And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”—Mark 2:1–12

Introduction

One well-known pastor did a three-week series on the afterlife. He did not realize that the final message happened to coincide with Mother’s Day. The title of the sermon and the nature of the holiday did not line up very well. The simple title of the sermon was “Hell.” Some mothers were not encouraged in the way that they expected to be on that particular day.

I am very aware that it is Mother’s Day, and I am very aware that it brings with it a whole gamut of emotions from encouraging to depressing and everything in between. Some women here dream of being mothers, but you are struggling with being single, while some of you are married but are unable to have children.

Some of you are mothers, but motherhood is hard because the children are difficult or the marriage is difficult or you simply feel crushed by the accumulated mountain of demands upon your life. One comedian said having a fourth child is like drowning and then someone hands you a baby.

Some of you mourn on Mother’s Day because you lost your mother and you can’t put into words how much you miss her. Some of you feel like the mother you have has never been much of a mother to you.

So many emotions, so much complexity—it can be a confusing, tangled web of emotions. So you have all come to this place on Mother’s Day from many different circumstances. You bring many different needs with you. But our text today puts us all into the same space and shows us our real need. We will be confronted with three needs (faith, forgiveness, and knowledge). These three needs together point to our main need (the spiritual miracle of salvation). The main point of the story is what we need to know to address our greatest need: Jesus alone has authority to forgive sins! Jesus saves! We will close with a special focus on application for Mother’s Day.

1. The Need for Faith in Jesus (verses 1–4)
2. The Need for Forgiveness From Jesus (verse 5)
3. The Need to Know Jesus (verses 6–12)

1. The Need for Faith (vv. 1–4)

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

Notice that Jesus is back in Capernaum, and he is back at home, probably a reference to the house of Peter’s mother-in-law. The crowds have assembled again and have filled the house to overflowing. What was he doing? He was preaching the word. What word? Mark 1:15—"The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the good news."

Suddenly, we are introduced to four men carrying a paralytic. They could not get into the house to see Jesus through the door so they climbed on top of the flat-roofed house. Normally there was an outside stairway leading to the roof. A typical house in 1st century Israel had a flat roof constructed of timbers laid parallel to each other (about 2 or 3 feet apart). Then sticks were laid close to each other crosswise over the timbers. Then reeds, branches of trees, and thistles were laid upon that layer. Finally, the whole thing was overlaid with about a foot of dirt, which was packed down to resist water (the roof was about two feet thick.

Mark tells us (literally) that they “unroofed the roof” and dug an opening. Can you imagine the scene? Everyone in the house would hear the digging and the tearing of the branches and the prying of the roof loose between the beams. No doubt that debris would fall on those in the house and a beam of light would come bursting through and a paralyzed man was lowered down to get to Jesus.

Do you know what to call this? In America, we would call this a lawsuit waiting to happen. Did Jesus call it reckless impatience? Did he rebuke them for property damage? He called it “faith.” Their actions in verses 3–4 get a label in verse 5: Jesus saw their faith.

Do you see the nature of faith on display? Faith in the Gospel of Mark can never be reduced to words. It is an active thing—it embraces the claims of Jesus and acts on them. The faith of these four men is on display in their attitude towards Jesus. They are single-minded. Their mission is to get their friend to Jesus because they know he alone is the answer to their friend’s problems.

While he is being lowered down, everyone thinks that his problem is obvious – he is a man on a mat. But Jesus looks beyond the obvious need to the ultimate need.

2. The Need for Forgiveness (v. 5)

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

When you come to Jesus, you always get more than you bargained for—like when you hook a blue whale with a Zebco fishing pole. Jesus does not heal the paralytic of his physical problem, because that is not his main problem and his real need. In the First Coming, Jesus has come first and foremost to address an eternal problem: our sin. Paralysis will not send you to hell—sin will.

Now people like to debate the exact connection between his sickness and his sins. Was there an immediate connection like John 5:14, “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” John 9 points out that there is not an immediate connection with the man born blind. He was born blind to be a canvas upon which Christ would paint his compassion in vibrant colors.

Here is my take on the matter. I don’t think you can say there is a direct connection or else he would be immediately healed at the moment he is forgiven (which does not happen). He is forgiven before he is healed and the forgiveness does not automatically result in healing. There are two separate actions of Jesus.

So let us focus on this forgiveness for a moment. Jesus knows the sins of this man and he forgives them. Both of these things are proof that Jesus is God. Who else knows all of the sins of someone else? He also acts as though these sins were against him personally! Think about it. If I am walking down the street and I see two people fighting and one punches the other in the nose, what if I came up to them and say “I forgive you for punching him in the nose.” They would both look at me like I was crazy. They did not sin against me. The guy that got punched would have to do the forgiving.

Though we may sin against others and hurt them, all sin is first and foremost against God. Do you remember what King David confessed after he sinned with Bathsheba in Psalm 51 (vv. 3–4)?

For I know my transgressions,
     and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned 
     and done what is evil in your sight.

But the paralytic got far more than healing and even more than forgiveness (like some legal status)—he got a new family status. This is a rare thing for Jesus to call someone: “Son.” Faith brings a new spiritual status (forgiveness) and a new family status (adoption—son). He has become part of the family of God. He has gone from being a child of wrath to a child of God. Could anything be more wonderful?

Jesus does the same thing in Mark 5 with respect to the woman with the flow of blood. Jairus is concerned with his daughter who is near death and on the way to heal her, Jesus stops to heal another woman. Jesus calls her “daughter” and that her faith has saved her.

How will people in the house respond to this declaration? Will they hear the claim and see Jesus for who he really is?

3. The Need to Know (vv. 6–12)

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Do you see what just happened? Everything was fine as long as Jesus was “just” healing. Everyone expected that and wanted that. No objections! But the miracles were not the point—they were pointers to the main point found in his teaching. Jesus came to preach the word. The promises of God are being fulfilled—the kingdom has drawn near because the King has come: Behold your God! Repent and believe! Jesus now brings the teaching to bear: People need forgiveness more than anything. I would like to focus on each character in the climax of the story and ask where we fit in.

First, look at the scribes. We notice that they are the only people in the story “sitting there.” Everyone else has crowded in—standing room only—except the scribes. They probably claimed the places of honor, thinking that they are a cut above everyone else there.

But are they really? Everyone thought that if anyone had a shot at making it into the kingdom of God at the last judgment it was the scribes. They looked really good on the outside. But Jesus is going to expose the unbelief and blasphemy on the inside.

The scribes get the claim right, but reach the wrong conclusion. Here is the syllogism:

We know God alone can forgive sins
Jesus claims to forgive sins
Jesus is making himself out to be God … Blasphemy!

It is more nuanced than that. They were both right and wrong. Their question was right, but their conclusion was wrong.

They have the right syllogism, but they reject it and conclude that Jesus is blaspheming. Blasphemy in the gospels is a frequent charge against Jesus. What does it mean? The clearest definition comes in John’s Gospel where they say you are making yourself out to be God (John 10:33). The scribes understand the awesome audacity of this claim.

So these scribes have challenged Jesus’ authority, but only in their hearts at this point. Jesus will now present the proof that he is God. Jesus actually has a two-fold proof: (1) he knows their hearts (he is all-knowing like God), and (2) he heals the paralytic (he is all-powerful like God).

He knows the sins of the paralytic and he knows the hearts of the scribes because the Lord looks at the heart. Listen to what happened when David was chosen King of Israel. The older brother (Eliab) is the one Samuel thought was the anointed one—because of his outward appearance.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”—1 Samuel 16:7

Look at how many times these two verses emphasize that this happened on the inside, where no one else could see it or hear it.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?—Mark 2:6–8

The scribes looked on the outside like those that would make into the kingdom of God at the final judgment. But Jesus is bringing out what is hidden within them. They are the real paralytics. Their hearts are not just disabled—they are dead and devoid of faith!

The second evidence is that he heals the paralytic. But Jesus did not heal him at first. He healed him to make a very specific point. Jesus proposes a test. He does not ask which is easier to do (forgive or heal), but which is easier to say. Forgiveness of sins is invisible and internal. It is impossible to see from the outside. Physical healing is visible and external. It would be immediately evident to everyone if Jesus’ word fell to the ground or not.

The paralytic immediately obeys—he rises and immediately picks up his mat. No one looks at this and says, “Wow, the paralytic is amazing.” No one looks at Jesus and says, “What a persuasive speaker—great pep talk!” The problem is that the paralytic’s legs are dead. He has no ability to obey Jesus’ command. But that is the point. Jesus can heal the paralytic because as God he has the power of the Creator. The paralytic doesn’t need to have the ability to obey the command because Jesus can create what he calls for. He calls something into existence that was not there before. Dead legs live because Jesus spoke living legs into being.

Notice what everyone should know when they see the healing (v. 10):

"But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

There is so much more going on here than meets the eye at first glance. Notice he does not use the word “ability” but “authority.” This is not merely a question of “Can Jesus do it?” but has he been given the right to do it. Remember that he is the Son of God and perfectly follows the Father’s plan. He refuses to act independently. He can turn stones into bread (ability), but is that what the Father gave him to do? (No.) (Luke 4:3).

This is a massive point because this is the first time Jesus uses the title: Son of Man. When you look at that title with the word “authority” you come to one place in the Old Testament—Daniel 7:13–14,

 “I saw in the night visions, 

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
     there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
     and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion [Septuagint: authority!]
     and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
     should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
     which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
     that shall not be destroyed.

In Daniel’s vision, the Ancient of Days is on the throne and the books for judgment are opened. The Son of Man is given authority to judge sins, and here in Mark we see he has authority also to forgive sins.

So we have an Old Testament connection between Son of Man and authority. What about a paralyzed person and forgiveness? I bet Isaiah has something to say about that.

For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
     the LORD is our king; he will save us. 

Your cords hang loose;
     they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
     or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
     even the lame will take the prey.
And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
     the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.—Isaiah 33:22–24

Behold, your God
     will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
     He will come and save you.” 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
     and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer.—Isaiah 35:4–6

People are supposed to see Jesus claim to be the Son of Man with authority here on earth forgiving the paralytic (the lame) and suddenly cry out: “Behold our God!” He has come to save. Our eternal destiny will be determined by our response to Jesus. The paralytic is forgiven and adopted into God’s family. The scribes reject Jesus as God and think he is committing blasphemy. But there is the irony. If Jesus really is God and they are denying it, then they are committing blasphemy.

But what about the crowd? The scribes and the crowd were both spiritually paralyzed. We give the scribes a hard time because they obviously reject Jesus’ true identity—they conclude that he is blaspheming. The four friends had an active faith—they were going to do whatever it took to bring their friend to Jesus. The scribes were stationary and stuck in their thinking. They were in fact “sitting” while everyone else was standing. They were forming judgments while others were marveling.

But look again at the response of the crowd. There is amazement and astonishment, but no repentance and faith. They were also spiritually paralyzed. How do we know? Didn’t they give glory to God? They didn’t recognize that Jesus was God? They should have burst through the roof and pressed around him—not for miracles—but for forgiveness. Any one that knew he or she had the problem of sin should have thronged in even harder—“I need my sins forgiven! I need my sins forgiven!”

But they didn’t. This was Capernaum. Have you ever heard what Jesus said later about this place? They were not blessed to have so much teaching and so many miracles because they did not have faith, but hardness of heart.

“And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”—Matthew 11:23–24

It is easy to read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the fire and brimstone that fell from heaven because of the outcry of their wickedness. Did you read this story and say, “Capernaum is worse. God himself came down and visited them and proclaimed that he had authority to forgive sins and they did not pursue it?” Rejecting Jesus and his forgiveness is more wicked than anything Sodom or Gomorrah did.

So once again, Mark has given us a story in which Jesus does what only God can do to show that he is God. We have seen that the miracles are not the point—they are pointers. The physical (visible to all) miracle verifies the spiritual (invisible to all but God) miracle. The man carried his bed, but he no longer carried the burden of his sins on his back.

What should have been more astonishing, the miracle of healing or the miracle of forgiveness? The healing would cost the owner of the house some roof repairs; forgiveness of sins would cost Jesus his life. A Jew would have thought that forgiveness came in the temple with a sacrifice. But the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. Jesus died on the cross and offered the perfect sacrifice—he saves the uttermost all that come to him. The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus saves! The Son of Man is given authority to give his life as a payment for sinners. We don’t just have the promise of forgiveness, but the purchase of it.

Application

1. Mothers, be like the four friends. How can you be like the four friends? Realize that you are the mother of your children, not the Savior of your children. What does “faith” look like in the context of motherhood? What does it mean to be a faith-filled mom? Mothers should be single-minded like these four friends of the paralytic. We have a single-minded mission to bring people to Jesus – no matter what the obstacle. That applies if you are a mother or a missionary. A mother cannot play the Holy Spirit and must not put on herself the burden of saving her children. All you can do is believe that all is well and worth it if you can just get your kids to Jesus. This helps give some priorities as well. Sports activities and music and drama and all the rest can be good activities – you drive the vehicle to get your kids to these things. Yes, be a soccer mom that brings children again and again to the soccer field, but don’t neglect the time and priority of being the vehicle to get your kids to Jesus. Say to them more often, “kids, let’s go to Calvary again. Look at what Jesus claims, look at what Jesus did. Do you see the Savior you need is the Savior we have?

2. Mothers, be like the paralytic. The second thing I am going to do is invite you to see yourself as the paralytic. If you are going to proclaim the Savior’s forgiveness to your children, the first need you have is to experience your Savior’s forgiveness. Don’t let it be past tense—like a black & white photograph about the time long ago when you were forgiven. Mothers are hardest on themselves. They carry around a burden of guilt and failure. They never feel like they measure up. There is both real guilt and false guilt. They have real guilt because they are sinners and they fail their children. But there is also false guilt, like Facebook guilt. They look at what other mothers are doing as their standard. They see mothers taking their children to the art museum and they feel terrible that they never do that. This mom makes all their meals with kale and this mom makes everything from scratch, and I take my kids to McDonalds. This mom has their kids learn Latin by the time they are 10. Guess what? You are not following them. You are following your Savior. He does not say to you, “failure.” He says, “Daughter.” Your sins are forgiven. It needs to be heard in present tense. It is who you are.

Also are there things in your life that feel like senseless tragedies? Don’t shake your fist at God if you feel weak and lowly today because of all the struggles you are going through. Don’t say: “I see no reason for this, God!” How do you know that those things might be the very thing that keeps you dependent—keeps you from wandering—keeps you focused on your main need for him (not health, or wealth, or well-behaved kids, or kids at all, or anything else). The great theologian J.C. Ryle was very insightful in seeing the blessing of being paralyzed (Mark Crossway Classic Commentaries, pp. 20–21) …

Who can doubt that to the end of his days this man would thank God for this paralysis? Without it he would probably have lived and died in ignorance, and never seen Christ at all. Without it, he might have kept his sheep on the green hills of Galilee all his life long, and never been brought to Christ, and never heard the blessed words, “your sins are forgiven.” That paralysis was indeed a blessing. Who can tell but it was the beginning of eternal life to his soul?

How many in every age can testify that this paralytic’s experience has been their own! They have learned wisdom by affliction. Bereavements have proved mercies. Losses have proved real gains. Sicknesses have led them to the great Physician of souls, sent them to the Bible, shut out the world, shown them their own foolishness, taught them to pray. Thousands can say like David, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).

Let us beware of grumbling under affliction. We may be sure there is a reason for every cross, and a wise purpose in every trial. Every sickness and sorrow is a gracious message from God, and is meant to call us nearer to him. Let us pray that we may learn the lesson that each affliction is appointed to convey. 

Conclusion: Look to Jesus on Mother’s Day

This last concluding point applies to everyone. Look for a moment at all the things you have a passionate longing for—spouse, children, health, etc. Would God be good if he only gave you the greatest thing in this life, instead of the secondary things you want? Would Jesus have been good if he had ONLY forgiven the paralytic and brought him into his own family? Not every paralysis is healed. Not every inability to have children is reversed.

What do you do? Look to Jesus. Thank him for meeting your eternal need through his First Coming. Rejoice that your names are written in the book of life. This is a deeply personal question—  am going to ask it with broken-hearted faith. Even though you do not have a child, is it enough that God has made you his child? Even if you never have a child, is it enough that you will never stop being God’s child? I think of Martyn Lloyd-Jones when people asked him if he was depressed because he was so sick he could not preach anymore. He said, why should I be depressed? I am not less saved today than I was when I was preaching about salvation. In fact, salvation is nearer than when I first believed.

Many of our unmet longings point us to what Jesus will bring to us at his second coming. All of Jesus’ healings work in two directions: (1) they validate his message (God has given him authority so people will believe his message), and (2) they prophesy about the world to come when Jesus comes again (there will be no more paralysis, sickness, relational brokenness, death).
 

Sermon Discussion Questions

Outline

• The Need for Faith in Jesus (vv. 1–4)
• The Need for Forgiveness From Jesus (v. 5)
• The Need to Know Jesus (vv. 6–12)

Main Point: Jesus alone has authority to forgive sins!

Discussion Questions

• How do the friends of the paralytic display “faith” in this story?
• How is being physically paralyzed a parable of our spiritual condition?
• What evidence is found in this story that confirms Mark 1:1, that Jesus is the divine Son of God?

Application Questions

• Do you have the faith of the four friends that makes it your mission to bring people to Jesus no matter what obstacles are in the way? Do you ever find yourself trying to be the savior for others instead of bringing them to the Savior?  Explain. Pray for renewed grace for change.
• Can you see yourself as a spiritual version of the paralytic in this story? Are you as aware of your neediness for Jesus as he was aware of his neediness as a paralytic?
• In this message, what truths landed on you that you need to share with others in your life? How can you share these truths? Devote it to prayer!

Prayer Focus

Pray for a grace to see that Jesus alone can save. Run to him and rejoice in his salvation. Sing like a forgiven sinner. Savor the wonder that you are a child of God and he calls you “Son” or “Daughter.”