that there was a big difference between those who ‘search’ for Jesus with saving faith, and those who ‘look’ for Jesus for reasons other than faith and repentance. In our text today, we will see these same dynamics taking place. On the one hand, there are many people gathered to hear Jesus and receive a blessing. On the other hand, there are five men who really stand out because they do have saving faith that looks to Jesus and receives from Him the only blessing that really matters in the end- eternal life.

Our text is Mark 2:1-12, “And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 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. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 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?” 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!’”

In Mark 1:21-38 we saw that Jesus had been ministering in Capernaum. Mark described the ministry that Jesus had done there in this way:

• First, Jesus ministered in the synagogue. He spoke as one who had authority and he also displayed His power by casting out an unclean spirit from a man in the church. (21-28)

• Second, after this Jesus went to Peter’s home and when He heard that his mother-in-law was sick he healed her. (29-31) She spent the rest of that day and even into the night serving Christ in His ministry. In our text today Jesus is probably back at her house and we will see that her service to Christ in ministry has grown. (She allows men to put a hole in her roof!)

• Third, later that evening when the sun began to set people came from throughout the city to be ministered to by Jesus. (32-34) Jesus probably ministered late into the evening.

• Then in Mark 1:35 we read, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.”

After many days of continuous ministry in the surrounding towns (39-45), Jesus had come back to Capernaum. (1) Previously Jesus had left Capernaum at the height of His popularity (1:28) and His time away had not diminished His fame among the people there. (2:2) Even after all of the ministry that He had been doing, we see that Jesus continues to minister to people when He is returns home.

Last weekend I went to a conference for a couple of days. During that time I experienced many comforts, great food, and plenty to drink. During this time I did not have any responsibilities; instead, I was getting ministered too. And yet, despite all of these things I was tired and wanted to get home.

We might expect to find Jesus hiding out all by Himself, but this is not the case. When He comes back the crowds are even bigger. At one time the crowds remained outside the door of the house (1:33), but now the crowds are in the house, outside the house, and even on top of the roof of this house!

Jesus has been traveling from town to town and ministering for ‘many days’. During that time Jesus could no longer openly enter into a town, but was out in desolate places (1:45). While He was out in desolate places the people continued to come to Him from every direction. And now when He does come home He does not take a break from ministry. He continues to preach the word. (2:2)

In verse 2 Mark emphasizes these things when he writes, “And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.” Mark, who is usually very brief in the stories that he tells, uses three phrases to speak of the crowd that had gathered at this home:‘many were gathered together’, ‘there was no more room’, ‘not even at the door’. The movement in these phrases is from the center of the house outward. The house was full, the people filled every available space, even to the doorway and beyond.

Mark could have just said, ‘Many were gathered together...And He was preaching the Word to them.' He could also have said, ‘Many were gathered together, so that there was no more room...And he was preaching the word to them.’ Instead Mark describes this moment by saying, ‘Many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.’

The end of verse 2 tells us that He was ‘preaching the word to them’. My friends, what Jesus is doing in the hearing of this crowd is the most important moment in their life. Some of them had probably had great moments in their life, but nothing was more important than this moment. And yet, most of these people were oblivious to the significance of this moment.

The Word of God is being proclaimed (1:12-13,38) by the Son of God (1:1,22,27) in their hearing. On this occasion these people are listening to the King of kings, the LORD of lord’s, who has come to set them free from all the things that which they cannot free themselves! Jesus is the hope that men need in their hopeless situation. God has come among them and He is preaching the Good News of the Kingdom to them. He is preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (1:15) Despite the fact that Jesus is speaking the word to them with authority and power, the people are not connecting these important facts with saving faith. Oh, how easy it is to sit in the pews but not apply the Word.

Last time Jesus spoke in this city the people were amazed by His teaching and His fame spread everywhere (1:22,27). If this story were to continue without interruption, we would expect to hear the same testimony on this occasion. The people would be astonished at His teaching because He did not teach them like the scribes. (1:22) They would continue to marvel, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (1:27) If this were to happen something would still be very wrong. Unfortunately, so many of the people listening to Jesus on this day do not have saving faith.

Consideration: Jesus knows that those who are listening to Him do not believe in Him or His message regarding the Kingdom. Therefore, Jesus is orchestrating a series of events that will expose the peoples unbelief and display His glory as the One Who can forgive sins. This begins to unfold in verses 3-4. Mark quickly draws our attention to something that is happening outside the walls of this home, saying, “And they came (historic present, ‘they come’ present indicative tense), bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 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.”

For just a moment let me emphasize something that I just said a moment ago. I said, “Jesus is orchestrating a series of events that will expose the peoples unbelief and display His glory as the One Who can forgive sins.” One of the amazing messages of this story is that Jesus is our sovereign LORD who controls all things in that house where He is preaching, all things going on outside of that house, and as our text makes clear in 2:8 He knows what is happening in the heart of every person.

I say this because Jesus has testified in 1:38 that He has come to preach to the people, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” We have seen that Jesus has come back home and He is not hiding from ministry; rather, He is engaging in ministry with these people. This makes me ask, “Why doesn’t Jesus go outside where He can minister to everyone who is coming to hear Him? Why does Jesus stay in the house where people are restricted and all the people are not able to hear?”

There are many other times when Jesus graciously accommodates the crowds that came to listen to Him speak. For example,

• In Mark 4:1-2 we read, “Again He began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things…”.

• Or in Matthew 5:1-2a we read, “Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them…”.

• Or in John 18:20 Jesus testifies, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have done nothing in secret.”

Jesus came (1:31) to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). In our text we see that our sovereign LORD is always working in ways we may not be aware of as He goes about doing this. On this occasion Jesus knows that those sitting closest to Him do not believe so He will use the events that are taking place to confront their unbelief and to glorify Himself as the Son of God who can forgive sins- because He is God! (2:7-10)

Notice the quick shift in scenes between verse 2 and verse 3. Verse 2 emphasizes what is happening in the house. Verses 3-4 focuses the attention of the reader to what is going on outside of the home. Then verses 5-12 emphasize what is going on in the hearts of the people.

Verse 3 emphasizes the movement from inside to outside by using a ‘historic present tense verb’. Instead of using a past tense (aorist or imperfect), Mark uses the present tense to make the reader feel as though this event were happening right now.

• The way Mark writes this verse is somewhat cumbersome because of this ‘historic present tense’, “And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.”

• The KJV says, “And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.”

• This scene moves from what is happening inside the house, to what five men are doing outside the house, “And they come unto Him…”. I love those words in the present tense, they are coming to see Jesus and nothing will stand in their way. They will face many obstacles, but it is as good as having been done already because, “They come unto Him…”.

  • Notice that two things are being stressed. The faith of these men is unified and worthy of being commended by Jesus- ‘They come...’. (5)

  • Then notice that the type of faith that they have is focused upon Christ, “They come unto Him”. Their faith will be challenged, but they will not take their eyes off of Christ. They will not be like Peter who saw the wind and the waves and began to sink. (Matthew 14:30)

The faith of these men was unshaken when they could not get near to Jesus because of the crowd. (4) Picture the scene, these men arrive carrying this paralytic and they discover that there is a large crowd of people. The words, ‘they could not get near him’, emphasizes (passive despondent verb- the men are doing the action) the fact that these men tried with all due diligence to get to Jesus, but they could not. If they would have stopped trying to get to Jesus at this point it would not have been for a lack of effort on their part. Despite their best efforts ‘they could not get near to Him’. Notice that the emphasis is on their desire to get to Jesus, and not primarily to get their friend healed. Saving faith that obtains forgiveness and every other blessing from God always looks to Christ. (Ps. 121:1-2; Psalm 123) Saving faith always draws nearer to Christ. (James 4:8)

Observation: If these men had gotten their eyes off of Jesus, what would they have looked at? Isn’t this verse clear, ‘They could not get near to Jesus because of the crowd.’ If they would have looked at the crowd they would be angry, frustrated, and bitter. Truth is, this crowd was probably made up of people just like this paralytic, people who had great spiritual and physical needs. None of them will receive the blessing Jesus came to give if they will not look to Him in faith. What has your attention right now that is distracting you from Christ and drawing near to Him?

What do you think these men did when they could not obtain the goal of their faith? Did they get angry, frustrated, give up, did they just do nothing? No, because they had faith they probably were an example of what James says in James 1:5-7, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

Picture these men praying together and then someone looks upon the roof and sees their only remaining option. It is a risky one. This crowd has blocked their way, so wouldn’t you think they would be reproached by someone for digging a hole in a roof that is big enough to bring down a man. However, among these four men, not one of them lacked the faith to do this. As a result, ‘...they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.’ (4) May God help us to, ‘Together, offer hope through saving faith in Jesus’

I don’t suppose it was normal for something like this to be done, but this is all part of Jesus’ plan and He will not reprove them. No, He will commend them for this! He will use this moment to display His glory as the Son of Man who forgives sins. And He will reveal the unbelieving and wicked hearts of the men who were sitting closest to Him as He preached to them Good News. Verses 5-7 says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ 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?’”

Even though these things were said in the privacy of their hearts we read in verses 8-11, “And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they (plural) thus questioned within themselves (plural), said to them (plural), ‘Why do you (plural) question these things in your hearts (plural)? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic (singular), ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your (singular) bed and walk’? But that you (plural) may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (all sins from every type of person)’—he said to the paralytic (singular)—  ‘I say to you (singular), rise, pick up your bed (singular), and go home.’”

After saying this the moment of truth had arrived. What would happen? We read, “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!”

This was a teaching moment for everyone regarding who Jesus is and what He can do for all of us regarding our sin that separates us from God. Although this was a teaching moment for everyone, it was only this man who receives this amazing blessing of forgiveness of sins and physical healing.

Wouldn’t it be tragic if this did not move those who were calling Jesus a blasphemer to repentance and faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins. Even those significant sins that they had just committed in their hearts! It may be that there were some who were there who may have responded with saving faith, “...they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!’”

My friends, The LORD Jesus Christ is sovereign in all things. He can work in any way He needs to as He brings you to salvation. Do not harden your hearts. Do not watch others receive this blessing while you miss this opportunity. Repent and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ.