Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
June 4, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(078)
1901 ASV
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 Removal of The Roof.
- A. The "four" were determined to "present" the paralytic to Jesus, but they could not on account of the crowd.
- 1. This is the point of the record of their actions.
- 2. Mark's focus upon this "determination" is deliberate as it is his intention to set the stage for his overall thesis that Jesus came into this world to address the problem of man's lust for status in the eyes of others and that, for that to happen, He is to be "believed" in all of His words and actions.
- 3. And not being able (Present, Passive, Participle) to present (Aorist, Active, Indicative) to Him on account of the crowd, they "unroofed" (Aorist, Active, Indicative) the roof where He was (Imperfect, Active, Indicative), and having dug up (Aorist, Active, Participle), they are lowering (Present, Active, Indicative) the pallet where the paralytic was reclining (Imperfect, Indicative, Deponent).
- B. Their solution was to "unroof" the roof.
- 1. They were obviously familiar with the construction of "roofs" in Capernaum so that they knew how they could open up a hole in the roof (I hope for Peter's sake that they also knew how to repair the hole afterwards!). They obviously also knew approximately where Jesus would be in the house so that they could "unroof" in the right place.
- 2. This was a rather radical alternative method for getting to Jesus and one that most folks would not even consider. The point is that these "four" were not about to let the paralytic remain in his condition.
- 3. Mark omits the reaction inside as the men tore up the roof except to say that Jesus "saw" their "faith".
- C. Then they lowered the man into the presence of Jesus.
- 1. Mark says, "having dug out" (the materials of the roof) they "are lowering" (using the emphatic present tense to build the picture of the event; the word is used in Acts 9:25 and, again, in 2 Corinthians 11:33 to tell how Paul escaped from Damascus by being lowered over the wall in a "basket") the pallet where the paralytic lay.
- 2. Mark neglects to tell us where they got the ropes necessary for this task, but, clearly, someone knew where to obtain them. It is possible that they had already considered what was going to develop because of the self-interested crowd and the problem of getting through it.
- D. This was a remarkable, imaginative, and unorthodox method of pursuing their goal.
- II. Jesus "beheld" what Mark calls "their faith".
- A. Clearly, the beholding of the event forced not only Jesus, but everyone else, to consider the origin of the level of the determination of the "four". It is this "determination" that is the "mark" of their "faith". "Faith" is characteristically the root of every "method" by which any goal is pursued. If one "believes" a given truth about the matter sought, that "faith" will create a method of pursuit. If there is no "pursuit", no one can "see" either the "objective" or the "conviction" that it can be achieved. It might also be argued that if there is no "pursuit", either the "goal" is not considered of great value, or the "method" is not considered of sufficient potency to actually obtain the sought-after objective. Some "faith" operates mostly internally and, thus, will not be "seen", but most of "faith's works" are overt and readily visible (Note all of Hebrews 11 where the overt actions are presented as the result of "faith"). The only problem with "seeing faith" is that many visible actions are driven by unseen, and unknowable, "beliefs" (such as praying long and loud on the street corners: who can say what drives that?). In this case, however, it is pretty "visible" that the "four" are "believing" that Jesus can and will address the paralytic's problem.
- B. This is Mark's first use of the word "faith" and it is used in regard to a most critical issue: the actual "forgiveness of sins".
- 1. The verb behind the noun, "faith", was used in Mark's introduction of Jesus' message in 1:15. Even though the issue of "belief" was automatically assumed all the way through Mark's previous record (Mark wrote in order to be "believed"; John preached a message to be "believed"; Jesus introduced a "new doctrine" to be "believed", etc.) this is the first time we have the word "faith" linked to having a demon cast out, or an illness healed, though, clearly, the leper "believed" that Jesus "could" cleanse him because he said (lego) "...You can cleanse me". The speech declares the "belief". The previous "exorcism" in the synagogue in 1:23-26 required no "faith": it was done to "produce" faith. Likewise, Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law was not declared to be a "faith-generated" response by Jesus: it was, more likely, a "faith-generating" response, and it brought the whole city to the door.
- 2. Mark's point here is that such a "relational" issue as "forgiveness" demands the presence of certain factors, of which "faith" is absolutely foundational.
- a. Faith is not the foundation; integrity precedes "faith" in any true relationship.
- b. But, integrity without the required confidence of faith as a matter of "relationship" is ineffective: disbelief is not fertile ground for a legitimate "relationship" (Note John's "duh" [beyond obvious, acceptable by all except the insane] statement in 1 John 5:10).
- III. Jesus' Declaration of "Forgiveness of Sins" is Mark's Major Point.
- A. This was the focus all the way back in Mark's presentation of the "YHWH is Gracious" (John) prophet with his message of "repentance unto forgiveness" (1:4). This declaration is an all-inclusive summary of John's entire ministry so that "the way to forgiveness" was what he was all about.
- B. This was the continued focus in Mark's presentation as he worked into his record of the coming of Jesus in which he gave another all-inclusive summary [I have called these all-inclusive summaries "umbrella declarations" which stand over all of the myriad of details that are presented as sub-sets of the "umbrella"] (1:15). In this "umbrella summary", "repentance" is tied to the second big issue: "believe the Gospel".
- 1. "Repentance" brings "forgiveness".
- 2. "Faith in the Gospel" brings "understanding" as to the "How?" issues in God's Justice and Grace in the conundrum of "forgiveness" in the face of the demands of Justice. Technically, a person can be "forgiven" by "repenting" without "understanding" how it all works ("forgiveness without "faith in the Gospel"), but without the "understanding" it is highly unlikely that the "faith" in "forgiveness" would endure (Luke 8:13); a situation that is not at all desirable.
- C. This paragraph and Jesus' declaration is, thus, a major "under-the-umbrella" revelation of a key difficulty: Who can forgive sins but God only?
- 1. This difficulty raises the issue of the "technical" reality of "repentance unto forgiveness" by tying "repentance" to "Jesus" as THE means by which God "forgives".
- 2. Thus, Jesus' "if you believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24) means that there is no "repentance unto forgiveness" that is adversarial to the doctrine that Jesus is He.