Going to Jesus with the Paralytic
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Good morning Church,
Today marks week 5 of our series in the Gospel of Mark. That means Pastor Gary left about five weeks ago as he started his sabbatical the Monday after launching us into this sermon series. Maybe more so than others, I’m counting down the weeks until he is back in the office. Tim and I feel his absence but trust he is enjoy a time of renewal and refreshment in the Lord.
I have enjoyed living in the Gospel of Mark these last few weeks. Especially because I think Bible narrative is my favorite bible genre. If you aren’t familiar with biblical genre’s. The Bible has genres like poetry, prophecy, discourse, and others but narrative has to be my favorite. Mostly, because I like stories, as they take me to another place. When reading biblical narrative, I like to spend time doing some curious and imaginative questioning. Using my imagination doesn’t give me more insight, but rather it helps me have a sense of what the people present might have felt, or how they might have responded. In our sermon today, I’m going to walk us through the passage and provide just some moments of this kind of imaginative or curious questioning to help us get a sense of the text.
With that in mind, I’ve titled our sermon today “Going to Jesus with the Paralytic” As we go through our text, we will see three surprises that we see in our passage.
The Surprise of the Crowd (1-4)
The Surprise of Forgiveness of Sin (5-11)
The Surprised Response (12)
Before we begin, let us ask our Lord for help.
PRAY
THE SURPRISE OF THE CROWD (1-4)
THE SURPRISE OF THE CROWD (1-4)
Consider the scene we are entering here. Jesus is in Capernaum in someone’s home. The crowds that are following Jesus are piling on wanting to hear and see Jesus. We see the people describe His teaching as new and with authority (Mark 1:27), and He has this amazing ability to perform miracles, to heal people from their sickness, to cast our demons. We saw all of these miracles from Jesus in last week’s sermon. Here we see Jesus has a crowd, He has fans, they want to hear more, they want to see more from Him. So we find Him at the beginning of this scene teaching in someone’s home.
It would be a mistake for us to believe that all of these people believed that Jesus was the Christ, at this point, we can certainly conclude that people realized that there was no one like this man Jesus, but there isn’t anything in this narrative yet to indicate that they knew WHO Jesus is. This crowd is so large that there is no room in the house, even past the front door.
Here we see the surprise of the crowd. As we go to Jesus with the paralytic, the four men who are carrying the paralytic, aren’t able to get to Jesus. Picture the scene. Four men carrying this paralytic no one makes room for them to go through. Are they that zealous to hear from Jesus that they don’t want to lose their spot even to a paralyzed man. Or maybe the crowd outside is fighting for a better spot that they don’t even notice these four men carrying the paralytic. We don’t know but we can use some imaginative questioning to get a sense of what the situation might have been.
But whatever it looked like, this was a problem. They can’t get to Jesus, and they need to get to him!
These men are so determined that they make an opening through the roof. Those in the room with Jesus, must have been confused. They have no where to run because of the crowd and now something or someone is trying to make a hole in the celling. We don’t know what the response of those witnessing was, but what we can conclude is that these men, where determined to get the paralytic to Jesus.
What would cause these friends to act this way? To break the roof of someone else’s home to get to Jesus? Did they have other options? They could have waited in line. They could have shouted from the outside hoping Jesus would hear them, they could have camped outside and wait until the crowd went home. NO, these men were determined to get to Jesus. Why? We can only conclude that the situation was desperate one and their only hope was for Jesus to perform one of His miracles. We don’t know if these men had witnessed any of the miracles of Jesus before, or if they had just heard of them by word of mouth. But nothing was going to stop them from getting to Jesus.
Is this our posture when we receive hard news? Is this our response when we face hardship? Do we run from Jesus, or do we RUN to Him, kicking down doors and all. If you know that our Savior is ABLE to heal, to save, to restore, then may we also be like these four men, make way even when there isn’t a clear path to get to Jesus.
What does it look like to run to Jesus? Running to Jesus can look like prayer. Constant prayer where you admit your inability to solve the situation. You admit that you think you know what must occur, but you surrender it to him. Prayer where you admit that your knowledge is limited and His ways are higher than your, and His will is always good. You pray for strength for however He chooses to act. When we run to Jesus in the midst of calamity, we make our request known but we surrender the outcome and ask for strength from Him. That’s what running to Jesus looks like.
Running to Jesus is also running to His word. In the Bible we find words of comfort for the hurting. Verses like Psalm 27:10
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Or when you are struggling with feelings of disappointment go to the Scriptures for the right perspective. 2 Cor 5:16-18
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
We have a new standing before God as His children, we do not need approval of man, we need reminding of who we are in Christ.
Now, I’m not saying that running to Jesus means just picking verses we like for our situation. We need to have an understanding of Scripture to know the correct interpretation of these verses, but my point is that these words from God do bring comfort, healing, reproof, correction, and restoration to us.
This is what it means for us to run to Jesus, we run to Him through prayer and by searching His word for truth and right perspective on our situations. Coming to Church alone is not running to Jesus, but when we gather, we do corporately run to Jesus, as we worship together, as we renew our minds with His truth, and as we pray together.
Maybe you are facing something today and need to run to Jesus, you are in the right place, because we all are in need of running to Him.
THE SURPRISE OF FORGIVENESS OF SIN (5-11)
THE SURPRISE OF FORGIVENESS OF SIN (5-11)
Surprise of the Paralytic and His friends
Surprise of the Paralytic and His friends
Coming back to our scene in Mark. The paralytic is now laying on the ground before Jesus. He has arrived, these four men knew that if anyone could heal this man, it was Jesus. Picture the moment between verse 4 and 5. Perhaps a sense of hope overcame the four men who had to haul the paralytic onto the roof and then somehow make a hole and then safely bring the man down. We can imagine a sense of accomplishment that they did right by the paralytic, they have brought him to Jesus who has the power to heal him. Perhaps even a sense of pride when you think of the obstacles they had to overcome to get him to Jesus on that day. They have brought their sick friend to the healer.
Now read verse 5 with me. Mark 2:5
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
What? Forgiveness? They didn’t carry this man all this way, they didn’t climb walls, make a hole in a strangers roof for forgiveness. This is the first part of “The Surprise of Forgiveness of Sin.”
We could feel the surprise of everyone from these words. First, we could imagine the surprise of the friends and the paralytic. It’s obvious to everyone that the reason these four men where bringing the paralytic to Jesus was not for forgiveness of sins, it was for healing. So we have to wonder, was Jesus just misreading the room? Did he think that’s what they came for? Or is there something else?
Before we go further, I want to ask you. How would you respond if you brought your situation, your crisis to God and He said to you, “your sins are forgiven.” Is that enough for you? Do you have a clear understanding of your need for forgiveness to view those words as more than enough? For us, those words ought to be everything to us. To understand that we are unable to save ourselves and we are at His mercy. That only through Him offering us forgivesness are we allowed into the future hope of heaven, to transfer us out of the domain of darkness, into the Kingdom, we are at His mercy. With that understanding, those words, “your sins are forgiven” ought to mean everything to us. Those words are more than enough to us. For those who didn’t recognized Jesus as the Christ, these words don’t mean much at all, but for those of us who believe, they mean everything.
Surprise of the Scribes
Surprise of the Scribes
These were the words of Jesus to the paralytic, and it is worth noting that up to this point in Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus teaching, and performing miracles, and casting out demons, but this is the first time Jesus forgives someone’s sins in Mark’s Gospel. So not only was it a surprise to the 5 men who came to Jesus, but a group of people who were present were also surprised.
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
The Scribes were also surprised, and rightly so. They ought to be surprised because Jesus has not really openly revealed himself as the Christ, so for most people, they probably think He is some kind of prophet. So they are right in saying that only God can forgive sins. Isaiah 43:25 tells us that it is God who forgives sins.
25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
This is God speaking and the repetition of this verse communicates to us that God only God himself can blot out our transgressions and not remember our sins any longer. He forgives in way that we aren’t able to. When God forgives, it is done and forgotten. Oh that we could be this way, but this is a distinction between us and God.
This is why this statement is so striking. If Jesus were not God he would be blaspheming. A mere man would not only be unable to forgive like God does, Jesus was not forgiving the paralytic for a wrong he had done toward Jesus. No, what Jesus is doing is using the opportunity to share something He hasn’t publicly shared yet. We see some of Jesus’ divine attributes in the following verses. Where Jesus perceives what the Scribes were questioning WITHIN THEMSELVES. In this scene Mark makes it clear that the Scribes hadn’t said anything out loud. They were only thinking about what Jesus said but Jesus being the God-Man knew what they were thinking and responds before they ask and say anything.
Look at what Jesus says Mark 2:8-11
8 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? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Jesus in his response is showing His divine abilities. He knew the thoughts of the Scribes. What a shock would that have been for the Scribes to think that Jesus knew what they were thinking. He responds to their doubt by upping the stakes. He asks them, what’s easier to say. Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or for the paralytic to stand up and walk. This is a hard questions because for man, both are impossible! If we are talking about the kind of forgiveness that is from God, we are unable to grant that forgiveness. So Jesus here is saying that for mankind, both healing this man and granting forgiveness on behalf of God are equally impossible. The Scribes couldn’t do it. No one could!
Jesus answers his own question by essentially saying He will do both. He says that He will heal this man so that they might know that “the Son of Man” has authority to forgive sins. Who is the Son of Man? We know that this title is in reference to Jesus but where did the title “Son of Man” come from? In Mark 1:1 we see Jesus being called the Son of God, but why is Jesus giving himself the title of “Son of Man”?
To understand this we need to look back to the Old Testament. In Daniel 7:13-14
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
In Daniel’s vision we have the appearance of the Son of Man. This Son of Man came to the “Ancient of Days” which is God the Father and then we see the Son of Man described as one who has dominion, glory, and kingdom of all peoples. Neither his dominion, glory, nor his Kingdom will have an end, they are everlasting. Daniel’s vision alone does not tell us who is this Son of Man, but Jesus tells us, He is the Son of Man. He has received dominion, He has all the glory, and His reign is everlasting.
Jesus is the Son of Man, and now look closely at Mark 2. What does Jesus have dominion over? He is demonstrating that He has dominion over the physical realm and the spiritual realm. Dominion over the physical is demonstrated by healing the paralytic. He has that authority over the earthly and material, AND over the spiritual realm. He has authority to cast out evil spiritual beings, like the demons, and the authority to forgive sins. This is who Jesus is. He is declaring himself to be the God-Man who can reverse the consequences of the Fall. Can you see that? The consequences of the Fall had effects in the physical realm, by ushering in death, and in the spiritual realm, by bringing spiritual death through separation from God. Jesus is showing that He can reverse those devastating consequences from the curse of Sin.
Listen Church, Jesus is the son of God, He is the Son of Man, who has all authority in the spiritual and physical realms. He is the one who can forgive sins. He is the one who keeps the saints until the day of judgement. He is the one who died for your sins. He is the one who stands as our mediator and advocate before the Father to declare us righteous. He is the one who gives us a future hope of Heaven and hope for the day to day. He is the one who has bought you out of darkness, and into His kingdom. He is the one who we will one day see face to face. He is the one who will one day return for His Church at the day of judgement.
Church this is who we serve, why do we turn to anyone else, anything else than to Him in our time of need. Is He not worthy of our adoration, our lives, our service? His power and dominion are so vast that there is no addiction, no habitual sin, no evil that you have done, that He cannot forgive and handle. If this is who He is, then we in our desperation ought to be figuratively speaking making holes in the celling to get to Him! When we run to Him with full assurance of who He is and His dominion, glory, and kingdom. We will find rest! We will find assurance!
What did the paralytic find? He left there forgiven and healed. Jesus used him as an illustration for those present and for us today, to reveal to us that He is in fact the Son of Man, the Christ who was prophesied to come to redeem His people.
THE SURPRISED RESPONSE (12)
THE SURPRISED RESPONSE (12)
Jesus speaks to the paralytic to stand, pick up their bed, and go home. Because Jesus spoke it, it was so. What was the response of those who witnessed this event? They were amazed, and they worshipped God. Pay close attention to how they worshipped God. It says that they worshipped God by saying, “we never saw anything like this!” Those who witnessed this walked away praising God for what they had just seen. What would you say about their reaction? Was it the right reaction? Well, it certainly isn’t a bad reaction to glorify God for what they had seen Jesus just do. But wouldn’t you expect a different kind of praise? Instead of marveling at what they saw, what if they worshipped because of the Son of Man is here! The Christ is here! But that’s not what they are praising God for. I think Mark is indicating to us that they left there still ignorant of who Jesus is.
How do you respond to who Jesus is? How do you respond when God answers your prayers? I recently heard the president of Midwestern Seminary share about how 10 years ago he came on as president and stepped into a situation where they didn’t know if they were going to have enough funds to pay everyone’s salary. Ten years later under his leadership, they are now the fastest growing seminary in the country. In his talk, I was amazed at how many times he credited God for His guidance, for His deliverance, for His provision. I believe people left that presentation not admiring the acts of God but worshipping the God who provides.
The opposite happened in our text. These people in our text were amazed at the activity, but missed the point. Their worship was rooted in the activity of Jesus, not in the identity of Jesus.
How do you respond when you witness the power of God? Will you respond in amazement to what has occurred, or will you respond in amazement of who God is?!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
As we conclude there is something in this text that I want to go back and point to from this text. We said that Jesus has authority over the physical and the spiritual realm. We have concluded that there is no other place for us to run to than to Jesus with our need.
In our Life Groups we are walking through this series called “Gospel Fluency” and the premise is that the truth of the Gospel is not only something that gives us a future hope, but rather it is something that can be enjoyed today. The Gospel is meant to be spoken into the everyday things of life. Dealing with death of a family member, the Gospel speaks into that. Dealing with depression, the Gospel speaks into that. Dealing with fear of the unknown, the Gospel speaks into that. Dealing with a sense of failure, or discontentment, the Gospel speaks into that. For those of you who are in the study, you might find this exercise to be new to you, but what a neat opportunity we have to develop this skills as a church family.
Just as a personal example of what this looks like. I have been in this role as Associate Pastor for about 10 months now, I have moments of feeling inadequate, or struggle with imposter syndrome. In those moments I go to Jesus and find His words bring me security. I felt this assurance in preparing my sermon two weeks ago when we saw Jesus calling his first disciples.
He will make them fishers of men. That’s all I am doing, I am following my savior into the unknown and trusting Him to do the work. I’m trusting Him to transform me into a useful servant. This thinking moves my attention from what I need (skills, habits, etc…) to be a better pastor, or a better husband, or a better father. It moves my attention from there to a complete reliance on Him. I don’t have any magic words to speak into anyone’s life, I point people to the one who has the words of everlasting life. I am trusting Him to do the work as I point my children and my family to Him. I’m trusting Him to do the work as I point people to Him. You see, the Gospel brings us clarity as to who we are, our standing before God, and how that truth informs how we live. That’s Gospel Fluency.
If you aren’t in a Life Group, although they have already started, it’s not too late to join. Talk to me out in the lobby if you are interested or you can still find some groups with availability to sign-up via our website.
Or if you are dealing with something and just don’t know how to speak Gospel into it, come talk to me or pastor Tim. We would count it an honor to walk with you and help you see how the truths of Scripture can speak into every situation.
When we turn to the Gospel, when we go to Jesus, we will find rest and assurance. As our worship team comes back to lead us in a song of response, let us respond in worship to the full understanding of who Jesus is. Let us stand and sing to our Lord.