Jesus and the Paralytic
Text: Mark 2:1-12
Core Idea: The greatest need for the paralytic wasn’t the restoration of his body, but the rebirth, revival, renewal of his heart. As the Savior King, Jesus alone makes this possible through the forgiveness of our sins. Then come to Jesus with determination because He alone is the answer to our soul’s deepest longing.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. Hope everyone’s doing well. I can only imagine how difficult this season may be for all of us here today. Parents, how are you doing? Are you alive? Are you able to get your work done? How’s your marriage? Is your love for your spouse deepening during this time? Singles, how are you holding up? Are you able to find community during this time? Are you frustrated by the restriction? Are you antsy, anxious because it feels like your plans and dreams are being pushed back? Children and youths, how’s virtual school? Are you stressed by all these uncertainties and unknowns? You see, no matter where you are in your life journey, the situation we find ourselves in right now must be difficult to say the least. Now, if you’re following our Bible reading plan, you should be reading through Genesis 50 today. And here, we read that when Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers were distressed that Joseph would hold a grudge against all the wrongs they did to him. But as a way to assure them, we read these beautiful words from Joseph in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Church, God is not only sovereign in this season, He is also very good. Even though it may be hard for us to see it, God will use everything that’s happening right now to accomplish His will. Then let’s anchor ourselves to Him so that we won’t be tossed by the storms of this life – and let’s not forget to encourage each other, pray for the community because we need one another to navigate through this. Let’s be a blessing to someone this week.
We’ve been steadily, slowly going through the Gospel of Mark. As we continue this journey, it’s crucial for us to remember that Mark’s main goal was to show his readers the real Jesus. He wanted us to learn Jesus – learn about Jesus, learn from Jesus, and learn to be like Jesus. This is important to note because it’s so easy for us to get lost in the sea of stories that we’ll be reading together. Then here are some questions that will help you engage with the text better: “Who is Jesus? What does He do? What does He say? What do those mean? What’s His heart’s desire? What makes Him happy or angry? What breaks His heart? How does He relate to others? Why did He come?” and so on. Keep your questions revolving around the person of Jesus. But at the same time, begin to ask questions about you in relation to Jesus: “What does that mean for me today – in my marriage, singleness, or parenting; at my work or school; in the way I deal with my stress or problems; in the way I spend my leisure time; in the way I view or use money; in the way I treat others around me; in the way I react to certain situations; in the way I deal with sins? How can I grow or change to become more like Jesus? What does He want me to know?” and the list can go on. All this to say, don’t just passively listen as I preach. Be active; have an internal dialogue with your soul. Let the Word speak to you as you wrestle with the truth.
Last week, we saw that Jesus not only had the power to heal leprosy, but He also had this gracious heart to bring complete restoration – emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Today, we’ll see that Jesus’ healing doesn’t just go wide – touching all aspects of our lives, but it also goes deep. He wants to ultimately bring healing that all of us truly, desperately need. Then let’s turn to our passage for today to find out what I mean by this. So, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 2:1-12. Let me read this for us.
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus knew in His spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and He said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
I want to point out three things from this story:
THE DETERMINATION
THE RESPONSE
THE HEALING
1) THE DETERMINATION (V. 1-4)
Let’s look at verse 1. Mark tells us that a few days after the encounter with the leper, Jesus came back to Capernaum. And the word quickly went out that Jesus was back – and a large crowd gathered once again so that there was absolutely no room to get in or out of the house. Verse 3. Imagine this scene with me. These four men must have heard that Jesus was a healer – that He is able to heal diseases that were thought to be incurable. So, they quickly help their paralytic friend (and I’ll assume that they’re friends because of the lengths they’ll go to help him) and carry him to the house where Jesus was staying – only to realize that they were late because the place was already packed. They tried asking people to make a room for them to go through, but no one would budge. Now, even though there was no way of getting in, it’s interesting to see that they didn’t give up. They didn’t say, “I’m sorry, brother – we tried. Better luck next time.” No, they were determined. So, one of them must have suggested, “Let’s go through the roof – we’ll make a hole, and we can let him down to Jesus.” To which one of them said, “Umm… we don’t have any proper tools with us – are we going to dig with our hands?” And the friend who suggested this idea might have said, “Don’t worry; we’ll find something.” Maybe someone else might have said, “We’ll probably have to pay for it.” And that one friend might have responded, “We’ll figure that out later. What’s important is that we get him to Jesus. Only if He can heal our friend, anything is worth it.” So, they climbed the roof and started making a hole big enough to let their friend down. And as you can imagine, this couldn’t have been an easy job. It must have been physically taxing. People there must have told them to stop – that they were disturbing Jesus from teaching. Maybe Jesus Himself tried to ignore the distraction until it became impossible to do so. Then they saw a mat coming down slowly and on it was a paralyzed man, desperately looking to Jesus to do something for him. At this moment, I wonder if it was quiet in the house – all waiting to see what Jesus would say, what Jesus would do.
Now, what in the world would motivate these four friends and the paralytic to be this desperate, determined? What would cause them to be so radical just to get to Jesus? Well, one thing’s for sure: this man must have been in deep suffering. Who knows how long he hasn’t been able to walk? Who knows how long he has been wanting to get up? Who knows if his physical condition caused tremendous emotional stress and mental disorder? And the friends must have known about this, which would explain why they were incredibly determined – “Only if he could be healed, everything will be better.”
But it couldn’t have been just because of his suffering – they were so radically determined because of their faith in Jesus Christ. They were convinced that Jesus was the only way. They must have thought that their friend would have no hope unless they got him to Jesus. Look at verse 5. Jesus saw their faith – not just the paralytic’s faith, but their faith. And Jesus responded to their faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” This verse reminds us that faith is always action – it draws you to come to Jesus; it causes you to earnestly seek Him. Faith will not just change the way you think; faith will always change the way you act, just like these four friends and the paralytic. And even more so, they teach us that faith doesn’t give up in the face of difficulties, obstacles. Faith doesn’t quit because things become hard or unexpected things happen. Faith perseveres, which is why these four friends weren’t going to let anything stop them. Brothers and sisters, is this kind of faith evident in your life today? This is my prayer for you – that all of us will continue to believe that Jesus alone is the source of our joy, peace, strength, wisdom, and hope no matter how difficult and challenging it may be to believe that right now. And that you wouldn’t just believe, but that this faith in Christ will bring transformation in the way you treat your spouse and children, the way you deal with temptations, the way you view and treat yourself and others, the way you work or study, the way you respond to the people who annoy or provoke you – all because you have put your faith in Christ.
Now, if you feel like your faith is weak, that’s okay – but be part of a community of believers. This is where your faith will be strengthened. I think that’s what happened to the paralytic. You see, he must have been discouraged – he probably saw his friends begging people to let them through. But when he saw that they were rejected, the paralytic must have been ready to give up. But then his friends decided to do something crazy. And seeing his friends sweating, giving their all to make a hole on the roof just for him must have encouraged him, strengthened his faith as well – to believe that maybe it is possible, to believe that “maybe I’ll really see Jesus today.” Then I pray that our church would be this kind of community. Brothers and sisters, let us be more intentional in breathing life in one another’s lives. You might be needed to sustain the faith of someone around you. Someone may be desperately needing a friend like you who will be determined to go the distance so that they don’t give up. It’s so much easier to be self-focused in this season; but let us be countercultural and think of others. So, reach out to someone this week – and don’t just say that you’ll pray for them; offer to pray on the spot – let them hear your prayers. Cook them something or send them a gift card for food so that they don’t have to worry about that. Encourage them with the truth that you’ve been meditating on. Or you could simply tell them that they’re not forgotten – that you’re standing with them. Let’s do this so that those who feel weak in our community may be strengthened in their faith. If you feel like you’re forgotten and that you have no one in your life, please reach out to me, and I’ll connect you to those who would be more than happy to be involved in your life.
One more application. I pray that we would be more like this with the unbelievers God has placed in our lives. If we’re honest, we give up too easily. At the sight of their slightest discomfort, we quickly pull back – thinking that this is not for them, or this may not be the right time. But this passage is challenging us to ask ourselves, “Do I truly believe that Jesus alone is who these people need in their lives? Do I really believe that it’s Jesus or nothing?” We need faith like this in our church for the lost. Then think about the people in your life who are not yet believers. Let us be more persistent, determined. I don’t mean to pester them. But let’s not give up so easily, let’s not settle down thinking that “I’ve done enough; maybe someone else will lead them to Christ.” Let us continue to pursue them, pray for them, love them, so that we could one day bring them to Christ.
2) THE RESPONSE (V. 5)
When the mat came down, some of the people there must have thought, “Finally, we get to see a miracle.” That’s probably what the paralytic and his friends were hoping for – this was the very reason they went through all that trouble. But it seemed like Jesus was on a completely different page from everyone else because this is what He said in verse 5: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” I can’t help but to question what the paralytic and his friends were thinking hearing this. Maybe they were confused (“Wait, did I hear Him right?”), frustrated (“Is He being serious right now? All that work for this?”), or even defeated, crushed (“Well, maybe He can’t heal paralysis – I guess it was worth trying.”).
Everyone must have thought that Jesus was going to give the man what he needed the most – and they were right; the only thing was that what they thought this paralytic needed the most wasn’t what Jesus thought this man needed the most. Everyone must have thought that the greatest problem in this paralytic’s life was his circumstance. “Only if Jesus can heal me, everything will be okay. My life would be complete.” You know, I wonder if this is how we come to Jesus time to time: “If only I had this job, if only I could marry this person, if only I can look like him or her, if only I had more money, if only I can earn this person’s approval, my life would be good.” Friends, what’s one thing that you think you can have that will change your life? Whatever that thing is, Jesus will tell you that there’s something deeper – that in fact, the greatest problem in our lives isn’t our circumstances or the people in our lives, it’s not even our suffering – it’s the sin in our hearts, because it’s our sin that separated us from God. In other words, our greatest need is to be forgiven of our sins. Pastor David Platt says, “This man’s ultimate need was not healing from God, but holiness before God. This is the ultimate need in all our lives. Our ultimate need is never physical; our ultimate need is always spiritual.” We must recognize that whatever we think we need, if not Christ, even if we obtain it somehow, will always bring us back to the place of discontentment. We’ll continue to want more. We’ll still be insecure, fearful – unless we invite Jesus to go deeper.
Now, I want to add that Jesus does have power to give us what we desire – we see this when Jesus heals the man at the end. But the order is very important. If healing comes first, Jesus is really just a means to an end – you’re essentially using Him. But if forgiveness comes first, you choose to trust Him as the Savior of your soul that He will always do what’s best for you. If He gives, it’s a blessing to be enjoyed. If He takes away, you fight against your urge to doubt His love for you while clinging to Him even more. In Christ, your perspective on life radically transforms. Pastor Tim Keller said, “It wasn’t our deepest wish itself that was the problem, just as it wasn’t wrong for the paralytic to want to walk. The fact that we thought getting our deepest wish would heal us, would save us – that was the problem. We had to let Jesus be our Savior.”
Friends, Jesus has the authority to forgive our sins – and this is the good news that we’ve been waiting for. This passage makes it clear that God hasn’t left us in a world of sin and suffering. God Himself came to be the answer to our greatest problem. One of the most amazing things about this story is that Jesus is firm, definite, almost assertive in the way He forgives this man. Even before he utters any word, Jesus forgives. This reminded me of the story of the prodigal son. If you recall, the second son took his portion of inheritance and left home only to squander everything. He was lonely and so poor that he had to eat what the pigs were eating. He knew that he brought this on himself but because the pain was unbearable, he decided to go back home. On his way home, he crafted a speech to ask for forgiveness – that his father would treat him like one of his hired men. Luke 15:20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Even before the son finished his speech, the father was ready to celebrate his son’s return because he had already forgiven him in his heart. Friends, I feel like some of you may need to hear this. I wonder if some of you feel like you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness because you just can’t forgive yourself or because you feel like you’ve been too far from Jesus for too long. If this is you, come to Jesus because even before you say anything, He sees your heart. And let me say this: it’s okay to “bother” Jesus, “interrupt” Him because you’re not. He has been waiting for you. So, come and hear Him say, “Son, daughter, your sins are forgiven.”
3) THE HEALING (V. 6-12)
Verse 6. “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” Here, the words that brought life to the paralytic created controversy with the religious leaders. The teachers of the law were incredibly offended by what Jesus said. You see, they knew that all sins were committed against God, which meant that only God had the authority to forgive sin. So, when Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sins, they thought Jesus was blaspheming – “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But that was the point. When Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven,” He was actually saying, “All the sins that you’ve committed have been against Me.” And with this, He was declaring that He was God Almighty, the Creator of all things, the Lord of the universe. No wonder they were furious. On a side note, we don’t have time to go into this but it’s amazing that Jesus knew this because He read their hearts.
So, knowing that this was what they were thinking, Jesus responded to them with a question. Verse 9, “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?” This is potentially a complex question because it has more than one answer. Here’s what I mean. First, both are easy for Jesus because He’s God. But the teachers of the law must have thought that anyone can merely say, “Your sins are forgiven,” but not anyone can heal, which means that they were questioning Jesus’ identity and power. So, in order to confront their doubt, He says in verse 10, “‘But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So He said to the man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.” Jesus heals to prove that He has the authority to forgive sin. He does what seems harder (healing, because you have to show for it) to prove that He can do what seems easier (forgive, because it’s hard to prove the effectiveness of forgiveness) – all to make a point to the teachers of the law. Now, this is what makes this question possibly complex: although both are easy for Jesus, both are also hard because of the cost involved in affecting them. Let me explain. You see, Jesus knew that if He healed this man, then He was validating His ability to forgive, which would give the teachers of the law the reason to kill Him. He knew that healing this man would bring persecution, suffering, and ultimately death. He knew that healing this man would be taking one step closer to the cross. But He did it anyway. At the same time, Jesus knew that forgiving this man would lead Him to the cross, because it’s only by His death that this man and all of us would be forgiven. On the cross, Jesus was nailed and bound so that we can be made free. On the cross, Jesus was forsaken so that we can be remembered. On the cross, He sees our ugliness, sins, hopelessness yet He prays for us, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus died for our sins. He knew that His decision to heal and forgive would ultimately lead Him to death – but He did it anyway. In other words, our forgiveness didn’t come cheap – it cost the very life of Jesus Christ.
Then let us never lose the wonder of our forgiveness, which we’re often tempted to do – we lose gravity in the way we confess and repent of our sins – worse, we don’t repent at all. In verse 12, we see that the people were amazed by what Jesus was able to do and they praised God. But there’s one thing you don’t see: no one asks for forgiveness. They just saw that Jesus was not only able to heal but also able to forgive sins, yet no one runs to Him for forgiveness. I pray that this will not be any of us – that we won’t walk away empty even after seeing Jesus for who He really is. Brothers and sisters, may we never lose the wonder of His mercy, His grace, because through Christ, we are reconciled to God.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, the greatest need for the paralytic wasn’t the restoration of his body, but the rebirth, revival, renewal of his heart. And as the Savior King, Jesus alone makes this possible through the forgiveness of our sins. Then come to Jesus with determination – let nothing stop us – because He alone is the answer to our soul’s deepest longing.
sermon questions
Jesus responds to their faith. What can you learn from the faith of the paralytic and his friends? What does it mean to live by faith today?
Jesus wants to forgive our sins. What can we do to never lose the wonder of His mercy and grace?
How can you be a blessing to someone this week?