Mark 2:1-12 is the perfect teaching that demonstrates the purpose for healing and the physical ministry of Jesus. He is revealing His authority through the physical realm. If He wants to heal you, He will heal you. No problem. But I will tell you this, whatever the healing is, it will be temporary. Because if you should be healed by Jesus, you will still be dying. The body will continue its aging process.
Transcript
Well, today we begin Mark chapter 2, Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12. We are continuing in the first major section in Mark’s gospel, which goes from chapter 1 verse 14 through to the end of chapter 9 at verse 50, as Mark presents the servant in Galilee. Remember Mark is presenting Jesus Christ as the Suffering Servant come to serve people; not to set up His kingdom right now, but to serve. And so he is putting together for us a string of incidents where Christ is revealing Himself through His service to His people.
For today Mark chapter 2 verses 1-12, the curing of the paralytic. A paralytic just means paralyzed. (paralutikos) is the Greek word and just basically means someone who is paralyzed or lame, and cannot walk. It is a general term for someone who cannot move and is paralyzed.
The first four verses make up the circumstances surrounding this miracle that is about to take place. Verse 1 says, Again He entered into Capernaum after many days; and it was heard that He is in a house. So again He enters into Capernaum. He left Capernaum back in chapter 1 as it is recorded.
You remember the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law was in Peter’s home in Capernaum in chapter 1 verses 29 to 31. And then right after that the crowds begin to come for healing and for being delivered from demon possession in verses 32 to 34 of chapter 1. But then that night after ministering to the crowds, Jesus went out to be alone, and Simon Peter and the others went out to find Him and said, “Everyone is looking for You.” And He says in verse 38 of chapter 1, “We should go elsewhere into the next villages, in order that there also I might preach; for I have come out for this. And He was preaching in their synagogues into the whole Galilean region, and casting out the demons.” So they said, “The crowds are waiting to see You.” He says, “We have to leave.” Once the crowds begin to form, Jesus left. He performed His signs for them to see, for them to know who He is, and then tells the disciples, “We have to go into the next villages because this is the reason why I have been sent.”
Now, it is interesting that He has been ministering out in the villages and now it says in verse 1 of chapter 2, Again He entered into Capernaum. So He now comes back to Capernaum after leaving. It could be as long as six months before Jesus returns back to Capernaum. And again He entered into Capernaum after many days; like I said, it could be up to six months, if not more, and it was heard that He is in a house. You remember Peter’s home in Capernaum was where Jesus lived and stayed and where He made His headquarters there in Capernaum. So now Jesus has returned to Peter’s house, and word gets around that Jesus has now returned.
Verse 2, And immediately many were gathered together, so that they no longer had room, not even near the door; and He was speaking to them the Word. So He was sitting in Peter’s house ministering the Word. The word Word is the word (logos), which means it was His Word. We are not talking about the Old Testament here, we are talking about Christ ministering the things of Himself to the people. And there was such a crowd that had formed the people could not even get near the door if they wanted to, the crowds were so thick.
Verse 3, And they are coming to Him. So people are continually coming, but they are coming to Him bringing a paralytic, a paralyzed person, being carried by four men. So he is on a stretcher, or a cot, a portable bed, and four men are carrying him.
Verse 4, And not being able to come near to Him on account of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was, and having dug through they let down the bed upon which the paralytic was lying. So homes in those days had flat roofs. There was a stairway that went from the outside on the side of the house up to the roof, and many times the people would go up to pray or to sit and meditate up on the roof. Well, they came and the crowds were so thick around the door that they decided to go up this side stairway, up to the roof, plot out where Jesus was, where He was teaching, and they began to uncover the roof tiles in the house. And after they dug through the pitch that was underneath the tiles, they lowered the paralytic on his bed down in front of Jesus.
Now verse 5, and this is our focus of attention this morning, verse 5. There are two things that we want to mention that take place in verse 5. Let us read verse 5, And when Jesus saw their faith, He says to the paralytic, “Child, your sins have been forgiven you.” Interesting, notice the claim of Jesus here. Number one, it is when Jesus saw their faith. Interesting, not his faith, but their faith, collectively.
There is a false doctrine about faith that has been circulating within the churches of America and the world. The false doctrine says that you as a person have to produce the faith before God can bless your life. That is the false doctrine that says you must produce the faith for God to work in your life. This false doctrine in the body of Christ today is part of what is called The Man Centered Gospel. It is where all the promises of God, and all the Scriptures focus on man, not Christ. And they focus on Christ only to say Christ is the giver to us of all the power that we should want in order to make things happen the way we want them to turn out.
The definition of faith itself, faith means persuasion. We have studied this before, but it is interesting that this is the center point or one of the center points here in our text. Faith means persuasion. So if you are talking about The Man Centered Gospel, the false doctrine, they are telling you that you have to persuade yourself enough to get God to work in your life. If you are going to use faith for what it really means as a word, and say that it is centered on man to perform, then you are saying that you have to persuade yourself to get God to work. That is what faith is to The Man Centered Gospel. That is false.
But if you understand persuasion to be an act of God’s Spirit, Him persuading, then you have the correct teaching in Scripture. We see it from Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 that Jesus Christ is the author of faith, and the One who brings faith to its completion. It is His faith. Faith originates with Jesus Christ. That is Hebrews chapter chapter 12 verse 2.
And then in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 it says that faith is a fruit of God’s Spirit. So faith is produced by God’s Spirit, not man.
I Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 tells us that faith is given to others by the Holy Spirit.
Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verse 3, For I say, through the grace which has been given to me, to everyone being among you, not to think of himself above what is necessary to think, but to think sober-minded, as God has measured to each one a measure of faith. As God has measured faith, in other words, do not go beyond faith. They did not have a problem of lack of faith in the early church, they had a problem of going beyond faith and taking control in one’s own hands and in one’s own way. So we are told to go by the measure of faith that has been measured to us.
Now the Bible is very clear about what faith is. Faith is the word that describes God’s ministry to God’s people. It is the persuasion. When you are getting ministered to by God’s Spirit through His Word, you are being persuaded, you are being ministered to. When you are being guided by His Spirit as to the direction you are to go, you are being persuaded – at least looking for the persuasion of God’s Spirit as to what He would have us to do.
But then there are those who do not agree with this, who follow the false doctrine, the man centered doctrine, and say they disagree with it because the text says here in verse 5, When Jesus saw their faith. It does not say, when Jesus saw God’s faith, it says, when Jesus saw their faith.
Now what is interesting – here is why the technical points of the Greek language in which the New Testament was written in, is so important. The word their in their faith is what is called a personal pronoun, which basically says it is a designation of what belongs to them. If it was their faith meaning the faith that they produced, it would be a reciprocal pronoun, their faith. You cannot tell that in English, which is why people with the English text start getting off track. It is their faith, personal pronoun, the faith that belongs to them, that has been given to them; not the faith that they produced, which would line up with the false doctrine about faith.
So in summary, and this is my summary, this is the summary statement I have made about faith down through the years so you will not find this in Scripture, but it is a summary statement of all that is taught about the word faith. Faith is a word that describes the presence and activity of God’s Spirit in a person’s life. Faith is a word that describes the presence and the activity of God’s Spirit in a person’s life. You are of the faith.
In the book of Acts it says the early church were those who were of the faith, of the persuasion. They were under a certain persuasion that is different than anybody else had ever seen because it was the Holy Spirit that they were persuaded by. You are of the persuasion if you are of the faith if you have received Christ.
The word faith is where the word belief comes from. (pistis) is the word for faith, (pisteuo) is the word for belief. I am a believer because I am under the persuasion of God’s Spirit. That is what makes me a believer. It not because of my personal convictions, but because I am under His persuasion. I am the one being persuaded. Everything that He does in my life – even just His presence when it does not seem like He is doing anything or saying anything – just Him being there, I am under His persuasion.
The false gospel narrative will say, “You see, when God sees your faith He will work a miracle.” What the Scripture is really saying is when Jesus saw God working and bringing the paralytic with these four men, when He saw God’s Spirit work in their life, it was the persuasion that God gave them to carry that man and lower him down through the roof. It was the faith that was given to them for this particular occasion. They had evidences the God’s Spirit was bringing them, that God’s Spirit had arranged this whole episode. Jesus responds to faith; not the faith of the people, but the persuasion of His Spirit in people’s lives.
Look at the second thing in verse 5, When He saw their faith – the second thing is – He said, “Child, your sins have been forgiven you.” The word forgiven in Greek literally means to wipe away or to send away, as in Psalm 103 verse 12, As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Did you ever notice it never says, “From the north to the south?” Because the north and south have north and south poles. But east and west, there is no end to the east or west. No matter which way you go, as far as the east is from the west, that is how far He removes our transgressions from us.
Verses 6 and 7, the complaint of the crowd. Look at verse 6, Now some of the scribes were sitting, and reasoning in their hearts. So here is another group in the midst of the crowd, they are the scribes. They are the legal team among the religious Jews, both civil and religious. So some of the scribes said in themselves, this is privately, no one knew what they were thinking except Jesus. So the scribes said in themselves, “This Man is committing blasphemy.” Now blasphemy is the most serious charge you can ever make toward anybody against God, that He blasphemed God by forgiving this man his sins. Notice verse 7, “Why does this one speak blasphemies this way? Who is able to forgive sins except One and that is God?” So they said, “God is the only one who can forgive sins, why is this Man committing blasphemy by forgiving this man his sins?” So that is why they said He blasphemed; only God can forgive sins and this guy is going around forgiving people of their sins, that is blasphemy. He is being God. So certainly they knew that.
In Isaiah chapter 43 verse 25 it says, I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
In Micah chapter 7 verses 18 and 19, Who is like God unto You that pardoned iniquity and passes by transgressions of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, He will subdue our iniquities. You will cast off our sins into the depts of the sea. So certainly the Jewish leaders knew that it is God who forgives sins. They knew that from all these Scriptures plus many more from the Old Testament, called the Tanakh for the Jews.
Verses 8 and 9 the confrontation now between these two groups. And immediately Jesus having known in His spirit that they are reasoning this way in themselves, He said to them, “Why these things are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Thy sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed, and walk’?” So Jesus had known their thoughts in His Spirit. Do you know that Jesus knows our thoughts? Without even being spoken He knows what we are thinking, what we are dialoguing within ourselves. But He says, Which is easier to say? Not easier to do, but which is easier to say? Your sins have been forgiven you? Or rise, take up your bed, and walk? Anybody can say either one of those things. It is easy to say but not easy to backup. Anybody can go through the crowd saying, “Your sins be forgiven,” but if you say, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk,” to a paralyzed person, it has to happen for your words to be validated. So which is easier to say not easier to do? If have a lame man and you say to him rise up and walk, that is just not easy to say and backup with the words.
Look at the command in verses 10 and 11. “But in order that you might know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins upon the earth,” He says to the paralytic, “I say to you, Rise, take up your bed, and go into your house.”
Now the term Son of Man is a term from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 where God himself coming in human form to judge the world is called the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man. And Jesus loved to use that phrase concerning Himself. “In order that you might know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins upon the earth.” He says to the man, “Rise up, and take your bed, and go into your house.”
In verse 12, the conclusion. And he was raised up immediately, and after having taken up the bed, he went out before all; so that all were amazed, and were glorifying God, saying that, “Never did we see it this way before.” So the conclusion. But when the multitudes saw it they were amazed, and they glorified God.
And I have made statements in the past with my current health situation that I am in that I have had more chances to talk to people about what the Bible teaches about healing. God never promises healing for everybody. Did you know that? Never promises healing for everybody. I have had people say to me, “Well right there back in Matthew chapter 8 verse 17 it is a fulfillment that Jesus died on the cross. He bore our sicknesses and bore our infirmities so that we would not have to. He bore it on the cross.” I only have one response to that and it is logical, and reasonable, and scriptural. Not everybody is healed. That is a fact. Not everybody is healed. And everybody who becomes healed eventually gets sick and dies. Nobody is ever healed completely, ever. Even once you get healed you are not healed because you are dying. You are in the aging process, the decaying process.
Someone can come along and pray for me and say, “I want to pray for your healing that your cancer goes away.” Okay, cool, if that is what the Lord wants. But there is a problem. See, because once I am healed of my cancer I am still not healed because I am still dying. Someday I am going to get sick again or something else. Someday I am going to die. So you are not really doing me any favor other than maybe saving me some time. But that is not the point. Nobody is ever completely healed. Everybody that Jesus healed, eventually died. Everybody that Jesus raised from the dead, eventually died again. They are not here. So there has got to be something more to it than just – it is what I call the gospel of the preservation of the flesh. There has to be something more to it.
There are two reasons why God heals:
1) It would be for opportunity.
In other words, like Peter’s mother-in-law who had the fever, Jesus healed her and raised her up to serve. That was a temporary healing for the moment. The household was at a standstill and the head of the household in the serving department was sick and about ready to die from the fever. And Jesus healed her, and she got up and served immediately. Opportunity.
2) It is for the glory of God.
Not only the opportunity, but for the glory of God. And that is what is happening here. Jesus, through a physical demonstration of His authority, is showing people what His spiritual ministry is. Let me repeat that. Jesus, through a physical demonstration of His authority, is showing people what His spiritual ministry is.
But in order that you might know that the Son of Man has authority upon the earth to forgive sins. Not to heal sins but to forgive sins. Interesting. In order that you might know. So Jesus says, “I am going to give you a physical demonstration of that authority.” Jesus is answering the question, “Yes, only God can forgive sins; Yes, I am God.” Your sins have been forgiven you, take up your bed and go. So He is revealing through the physical realm His authority. This guy who is paralyzed one day got sick again and died. Do you know how I know that? He is not here. He is gone. Gone a long time ago. Somehow. He was not from death, he was not kept from other sicknesses. God used the physical realm to demonstrate His authority, to manifest His authority to nonbelievers. But sickness and death was still around.
Do I believe the Lord still heals today? Yes, I do. Do I want to see people healed? Do I want to see people relieved? If it is God’s will, yes. Have I seen people healed? Yes, I have. Has God ever used me as a vessel through which He healed other people? Yes, He has, many times.
Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12 is the perfect teaching that demonstrates the purpose for healing and the physical ministry of Jesus. If He wants to heal you, He will heal you, no problem. But I tell you this, whenever the healing is, it will be temporary because if you should be healed by Jesus you will still be dying. The body will continue its aging process and someday you will die. Everybody they ever pray for, everybody that ever seemingly does get healed, eventually gets sick and dies. And people do not know what to do about that, especially when you are so obsessed with trying to preserve human life, trying to keep it going. Be perfectly happy and healthy and wealthy and keep yourself from dying. There are people that work at keeping themselves from dying. It will not happen, it is not God’s plan.
We are to look inward where Christ dwells. Paul says in II Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, The outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day. That is what the Christian life is all about. We live in a dying body. We live in a dying world. And the only thing of substance is on the inside of us where Christ dwells. So Jesus came to forgive sins. And to prove that He had that ministry and that He is God, He used physical healing to demonstrate that authority that He possessed in the spirit realm. But He did not come to set up a healing ministry or to focus on the healing ministry. That is why He left town when the crowds began to gather around – is because He knew they were coming for more physical healing, and more deliverance, and He has already shown them once.
You remember John in John chapter 6, that we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, where Jesus said the twenty thousand people miraculously and then went across the sea. And the crowds came and followed Him. They took up boats and followed Him over across the sea. And they said, “Master, when did you come over here?” And Jesus said, “You do not follow Me because you saw the sign. You follow Me because your stomachs are filled.” You see, Jesus said, “I gave you a sign,” and He went on to explain, “I am the bread of life. From now on you must eat of My flesh and drink of My blood. You must feed on Me spiritually because of My crucifixion,” Jesus is saying. And the people were shocked.
Jesus would not perform any more miracles because His miracles were signs. He was not establishing Himself as one who preaches the gospel of the preservation of the flesh, spending all of His time healing people’s flesh and keeping them healed. He does not do that. Even now amongst the people who believe that, it does not happen. And they have no reason for it, other than the fact that “somebody does not have enough faith.” But even when they have enough faith, whatever that means to them, it does not perform miracles. It just does not happen.
There are testimonies of miracles happening. There are testimonies of miracles happening in churches that do not believe in healing at all, and God heals.
I saw a testimony online this week of someone who had their teeth knocked loose. And the dentist said they would have to be removed. They came back the next day for x-rays and they were completely healed. This is a family that does not believe that God heals in our day, “He did back then, but not now.” But they believe it now. God can heal without you even praying for healing. I have seen that happen.
Many of you know about Julie. She was in a mental hospital, and I went and visited there. I was visiting a man by the name of John. So as I came up to the front desk to check in, here came Julie. Now this mental hospital was a block long and a block wide – a huge place. They had a hallway that went all the way around the outside – it was inside the building but it was on the outside of the rooms. There was an eighteen year old girl by the name of Julie who did not talk, she just walked around the outside of this hallway, never talking to anybody, no one ever talking to her. Well, when I came to check in, I came to check in with the nurse, Julie was walking by behind me. And she comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me from behind. I was scared half to death. And the nurse looked around me and said, “Julie, let Reverend Klein go.” They thought she was going to hurt me. So they all ran around and got Julie. And I was turning around to see what had happened and Julie says that Jesus healed her. And so they kept her three more days to observe her, and for the doctors to check her out, before they released her to her parents and said, “We do not understand what happened, but she is now perfectly normal.”
Now, that is just one instance when God performed a miracle in my midst without me even soliciting a prayer, without me pronouncing any kind of formula. God just performed a miracle. He can heal when He wants to heal. And He has, and He will. But He will also not heal when He does not want to. And some people just cannot handle it because of the preservation of the flesh. Cannot let the flesh hurt. Cannot accept a God of love who once your flesh to hurt and does not want you healed. These are people who follow that false gospel, the gospel of the preservation of the flesh.
We will continue next week in Mark chapter 2. Let’s close with prayer.
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