Mark 2:1 - Meaning and Application

After Jesus had spent some time preaching around the countryside, he returned to Capernaum, his base of operations. He seems to have done this hoping the excitement around him had eased by then. But even though he was in a house, likely Peter’s house or another place he had rented, people came at once when they heard he was in town.

They did not wait for him to appear in the synagogue, where they expected him on the Sabbath. Instead, many people gathered around him right away. Where the king is, there will be a court, and where Shiloh, the one promised by God, is, the people will gather. When we have a chance to care for our souls, we must not waste time. One person invited another, saying, “Come, let us go see Jesus,” and soon the house was too full to hold them.

What a blessed sight it was to see people rushing to Christ’s house like a cloud, even though it was only a poor one, and like doves to their windows. Jesus gave them the best welcome his house could offer, and better than anyone else could. He preached the word to them (Mark 2:2). Many likely came only for healing, and many others only out of curiosity to see him. But once he had them together, he taught them.

Although the synagogue was open to him at the proper times, he did not think it wrong to preach in a house on a weekday, even if some would have called that an unusual place and time. “Blessed are you who sow beside all waters” (Isaiah 32:20). We should use every open opportunity to do good to souls.

Then a poor cripple was brought to him to be helped. The man had palsy, a disease that seems here to have left him completely helpless, so that four men had to carry him on a bed, almost like a bier. His need to be carried showed the misery of human life. Their carrying him showed the kindness people ought to have toward others in trouble, because we do not know how soon that trouble may be our own.

These caring friends or relatives thought that if they could only get him to Christ once, they would not need to carry him any further. So when they could not get through the crowd at the door, they uncovered the roof where Jesus was (Mark 2:4). I do not think we must assume that Jesus was preaching in an upper room. The house may simply have been so small and plain, fitting his present condition, that it had no upper room at all. So these men brought their friend to the roof, removed some of the tiles, and lowered him on his bed with cords into the house where Christ was preaching.

This showed both their faith and their earnestness in coming to Jesus. It proved they were serious and would not leave without a blessing. When Jacob wrestled with God, he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26). That same spirit appears here.

Jesus then spoke a kind word to the poor man. He saw their faith, perhaps more clearly than the man’s own, since his sickness kept him from acting freely in faith. In healing the centurion’s servant, Jesus noted the centurion’s faith because he did not bring the servant to him, but trusted Jesus could heal at a distance. Here Jesus praised the friends’ faith because they brought their companion through so much trouble. True faith and strong faith can show themselves in different ways. Sometimes they overcome the objections of reason, and sometimes the objections of what we see. However faith appears, Jesus Christ accepts and approves it.

Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” That word “Son” is full of tenderness. It shows fatherly care and concern. Christ receives true believers as his sons. Here is a son, and yet he is sick with palsy. Even so, “God deals with you as with sons.”

The blessing is rich: “Your sins are forgiven.” Sin is the main cause of all our pain and sickness. Jesus wanted the man’s thoughts to move away from the disease, which was only the result, and turn to the sin, which was the cause, so he would care more about having that forgiven. God takes away the sting and bitterness of sickness when he forgives sin. A recovery from illness is a true mercy when it is joined to the pardon of sin (Isaiah 38:17; Psalm 103:3). To remove the effect, we must deal with the cause. Forgiveness strikes at the root of all diseases, and either heals them or changes what they mean.

The scribes, the teachers and interpreters of the law, objected to what Jesus said, and their objection shows how unreasonable they were. Their teaching was true in itself, that it is blasphemy for any mere creature to claim the power to forgive sin, because that belongs to God alone (Isaiah 43:25). But their use of that truth was false, because it came from ignorance and hatred of Christ. It is true that no one can forgive sins except God only, but it is false to say that therefore Christ could not, since he had already proved he had divine power.

Jesus knew in his spirit that they were reasoning this way inside themselves. That shows he is God, and it confirms what still needed proving, that he had authority to forgive sins. He searches hearts and knows what is in people (Revelation 2:23). God’s rights cannot be divided, and the one who can know thoughts can also forgive sins. This makes Christ’s grace even greater, because he knows people’s thoughts and therefore knows more than anyone else can know, including how sinful their sins are and every detail of them, and still he is ready to forgive.

Jesus then proved his power to forgive sin by showing his power to heal the man with palsy (Mark 2:9-11). He would not claim to do one if he could not do the other. “So that you may know that the Son of Man, the Messiah, has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said, “I say to you, rise, take up your bed.” This was a fitting proof in itself, because he could not have healed the disease, which was the effect, if he could not have taken away the sin, which was the cause. It also matched the point he was making, since healing diseases pictures forgiving sin. Sin is the sickness of the soul, and when it is forgiven, it is healed. The one who could do the sign by a word could surely do the thing the sign pointed to.

It was also a fitting proof for them.

The religious scribes, who thought in earthly terms, would be more moved by a visible proof of forgiveness, like a healed body, than by a deeper spiritual lesson. So it was a fitting question to ask whether it was easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk.” The removal of the punishment showed the forgiveness of the sin. If Jesus could go that far in healing, then he could certainly finish the work. See (Isaiah 33:24).

The sick man was healed, and the crowd was deeply affected by it, as in (Mark 2:12). He did not just get up from his bed feeling a little better. He rose up completely healed, and to show that his strength had fully returned, he picked up his bed, since it was now in the way, and walked out before everyone. They were all amazed, and rightly so, and they gave glory to God. They said, “We have never seen anything like this.” Christ’s works were unlike anything before them. When we see what he does in healing souls, we must say the same thing, we have never seen the like.