Sunday School was great. The stories were fun, and the lessons were simple. But for those of us who have experienced Sunday School, I think one problem that surfaces is that we tend to “graduate” from the stories we’ve heard countless times. What I mean by that is, because the stories are so familiar to us, we don’t bother digging into the details. One of my favorite stories is about Jesus healing the paralytic. I absolutely love this story because if we think deeply about it, it forces us to imagine the scene back then, to experience all the emotions that were present, and to consider the implications of the timeless words said. Let’s dive into Mark 2:1-12.

[1] And when he [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. [2] 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. [3] And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. [4] 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.

Jesus was quite the celebrity. His house was so packed that people couldn’t get in. I imagine everyone just trying to catch a soundbite from, or a glimpse of, this teacher. We see from time to time that plenty of people showed up not for the teaching necessarily, but for his power. Four men were so desperate to get in to the building they tore up the roof and lowered their paralytic friend down to Jesus. Now, imagine if the scene took place in a more modern setting. What would happen if a celebrity pastor was preaching to a large audience, and some random people completely interrupt the service, damage his home, and then ask for a favor? Well, many things could happen, but Jesus’ response is beautiful:

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

Wow, Jesus is so loving, merciful, compassionate, and… random! Right? Is it just me or does that response feel so out of the blue? What does forgiveness have to do with this? We’ll get into that a bit later, but did you catch what happened? This story is a bit different from the pattern of the other healing stories. Usually what happens is: 1) A person in need finds Jesus, 2) Jesus sees the faith of person 3) Jesus fulfills the need according to the faith shown by that person. But in this case, it doesn’t say Jesus looked at his (the paralytic’s) faith. Jesus saw their faith. The context really seems to show that Jesus showed compassion to the paralytic because of his friends’ faith! Isn’t that remarkable? It’s both clear and surprising when you consider that they were willing to do anything to get their friend to Jesus. 

[6] Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, [7] “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [8] 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? [9] Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?

As usual, the scribes weren’t happy with Jesus’ words. Now, Jesus said a lot of things that were simple to understand, but also many things that are very perplexing, at least to me. He asks whether it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” Why ask such a bizarre question? Well, let’s consider it. Which is harder to do? If I came up to a sick person and I told them their sins are forgiven, there would be no way to verify that. Any imposter or pretender can say that and walk away. But if I were to walk up to a disabled person and tell them to get up because they’re healed, then I would have to have some serious authority over the universe or would have to get really lucky in order for my words to be verified as true. In the plainest, demonstrable sense, it’s harder to to tell someone they’re healed rather than forgiven. Did Jesus pick the easy way out of the situation then by telling the man his sins are forgiven? Not quite…

[10] But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—[11] “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” [12] 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!”

Now that’s interesting! He didn’t pick the easy way out. He did what was much harder on the surface, and he used it to prove what was unseen in the spiritual realm, the man’s forgiveness. Jesus not only verified that he has authority to forgive sins, he demonstrated that his words were not mere blasphemy but were filled with truth. No wonder the crowds gathered around this Galilean peasant. He was something else. He still is.

So what do we make of this passage? I think there’s a few things to take home:

1) There is power in community.
It’s especially easy in this modern age to go solo with your faith. That’s a weakness of mine. Don’t be ashamed to share your thoughts, feelings, needs, prayer requests, and concerns with believers around you. Their faith just might be what catches the God’s eye for beautiful things to be done in your life. And it goes the other way around as well; help your believing friends out. They may not make it without you.

2) Faith is an action.
Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic’s friends. Sure, I’m positive Jesus perceived the substance of their faith in a way no one else could. But, more importantly, true faith is demonstrated in deeds. Jesus saw their faith, and so did everyone else in the room. Faith took apart the roof of the house. Faith brought the paralytic to Jesus. Don’t always get caught up in what you think and feel about God, because what you DO is a reflection of what you believe.

3) Forgiveness > Healing.
I think there are at least two reasons that Jesus went for the “easy statement” first. First, forgiveness is more important than healing because our spiritual state before God is more important than our physical state before others. Second, eternity is much more important than this temporary life.

4) We sin against God first and foremost.
After committing adultery and murder, David cried out, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4 ESV). Though these were clearly sins against Bathsheba and Uriah as well, David is grieved because the sins were primarily against God. Jesus illustrates this when he forgives a man who may have never seen him up till this point.

5) Guard your hearts against hardness of unbelief.
The religious folk saw the words spoken, saw the healing, saw the evidence to back them up, spoke with the man who knew their thoughts, and still failed to believe in Jesus. Why? You can’t have belief in the mind without humility in the heart.

6) Jesus forces us to assign an identity to him.
Lastly, why I love this passage is because it forces us to make some kind of conclusion about who this guy Jesus was. Though the scribes were set against him, they were on to something: Only God is supposed to forgive sins. If you’re deciding who Jesus was, what are your options? This quote by C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, is on point:

“One part of the claim [to be God] tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offenses against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, those words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.”

We’ve got two choices, he’s:
1. God in the flesh.
2. Man filled with “silliness and conceit”.

Lewis reasons,
“Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is “humble and meek” and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.”

At the very least, Jesus is worth thinking about.