-3-
An Amazing event at Peter’s House
We have been reading Mark’s version of the gospel. That is, we have read of the appearing of Jesus. He came to John the Baptist and was baptized. He went away for 40 days to be tested. Satan tried everything in his power to get Jesus to sin, but Jesus did not sin. Jesus was born sinless and remained sinless all of His days. That is not true of any of us. Actually that would be an impossibility, seeing that we are born with a sin nature. Jesus was not born with a sin nature.
Next we read about Jesus returning to where John was baptizing and He began calling for ‘saved, baptized’ people to follow him. Jesus called the first four men to follow Him. He said He would show these fishermen how to fish for people. We read that He led them to a place where people were gathering. He ‘fished’ in the pool of people who were meeting in the synagogue. How did He attract people? First of all by His teaching style - He taught with authority. Secondly, he attracted their attention by His power. He cast out a demon right there in their church.
After church He went to the home of Peter and Andrew and healed Peter’s mother in law. Evidently some of the church goers followed Him to find out where He was staying and they rushed home and brought their relatives who were sick or demon possessed. Jesus healed them all. And He commanded the demons to keep their mouths shut. Jesus wanted to explain Who He was in His own way and in His own time.
And then the next day Jesus escaped from the crowds that were still forming around the house.
Jesus expanded His circle of influence by preaching in all of the cities around there. He preached in the synagogues. He was not having a healing campaign, He was preaching the word. The main thing that He was preaching was concerning the words of the prophets, they said that God would send a messiah/deliverer. Jesus preached … I am that person.
But during the church meetings in the synagogues, strangely enough, there always seemed to be someone possessed by a demon. It makes me wonder if their priests also found it very strange that suddenly this new problem is springing up all over the place.
But here is what we read in the last chapter:1:39 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.
And then we read of a situation that really escalated His popularity to even higher levels.
Jesus touched and healed a leper. A man who had a terminal and contagious disease. He commanded the healed man to tell no one who healed Him.The man disobeyed and caused a big problem for Jesus. Jesus wanted to be known as the Messiah, the Son of God, not as someone with a healing ministry, but as the Savior of sinners.
It became impossible for Jesus to preach in the cities because of the swarms of people. He was forced to go out into the countryside and allow the people to come out to him.
And now we come to our first verse of chapter two. 1 ¶ And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. He is back in the house … Simon’s and Andrew's house.
Immediately a crowd forms. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
All kinds of people are in the house. What was the big attraction? There is no mention of Jesus healing anyone in this case. But no doubt many were drawn to Him to hear and see more. But He is preaching the Word. And that was Jesus' main focus.
The healing of our diseases is something that we desperately want when we are sick with a terrible diagnosis. The temptation to turn a church gathering into a healing meeting can be very great. In some cases, almost every church service is exactly that. What would be the problem with that? The problem is that the preaching of the Word takes on a very narrow presentation. The message becomes topical to the extent that only the biblical references to healing become the main focus. And when that happens, we have made the message into something that a person can ‘get’ from God. The message is no longer that God calls you to take up your cross (come and die with Me if necessary) but come and see what you can get from God. The new believers are not hearing any teaching that will cause them to grow steadfast and unwavering in their commitment to follow Jesus.
God’s will is that His children grow. And growth only happens when God’s complete Word is taught, line upon line as we are shown in Isaiah 28.9 ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
This is the kind of preaching/teaching heard by the people of the first church. “but we (the apostles) will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6.4
Mark (and the Holy Spirit) is being careful to put the focus where it belongs.
Jesus commented on His own ministry when He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
And in that same conversation, Peter picked up on that and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68
So back to our study in Mark … Jesus was in the house teaching the word to the people, when five men wanted a healing to take place. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
Peter’s roof is being dismantled. No doubt particles were falling from the ceiling causing people to look up to see what was happening. A stretcher was being lowered right before their eyes. A paralyzed man is lying on the stretcher. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
When He saw their faith … It is important to point out that it was not the faith of the stretcher bearers that will result in the sins of the paralyzed man being forgiven. It was their faith that caused them to bring the man to Jesus for healing. The paralyzed man himself had a great hope and faith that Jesus could heal him … but it was the paralyzed man’s faith that the One who could heal him, was none other than the Messiah. And Jesus saw the faith of all of them but particularly the faith that the crippled man had in Who Jesus actually was, and so He responds with this controversial statement, Your sins are forgiven.
This is the first instance of Jesus doing or saying something that others are bound to question.
Here is a man who obviously needs to be healed, and Jesus will address His condition. But on this occasion, He first addressed the need of the man's soul. He did not always do that but this time He did. He said, “Your sins are forgiven”. This is consistent with what He said His purpose was in coming here. For example, Lu 19:10 the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
And, Lu 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” and 1Ti 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
So that is why He came. But now He has said something that will rile up the Jewish teachers. And some apparently were present in Peter’s house.
But before we get to them, allow me to point out a technicality. Jesus says, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ How can that be true? Jesus has not, at that point, died on the cross to pay for sins yet. So how can this happen?
Very simply, in old testament times, every act of seeking forgiveness, such as going to a priest and presenting an offering, was an act of obedience. In other words, the repentant person could do no more. They were faithfully doing their part in the process. They were seeking forgiveness. And forgiveness was granted, but because of God's payment, the sacrifice of His Son would come at the appointed time, the person’s sin was only ‘reckoned’ as forgiven. The actual forgiveness would not be applied to their ‘account’ until Jesus said, It is finished.
So it was a matter of us doing our part and then later, God doing His. And that is what we see here. The man on the stretcher is doing his part. He believes that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus pronounces his sin forgiven. Then, after the crucifixion the sin debt is removed completely from his account, opening up the door to paradise and then later to heaven after Jesus dies and rises again. Did the man actually have faith?
We read earlier, 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
They all had faith. But it is not the faith of the four stretcher bearers that saved the crippled man. We cannot believe ‘for’ another person. Each person stands as an individual before God.
Now let’s look at the response of some in the house.
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
These scribes are not here by accident. Even though this is very early on in Jesus' preaching ministry, enough of a stir has been created by the actions of Jesus, that it has some scribes on the alert. They are here at Peter’s house, on a fact finding mission.
Their question is interesting. Only God can forgive sin, (or reckon them as forgiven). They are correct. The only sins that you can forgive are offenses made directly against you. And even after that, the person must go to God for forgiveness.
These scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy. They must have felt conflicted. They had heard His powerful teaching in their synagogues and they had witnessed His casting out of an unclean spirit. They must have heard about the leper who was healed. So on the one hand they surely must have seen this as coming from one who at least had some kind of connection with God. But now they have heard what they think is an ordinary human pronouncing forgiveness of sin. According to scripture only God forgives sin. So is Jesus human or God? That is what they are faced with. In their minds, He could not be God, so He is a blasphemer.
How Jesus answers their concern is quite unique.
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
10 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
Jesus most certainly could have said it the other way around. This was on purpose. It was like a challenge to the Jewish scribes. They could not do either one of those things. Jesus could do both. And Jesus wants to make it very clear … He is indeed claiming to be God … the Messiah.
“Which is easier to say?” Only God can do both just as easily. They are faced with confessing that He must be God. Or they must reject Him as God … in spite of all the evidence.
12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
What a wonderful way to leave this passage! Jesus has healed another person … but now we understand He is the forgiver of sin!
Next we read about Jesus returning to where John was baptizing and He began calling for ‘saved, baptized’ people to follow him. Jesus called the first four men to follow Him. He said He would show these fishermen how to fish for people. We read that He led them to a place where people were gathering. He ‘fished’ in the pool of people who were meeting in the synagogue. How did He attract people? First of all by His teaching style - He taught with authority. Secondly, he attracted their attention by His power. He cast out a demon right there in their church.
After church He went to the home of Peter and Andrew and healed Peter’s mother in law. Evidently some of the church goers followed Him to find out where He was staying and they rushed home and brought their relatives who were sick or demon possessed. Jesus healed them all. And He commanded the demons to keep their mouths shut. Jesus wanted to explain Who He was in His own way and in His own time.
And then the next day Jesus escaped from the crowds that were still forming around the house.
Jesus expanded His circle of influence by preaching in all of the cities around there. He preached in the synagogues. He was not having a healing campaign, He was preaching the word. The main thing that He was preaching was concerning the words of the prophets, they said that God would send a messiah/deliverer. Jesus preached … I am that person.
But during the church meetings in the synagogues, strangely enough, there always seemed to be someone possessed by a demon. It makes me wonder if their priests also found it very strange that suddenly this new problem is springing up all over the place.
But here is what we read in the last chapter:1:39 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.
And then we read of a situation that really escalated His popularity to even higher levels.
Jesus touched and healed a leper. A man who had a terminal and contagious disease. He commanded the healed man to tell no one who healed Him.The man disobeyed and caused a big problem for Jesus. Jesus wanted to be known as the Messiah, the Son of God, not as someone with a healing ministry, but as the Savior of sinners.
It became impossible for Jesus to preach in the cities because of the swarms of people. He was forced to go out into the countryside and allow the people to come out to him.
And now we come to our first verse of chapter two. 1 ¶ And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. He is back in the house … Simon’s and Andrew's house.
Immediately a crowd forms. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
All kinds of people are in the house. What was the big attraction? There is no mention of Jesus healing anyone in this case. But no doubt many were drawn to Him to hear and see more. But He is preaching the Word. And that was Jesus' main focus.
The healing of our diseases is something that we desperately want when we are sick with a terrible diagnosis. The temptation to turn a church gathering into a healing meeting can be very great. In some cases, almost every church service is exactly that. What would be the problem with that? The problem is that the preaching of the Word takes on a very narrow presentation. The message becomes topical to the extent that only the biblical references to healing become the main focus. And when that happens, we have made the message into something that a person can ‘get’ from God. The message is no longer that God calls you to take up your cross (come and die with Me if necessary) but come and see what you can get from God. The new believers are not hearing any teaching that will cause them to grow steadfast and unwavering in their commitment to follow Jesus.
God’s will is that His children grow. And growth only happens when God’s complete Word is taught, line upon line as we are shown in Isaiah 28.9 ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
This is the kind of preaching/teaching heard by the people of the first church. “but we (the apostles) will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6.4
Mark (and the Holy Spirit) is being careful to put the focus where it belongs.
Jesus commented on His own ministry when He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
And in that same conversation, Peter picked up on that and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68
So back to our study in Mark … Jesus was in the house teaching the word to the people, when five men wanted a healing to take place. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
Peter’s roof is being dismantled. No doubt particles were falling from the ceiling causing people to look up to see what was happening. A stretcher was being lowered right before their eyes. A paralyzed man is lying on the stretcher. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
When He saw their faith … It is important to point out that it was not the faith of the stretcher bearers that will result in the sins of the paralyzed man being forgiven. It was their faith that caused them to bring the man to Jesus for healing. The paralyzed man himself had a great hope and faith that Jesus could heal him … but it was the paralyzed man’s faith that the One who could heal him, was none other than the Messiah. And Jesus saw the faith of all of them but particularly the faith that the crippled man had in Who Jesus actually was, and so He responds with this controversial statement, Your sins are forgiven.
This is the first instance of Jesus doing or saying something that others are bound to question.
Here is a man who obviously needs to be healed, and Jesus will address His condition. But on this occasion, He first addressed the need of the man's soul. He did not always do that but this time He did. He said, “Your sins are forgiven”. This is consistent with what He said His purpose was in coming here. For example, Lu 19:10 the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
And, Lu 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” and 1Ti 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
So that is why He came. But now He has said something that will rile up the Jewish teachers. And some apparently were present in Peter’s house.
But before we get to them, allow me to point out a technicality. Jesus says, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ How can that be true? Jesus has not, at that point, died on the cross to pay for sins yet. So how can this happen?
Very simply, in old testament times, every act of seeking forgiveness, such as going to a priest and presenting an offering, was an act of obedience. In other words, the repentant person could do no more. They were faithfully doing their part in the process. They were seeking forgiveness. And forgiveness was granted, but because of God's payment, the sacrifice of His Son would come at the appointed time, the person’s sin was only ‘reckoned’ as forgiven. The actual forgiveness would not be applied to their ‘account’ until Jesus said, It is finished.
So it was a matter of us doing our part and then later, God doing His. And that is what we see here. The man on the stretcher is doing his part. He believes that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus pronounces his sin forgiven. Then, after the crucifixion the sin debt is removed completely from his account, opening up the door to paradise and then later to heaven after Jesus dies and rises again. Did the man actually have faith?
We read earlier, 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
They all had faith. But it is not the faith of the four stretcher bearers that saved the crippled man. We cannot believe ‘for’ another person. Each person stands as an individual before God.
Now let’s look at the response of some in the house.
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
These scribes are not here by accident. Even though this is very early on in Jesus' preaching ministry, enough of a stir has been created by the actions of Jesus, that it has some scribes on the alert. They are here at Peter’s house, on a fact finding mission.
Their question is interesting. Only God can forgive sin, (or reckon them as forgiven). They are correct. The only sins that you can forgive are offenses made directly against you. And even after that, the person must go to God for forgiveness.
These scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy. They must have felt conflicted. They had heard His powerful teaching in their synagogues and they had witnessed His casting out of an unclean spirit. They must have heard about the leper who was healed. So on the one hand they surely must have seen this as coming from one who at least had some kind of connection with God. But now they have heard what they think is an ordinary human pronouncing forgiveness of sin. According to scripture only God forgives sin. So is Jesus human or God? That is what they are faced with. In their minds, He could not be God, so He is a blasphemer.
How Jesus answers their concern is quite unique.
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
10 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
Jesus most certainly could have said it the other way around. This was on purpose. It was like a challenge to the Jewish scribes. They could not do either one of those things. Jesus could do both. And Jesus wants to make it very clear … He is indeed claiming to be God … the Messiah.
“Which is easier to say?” Only God can do both just as easily. They are faced with confessing that He must be God. Or they must reject Him as God … in spite of all the evidence.
12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
What a wonderful way to leave this passage! Jesus has healed another person … but now we understand He is the forgiver of sin!