02 | Gospel of Mark: The Greater Healing
Mark 2:1-22
The second chapter of Mark’s Gospel begins a string of four short narratives that shed some further light into the absolute authority that Jesus possesses as the Son of God. Already, he has amazed people with the authority in which he teaches, and the authority he exercises over evil spirits and physical sickness. But now, the authority he continues to claim for himself is about to hit a whole new level and intrude upon the conventional traditions and customs of the religious leaders during that time. In each of the next four narratives, Jesus does something that causes concern and sharp criticism from the religious leaders of the day. These four events lead to the following types of questions:
Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sins (2:1-12) — Who do you think you are?
Jesus calls a tax collector to join his inner circle (2:13-17) — Why would you associate with these people?
Jesus’ followers are not fasting (2:18-22) — Why should we take your ‘following’ seriously?
Jesus provides nourishment and healing on the Sabbath (2:23-3:6) — Why are you breaking the rules?
Again, Jesus forces us to get rid of our preconceived notions about what God is like and how God operates.
Getting to Jesus
The longest narrative in this particular section of Mark’s Gospel is the one in which Jesus heals a paralytic that is brought to him by four of the paralytic’s friends. Jesus was teaching at the house where he was staying in Capernaum, and a large crowd had filled the house blocking the entrance into the home. The four men carrying their paralytic friend were so desperate to get their friend to Jesus that they climbed on top of the roof and lowered their friend down through a hole that they had made. They were hoping Jesus would show compassion towards their friend and heal him.
An initial observation can be made at this point: Stagnant crowds can often be a hinderance for those truly seeking to come to Jesus. That statement may seem like a stretch from this particular passage, but typically throughout Mark’s Gospel, he paints the crowds in a negative light. Most often the crowds in Mark’s Gospel end up being an obstruction for those who truly want to get to Jesus. The people in the crowds often stand around and observe what Jesus is doing whereas the true people of faith always take some sort of action to get to Jesus.
This ought to lead us to consider our own relationship to Jesus?
Do we often find ourselves as one among the crowd on Sunday mornings or at other events? Or are we more like the four men in the story who are willing to stand out among the crowd to be with Jesus?
We can consider that a step further:
Are we content just getting people to join the Christian crowd or are we willing to go out of our way to get people to Jesus?
True faith is being willing to do whatever it takes to get to Jesus.
“Your Sins Are Forgiven”
So this man who was physically incapable of moving was lowered from the roof of this house down to the feet of Jesus. His friends went through all this effort and trouble to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus because they had heard of the miraculous healings that he had been performing, and they hoped he would do the same for their friend.
After going through all this trouble, everything stopped. This had obviously caused quite a scene. The crowd was silent with anticipation. Jesus looked at them, and then he looked down into the eyes of this physically disabled man laying on a mat. And then Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” By no means was this the expected response by anyone in that house! Imagine the confusion.
Coming before Jesus in faith almost always delivers more than a person bargains for. Jesus intentionally addresses this man’s sin before he addresses his suffering. A person’s sin is a much more urgent condition than his suffering. It is sin that is terminal. It is sin that will separate a person from God forever. Forgiveness of sin is an inner healing that we need way more than any other physical healing that Jesus may give us.
Almost always when we approach Jesus saying, “This is what I really want,” his response is “You need much more than that.” It was not wrong for this man or his friends to wish for his physical healing. It would have been wrong for them to think that physical healing would have been all that he needed to make his life complete.
This is foundational for our understanding of why we seek to bring others to Jesus in the first place. The world needs more from Jesus than physical healing — even though he is willing to heal people in this way.
Physical healing is without question within the ministry scope of Jesus, but for someone to experience any of these without the forgiveness of sin only ends up giving them a temporary form of healing that will result in an eternal condition that will be much worse than there earthly condition.
Everyone’s greatest need in life is the greater healing found first and foremost in the forgiveness of our sin.
“We Have Never Seen Anything Like This!”
Now, in saying, “Your sins are forgiven,” Jesus is claiming to be able to do something that only God can do. In saying this, he is claiming to be the one chiefly offended by the paralytic’s sin and therefore is putting himself into a position that belongs only to God. He is not being discreet about this all. Jesus is claiming to be equal with God in this moment. This was an extremely scandalous claim, and the religious leaders can barely stomach it.
Many of us are fine with Jesus as the great teacher or the great miracle worker. It is the Jesus who claims to be God that we have difficulties accepting.
The religious leaders say nothing out loud or amongst themselves, but in their hearts they are really bothered and troubled by what Jesus is claiming. Jesus directly addresses what they are thinking in their hearts. He goes on to say that the visible miracle of actually healing this man would certainly appear to be more difficult than the invisible miracle of claiming to be able to forgive him of his sins. Therefore, as a testimony to his authority to do the invisible miracle of forgiving sin, Jesus performs the visible miracle of healing the man physically. This blows everyone’s mind — “We never saw anything like this!”
The physical healing was secondary in this story. It was simply the evidence of a deeper more important healing that Jesus had the ability and the authority to perform in the hearts of all men.
This healing was obviously an intentional teaching moment in the ministry of Jesus. For the person who comes to Jesus in faith looking for relief and getting redemption in the process, the message is clear: You need much more from Jesus than you think you need. For the religious person among the crowd who admires Jesus’ message, compassion and way of life but is content with him as the great teacher and outstanding model in life, the message is clear: Jesus is much more than you think he is.
More Resources:
BibleProject Guide: The Book of Mark
King’s Cross by Timothy Keller