Mark 2:1-12 - Jesus Heals A Paralytic

This is the first of five conflict stories that Mark puts together at the beginning of his Gospel in order to show us when and how the conflict arose between Jesus and the religious authorities--the conflict that would eventually culminate in his crucifixion. Remember that Mark is writing his Gospel at least in part to comfort a people who are experiencing opposition. He wants them to know that Jesus did also and he wants them to know why. In each of these five stories (pericopes) the opposition gets a little stronger, a little more determined. In the last of them we will see his opponents getting together and plotting his death.

If you're familiar with the Gospels then no doubt you're familiar with this story. Jesus is teaching in a house. The crowd is so great around the house that no one can get in or out. A paralyzed man is carried by four men up the outside stairs to the roof and then let down through a hole they'd made in the roof. Jesus heals the man but does so in a very stunning away. He pronounces that his sins are forgiven.

Some scribes who are sitting there witnessing this event are shocked and appalled. Who does this man think that he is? No one can forgive sins but God, they think to themselves. But Jesus reads their thoughts and then proves to them that he has authority to forgive sins by telling the man to get up, take up his bed, and go home. The man does this, proving that Jesus' forgiveness of his sins was not blasphemy at all, because Jesus is God.

This is the sermon I preached from this passage and I hope you will take the time to listen. Just click the link below and it will take you to a page on SoundCloud where the audio can be streamed or downloaded for later listening. God bless you and may you be filled with all the fullness of Christ as you meditate on him.



Click here: Mark 2:1-12 - Jesus Heals A Paralytic



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