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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to His
own town. Some men brought to Him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus
saw their faith, He said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to
themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain
evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He said to the paralyzed man, “Get
up, take your mat and go home.”
Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw
this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such
authority to man.
Matthew 9:1-8
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the
people heard that He had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that
there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the word to
them. Some men came, bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since
they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in
the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was
lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your
sins are forgiven.”
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking
to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can
forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in His spirit that this was what
they were thinking in their hearts, and He said to them, “Why are you thinking
these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He said to the
man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat
and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised
God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of
the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and
from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the
sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him
into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do
this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat
through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins
are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking
to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins
but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are
you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins
are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He said to the paralyzed
man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up
in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone
was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have
seen remarkable things today.”
Luke 5:17-26
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Change.
It’s a word we hear a lot. It’s a word we experience a lot.
Some people try to make change happen. Others try to keep it from happening. Still other pray that it either will or won’t happen.
Either way you look at it, change is inevitable in life and it seems to always be in our thoughts or the thoughts of those around us.
With this, a quick question:
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Change.
It’s a word we hear a lot. It’s a word we experience a lot.
Some people try to make change happen. Others try to keep it from happening. Still other pray that it either will or won’t happen.
Either way you look at it, change is inevitable in life and it seems to always be in our thoughts or the thoughts of those around us.
With this, a quick question:
Do you or someone you know need change today?
As we have examined the life and ministry of Jesus so far,
we have seen that many of the people of Israel were looking for change, and in
Christ, they were getting all they could handle. Whether it was His teaching, His
healing, or as we saw at the end of Matthew, Chapter 8, His power to dispose of
demons, Jesus had shown that there was nothing that He couldn’t alter if He
chose to do so.
As Chapter 9 begins, we find that trend continues.
For as the chapter opens, we find Jesus getting back in His boat and returning to Capernaum after His time in the Gadarenes. Capernaum is referred to as “his own town” because it was the place where He based His early ministry while in Galilee. Mark’s account adds that Jesus had “come home” to Capernaum which reinforces this point.
Once there, we read where Jesus is in the company of “Pharisees and teachers of the law” who had come “from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem.” Obviously, it was quite a crowd that Jesus was teaching the word to, a crowd so large that “there was no room left, not even outside the door”.
For as the chapter opens, we find Jesus getting back in His boat and returning to Capernaum after His time in the Gadarenes. Capernaum is referred to as “his own town” because it was the place where He based His early ministry while in Galilee. Mark’s account adds that Jesus had “come home” to Capernaum which reinforces this point.
Once there, we read where Jesus is in the company of “Pharisees and teachers of the law” who had come “from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem.” Obviously, it was quite a crowd that Jesus was teaching the word to, a crowd so large that “there was no room left, not even outside the door”.
Into this scene, the scriptures tell us “some men came
carrying a paralyzed man on a mat”. The men “tried to take him (the paralytic) into
the house to lay him before Jesus” but were not able to do so because of the
massive number of people present.
What were these men hoping for?
Wasn’t it change?
The men believed that if they could only get the paralyzed
man to Jesus then He would change the paralytic’s life forever. They obviously
had heard word of how Jesus possessed the power to heal others and had brought
many people back to full health after they had been suffering from all kinds of
infirmities. The men hoped Jesus could do the same for them.
Back to the scriptures. Imagine how frustrating it had to
be to travel so far carrying this man on the mat only to not be able to access
Jesus through the mass of humanity that had gathered. The men surely could have
just given up and left, opting to try again later but they didn’t because these
men were determined. They were so hungry for change for the man that they came
up with a backup plan to access Jesus, going “up on to the roof” and lowering
the paralytic “through the tiles into the middle of the crown, right in front
of Jesus”.
His preaching interrupted by the men, Jesus didn’t rebuke
or chastise them. Rather, impressed by the faith shown, Jesus says this to the paralyzed
man in clear ear shot of the crowd:
"Take heart,
son; your sins are forgiven."
Huh?
Why didn’t Jesus just say, “Your faith has saved you. Get
up and walk!?”
Because Jesus wanted the crowd to know, including the Jewish religious leaders, that He had the authority to do far more than they ever imagined and through His words, He sparked an issue with the local religious authorities that would eventually lead to His arrest and crucifixion over the matter of blasphemy.
For to this point, the common belief was that only God could forgive sins. No mere man could ever possess that power and anyone who claimed to have authority equivalent to God was obviously lying and showing blatant disrespect to the worshipped and revered Father and Author of all Creation. This is why the scriptures tell us that “some of the teachers of the law” were thinking to themselves that the words of Jesus constituted blasphemy when He claimed to have the power to forgive sins.
Well, these Jewish religious authorities must have been completely gobsmacked over what happened next. Because Jesus showed them that He not only possessed the power to change things but also the power to read and know their very thoughts, something no one else could do, no matter how pious and righteous they were considered to be. Here’s what Jesus said:
Because Jesus wanted the crowd to know, including the Jewish religious leaders, that He had the authority to do far more than they ever imagined and through His words, He sparked an issue with the local religious authorities that would eventually lead to His arrest and crucifixion over the matter of blasphemy.
For to this point, the common belief was that only God could forgive sins. No mere man could ever possess that power and anyone who claimed to have authority equivalent to God was obviously lying and showing blatant disrespect to the worshipped and revered Father and Author of all Creation. This is why the scriptures tell us that “some of the teachers of the law” were thinking to themselves that the words of Jesus constituted blasphemy when He claimed to have the power to forgive sins.
Well, these Jewish religious authorities must have been completely gobsmacked over what happened next. Because Jesus showed them that He not only possessed the power to change things but also the power to read and know their very thoughts, something no one else could do, no matter how pious and righteous they were considered to be. Here’s what Jesus said:
“Why do you entertain
evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
Jesus could have said either, right? Didn’t He have the power
to do both, to forgive sins and fully heal the afflicted man?
Sitting where we are today, we know He did but the people
in Jesus’ day didn’t, or at least they didn’t until He told them. Indeed, this
was the first time Jesus had claimed the authority to forgive sins,
interestingly enough something the people probably believed contributed to the
man’s affliction. In other words, many would have believed the man was a
paralytic because of the sins he had committed, that his ailment was a punishment
for being disobedient to God, the same God they saw as being the only One able
to grant pardon from sins. Jesus was out to change that assumption, showing that
He not only had the power to transform someone from the outside in but from the
inside as well.
And with that, He said to the paralyzed man:
“Get up, take your
mat and go home.”
And with those very words, the man “stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God”, leaving the crown praising God themselves, amazed and utterly awestruck. Some were even saying:
“We have never
seen anything like this!”
All of those present - the once paralyzed man, his
friends who had once carried him, and those in the crowd - all had experienced
the power and authority they once thought only abided with God. Now they knew
the same power was with this man Jesus, the man who had proclaimed Himself as
being God’s Son.
Friends, isn’t that what happens when Jesus enters into
any situation in life? Doesn’t He prove over and over again that He can and
will make the impossible possible and the improbably probable? Doesn’t He show
us time and time again that He can change any situation?
In our society today, some have faith in what He can do while others have doubt but in the end translation, Jesus has shown, is showing, and will always show that there’s nothing outside of the work of His hands, nothing He can’t change.
As you read this today, are you or someone you know in need of change?
If so, I hope you will look to Jesus.
In our society today, some have faith in what He can do while others have doubt but in the end translation, Jesus has shown, is showing, and will always show that there’s nothing outside of the work of His hands, nothing He can’t change.
As you read this today, are you or someone you know in need of change?
If so, I hope you will look to Jesus.
For indeed, no one else can do for us what He can.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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