Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
May 14, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(074)
1901 ASV
1 And when he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was noised that he was
in the house.
2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room [
for them], no, not even about the door: and he spake the word unto them.
3 And they come, bringing unto him a man sick of the palsy, borne of four.
4 And when they could not
come nigh unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the
bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay.
5 And Jesus seeing their faith saith unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, thy sins are forgiven.
6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7 Why doth this man thus speak? he blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but one, [
even] God?
8 And straightway Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, saith unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up thy
bed, and walk?
10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy),
11 I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy
bed, and go unto thy house.
12 And he arose, and straightway took up the
bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.
- I. The Return to Capernaum.
- A. This record follows immediately on the heels of Mark's record that Jesus could not "openly enter into a city".
- 1. As we have already seen, this is not a "point" about some hindrance to Jesus' access to the people of Galilee; they were willing to "go out to Him from all places" (1:45).
- 2. Instead, the "point" is that Jesus' explosive popularity developed before the priests and those associated with them in Jerusalem had an unimpeded opportunity to consider what His healing of a leper signaled. The problem of having to consider some very important issue while having to deal with one's own potent lusts is that the important issue gets skewed by the automatic awareness of the threats to one's abilities to imbibe in one's own lusts. If we can quietly think about something without having to deal with its implications for our own future pursuits, we are more likely to come to a legitimate conclusion. Its a bit like being able to thoughtfully consider the impact of taking some extremely destructive drug before one has already taken it a time or two.
- B. Since He is deliberately recorded by Mark as "again entering into Capernaum", we have to understand the point.
- 1. Part of that point is that the statement in 1:45 about the impact of the leper's disobedience is necessary to the record of 1:40-45 to reveal a negative issue out of the disobedience, but it is not so much a large part of this next paragraph except to point out that the disobedience has brought out "the scribes". There is, however, also the fact that this previous paragraph may be the key to understanding the phrase in 2:1 that is literally, "...through days...". The question there is whether that phrase is linked to the participle, "having entered", or is linked to the main verb, "...it was heard...".
- 2. The greater part of the "point" is the connection in Mark's mind between what had originally occurred in Capernaum and what he is now recording: Jesus' "authority" was originally established in Capernaum.
- a. Mark records Jesus, Himself, as pointing to the issue: His "authority" (2:10).
- b. However, now the issue has a very specific focus: the forgiveness of sins.
- C. Mark's "qualification": "through days".
- 1. The Authorized Version and the ASV both translate this qualification as "after some days". This translation may have captured at least part of the meaning of the phrase. This record of what happened in Capernaum is, thus, indicated to have taken place "after some time had passed".
- a. There is, however, this question as noted above: was Mark saying that Jesus' entrance into Capernaum again was after some days had gone by during which people "from all places" had been resorting to Jesus in the wilderness, or was Mark saying that, because Jesus had to "sneak" into Capernaum because of 1:45's "problem", the fact that He was back in Capernaum was "discovered" after some days?
- b. It is far more likely that "after some days" it was heard that He was back in town, than it is that the return itself was "after some days" out in the wilderness with people resorting to Him from all over.
- 2. This passage of time is significant as an indicator of the basic impossibility of Jesus being in Capernaum without the "news" leaking out after just a few days.
- a. The fact that Mark "quoted" the reporting of the "news" ("He is in house" was heard) is significant for the impact the quote makes: it puts the focus upon the sudden awareness of His return by the populace. He had been able to be "in house" for a few days before this awareness developed by the rapid spread of the news, "He is in house".
- b. This doubles down on the explosive impact Jesus' actions/message was making and, thus, puts the "problem" of the "religious establishment" front and center.
- 3. Thus, what Mark is telling us is that there was only a short "lull" before the "storm" of the twin issues of Jesus' popularity and His message about "forgiveness of sins" was to hit.
- a. It must be remembered that "forgiveness on the basis of repentance" was a "new" doctrine that ran against the grain of the teaching of the synagogues.
- b. In this record, however, the issue is made "extreme" because Jesus declares that He is the one Who decides who has repented.
- II. The Impact of the Return.
- A. Mark says "many were synagogued together" (the verb is tied to "synagogue" and it is an Aorist Passive).
- 1. That he deliberately chose a verb indicating a "gathering together" that is built off of the verb from which the "synagogue" is developed probably signals the fact that what is going to happen is "religious"; i.e., it is going to be a "doctrinal confrontation".
- a. We are told that it was Jesus' calling and habit to go into the synagogues to do His "preaching" and exorcisms (1:38-39).
- b. This is partly what was wrong with the leper's disobedience: the doctrinal confrontation could no longer be done in the synagogues where the doctrine was taught.
- 2. That the verb is "passive" means that the people were gathered by forces beyond their own "active" choices. In a very real sense, the "many" were consumed by sufficient interest/curiosity as to be drawn away from their other "agenda" pursuits in order to see/hear Jesus.
- a. On one hand, this is abundant testimony that the Jews were not "satisfied" by their "beliefs"; it was tasteless bread and lacked any "water of life".
- b. On another, this is also abundant testimony that the Jews were dragged away from their daily pursuits by their interest in seeing "miracles".
- 1) With John, the people flocked into the wilderness because of his message.
- 2) With Jesus, they were more interested in His "authority".