Mark 2:1-12
Who Do You Say that I Am • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
As we head into chapter 2 of Mark, we really see oppostion to the Kingdom of God that had come among them.
The powers that be did not like the new power that came. The reing of God was evident in chapter 1 but it is really going to start messing with peoples perceptions real fast. The way Mark records this next segment of His gospel is brilliant. The next 5 stories that Mark tells about Jesus are have one thing in common. Controversy over authority. These next 5 stories more than likely didn’t happen one after the other like the events in chapter 1 did. Remember that one very long day in the life of Jesus that started in the synagogue and ended in a private home and then continued on early into the next morning as He went out to a desolate place to pray to His Father only to be sought after by the whole town! That is not what Mark does with the next 5 stories…they aren’t consecutive but they are connected in theme. They center on intrucious.
There was a new way of doing things o deal with as it relates to a whole host of things regarding the way a Holy God was going to relate with sinful man.
INtruding the counterfeit kingdom and
Invasion that will leave the counterfit kingdom in shamlbes.
Sin, sinners, Forgiveness,
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
The Messianic Mission to
Each of these next 5 stories will end with a question that Jesus will respond too authoritiatively.
He is showing that the Kingdom of God had arrived in His arrival.
1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 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.
3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 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.
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
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?”
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.”
12 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!”
Pray
I know I say, “wow” a lot and “amazing.” I just can’t help it. Maybe I will get better words in the new year to describe my feelings about what I am privileged to read and study and then present, but until then…wow…and amazing will have to do.
You need to be gripped by this passage, because it is going to show you exactly who has authority to forgive sins and it will be shown to you in an undeniable and completely convincing way!
Last week we say, Jesus breaks cultural norms to heal the leper by touching him, in this story we see people breaking cultural norms to get to the object of their faith. They tear a whole in the roof!
We are going to see in this story that faith without works is dead. We took a long time to go through the epistle of James late last year and early into this one to make sure that we all understood that our “Knowing must become Doing” that our faith needed legs, that faith always works. The men we read about today took those messages to heart as they worked really hard to get to the object of their faith by tearing a whole in a roof.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “If it were illegal to be a Christian would there be enough evidence in your life to convict you?”
That is a very penetrating, thought provoking question. We should probably think about it often. But if these guys were presented before a judge and jury and asked that question, they would say, “ya just the other day we tore a whole in a roof!”
Man if the Christian life was alway as easy as “Demo Day” on Fixer Upper, I would be set! Wouldn’t that be fun…we all just walking around with sawzalls, crowbars and sledghammers tearing wholes in things? Just smashing things left and right and when we were asked why, we said that we were just trying to keep in step with the Spirit!
These guys have enough evidence to prove their faith in the Messiah! There is an impromptu skylight to prove it. How about you? What barriers are standing between you and the object of your faith that needs to be demolished for you to be closer to His healing power? That may be a question that would be good for you to mole over for a bit.
We have already read the story and I think we all would agree that there is a happy end to the story, but have you ever thought about the guy whose roof was just comprimised…talk about intrusion.
The Kingdom of God had broken into the world, and this guys house was broken into as well.
So whose house was it? Have you ever thougth about that? I don’t know if I had given it much thought before until I was forced to sit down and really look at this text this week and what I think I discovered is, guess way, amazing!
I would say, “potentially amazing,” because I can’t say that I can say this with 100% certantily, but more than likely, as I read and study the context and the spefici words used, I am lead to believe that this was Jesus own house that would be Exhibit A if these men’s faith was ever put on trial. I think the house were this took place, potentially was Jesus “home.”
Let’s walk through the story.
Mark 2:1–2 (ESV)
1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 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.
As this story opens Jesus is speaking and the crowds are so large there it was not even standing room only. The local fire codes were being violated! The comment not even at the door indicates that there was probably a crowd even outside.
It was reported that He was at home.
Where had he been? Out…
45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
THIS WAS PROBABLY JESUS HOME -
This dawned on me for the first time in my Christian life.
27 years of reading the Scriptures - really good chance this was the home of jesus.
Oikos - house - dwelling (122 times in NT - 61 of the 122 - house / 22 family house / 21 - home.
Home for Christmas break - they can mean that they are back from college (Eli) but where are the staying? end of Jackman road. Good to see you…
do you ever get bothered at home (Chicago - o you probably get bothered all the time) - less than you are imaginigne, but i never really found it a bother…
how aobut you? … willing to do ministry in your home?
Gospel comes with a house key.
“Radically ordinary hospitality is this: using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God.” ― Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World
“We introverts miss out on great blessings when we excuse ourselves from practicing hospitality because it exhausts us. I often find people exhausting. But over the years I have learned how to pace myself, how to prepare for the private time necessary to recharge, and how to grow in discomfort. Knowing your personality and your sensitivities does not excuse you from ministry. It means that you need to prepare for it differently than others might.”
He is preaching word to him and he is not in the office. This wasn’t his regular schedule meeting time or meeting place. But he was always prepared to give a reason for the hope that he was bringing into the world.
Letting your home be torn apart so that others can experience the healing they need.
When he said your sins are forgiven it might have been in refernce to the sin of tearing a whole in the Jesus roof.
The scene is set and the Mark continues the story with a massive lack of detail and understatement.
Mark 2:3–4 (ESV)
3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 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.
Who are these people? What we see taking place here shouldn’t be normal, but Mark just simply tells the story. He wants to save the abnormal drama for later. One commentator says...
Mark (A. Jesus Is Lord over Sin and Sickness (2:1–12)) - The houses were low, usually with an outside stairway to reach the roof. The roofs were tiled and covered with thatch. The four men had to drag the cot up the stairs, tear up the tiles, and dig through the thatch. The hole would have to be large enough to get the cot through. Add to this the annoyance of the people below. Debris would be falling on them as they tried to listen to the words of Jesus. A further complicating matter would be the damage to someone else’s property.
it is one thing to be inconvinenced at home, but it is another one if they destory the place.
Hospitatlity. it isnt’ the first time.
you might get stain on the carpet. you might have a broken plate or two.
You water and electric bill might go up.
This man was being carried like a offering would be carreid to the temple. He was being offered tehre (ROm. 12:1-2)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
All of this and Mark just says, “they removed the roof” as if this is something that was normal being done! The means of getting into the building was completely abnormal, but Mark doesn’t make a big deal about that, what he actually makes a big deal about is the abnormality of the quality of the faith that these men possessed. Mark says,
Mark 2:5 (ESV)
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
The Christian F words.
What did Jesus see. Faith -
How do you see faith? Heb. 11) - Faith as represented in OT
FAITH AND FORGIVENESS
This is a desperation type of faith. There is no barrier that would keep these men from seeing Jesus. All these men, not just those carrying the man, but the man on the mat himself were demonstrating faith in Jesus’ ability to bring about a much needed healing.
And to everyone surprise, Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
What? Everyone in that room must have gasped because the pronouncement that was pouring out of the mouth of Jesus in that moment sounded a lot like 7 time repeated phrase we find in Leviticus
“So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
The man didn’t come to get sins forgiven, he clearly needs a physical healing Jesus. This shocking statement was met with criticism.
When we express faith we get forgiveness.
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?”
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?
Well we are questioning them because what you are saying is blasphemous and shocking and completely out of line and unverifiable. How can we tell if his sin are forgiven? That’s why!
But Jesus kept His wits about Him and avoids being indicted by the religious authorities by asking a question to the religious leaders that wouldn’t leave him open to the charge of blasphemy.
To them He says...
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
Well it is easy to mutter a few words “your sins are forgiven.” Anyone can say that. There are consequence to saying something like that, but to actually accomplish the removal of someones sins proved to be rather difficult and impossible…just ask the messy, bloody OT priests who worked so hard just to cover sin and not completely remove them and how can you verify sins being taken away?
It is also rather easy too say, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” But can you actually pull it off? To say this was one thing, to actually do it was another.
But, if Jesus could actually perform this bodily miracle in front of the massive crowd of onlookers, then He would be claiming to possess the authority to perform the spiritual miracle as well without actually saying what the religious leaders would say was “blasphemy.”
With all this in mind, Jesus continues to speak and says...
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
“Son of Man” title gives an allusion to Daniel 7. The title had “overtones of both humanity and deity.” By using it, Jesus forced those in the crowd to a point of decision. Who is this man? Is Jesus just a man, or was He “the Man” that was Promised to come?You decide.
And to help you decide this is what Jesus says...
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.”
And to further help you decide what to think about Jesus, this is what the paralyzed man does.
Mark 2:12 (ESV)
12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, ...
And this is how that crowd of onlookers responded.
Mark 2:12 (ESV)
12 ...they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
They were “amazed” and “glorified” God. And Mark uses some creative writing to get his point across here. The Greek really puts a heavy emphasis on “never saw anything like this.” In our modern vernacular it would be, “we have never, never ever, under any circumstances ever, witnessed anything ever remotely close to what we have just witnessed.” We are amazed and God is to be praised because we think He is standing right here before us saying things and implying things like the OT priest of old merely eluded too.
Unlike the OT priests, Jesus made it clear that He is pronouncing divine forgiveness by his own authority, therefore He Himself was divine. And that is hard to dispute when the man who was once laying on a mat and was lowered from the ceiling, takes up that mat and walks out the front door to walk in a way that he was never able to walk before.
What is Faith
What is Forgiveness- by passing the temple - because Jesus was the new one.
What is Son of Man
Jesus the new Temple
What is Blasphemy