Gospel of Mark Study #6

“The Power of Friendship”

Mark 2:1-12

Study #6 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

When I say the words “peer pressure” what comes to your mind? What influence do peers/friends have on us? Can you think of a time when friends got you into trouble and lured you off the right path? Can you think of a time when friends kept you out of trouble and helped you do the right thing?

When I was in junior high and my first two years of high school, I was like a feather blown in the wind. I had little backbone to do the right thing. I was so pitifully hungry for acceptance that I did whatever my so called “friends” wanted me to do. Believe me; that got me into all kinds of bad stuff. I was one of those kids who will do almost anything if it gets him in good with his “friends.”

TRANSITION:

Friendships are powerful, both for good and for evil. The Book of Proverbs has much good advice about friendships, about how good friends lead us in the paths of righteousness, and how evil friends draw us down the path toward destruction. It is undeniably true.

In our text for this study, we see four friends coming to the aid of a fifth friend to bring him to Jesus. Their faith in Jesus and their willingness to do something difficult and possibly even illegal on behalf of their friend resulted in great blessing for him and a powerful lesson in faith and friendship for us.

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 1: A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home.

·         Where had He been? In 1:21 He was in Capernaum, a small village on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, where He cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue, healed Simon’s mother-in-law, and then healed a whole bunch of people that night out in the street. But after that Jesus led His disciples out into the other villages and towns of Galilee where He was preaching the Good News. Now they have come back to Capernaum.

·         It is interesting that at this point the people of the town recognized that He considered Capernaum to be His adopted home. He was from Nazareth but the people there had already rejected Him and written Him off.

Verse 2: So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the Word to them.

·         We are not told whose home He was in, but it was probably Simon’s house. That is where He had been staying before when all the people came to Him to be healed. Wherever it was, the room was not big enough for all the people who wanted to see and hear Jesus. Apparently, the crowd filled the house and spilled out into the street, with people trying to push in close to hear His words.

·         Notice the focus of His ministry—He was “preaching the Word to them.” He was telling them the Good News, that God loved them and that He had sent His Son to be their Savior. His primary mission was not healing physical bodies but saving souls from Hell. That is still His greatest concern. Our physical infirmities are important to Him, and it is OK to pray about them, but God is much more concerned with the condition of our eternal souls.

Verse 3: Some men came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four of them.

·         The Greek word describing this man is paralytikon, meaning “paralyzed.” The King James Version uses the word “palsy.” He may have trembled, but his main physical infirmity was paralysis.

·         Observe that this man could not get to Jesus by himself. He was unable to walk or crawl or move himself in any way. We do not know how he came to be paralyzed. Perhaps he suffered a fall or was kicked by a horse. There are many ways that it could have happened. We are also not told how long he had been in this condition. All we know is that without the help of his four friends he would never have had a chance to meet Jesus. They were a vital part of this man’s story. 

Verse 4: Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

·         From this verse I conclude that first they tried to make their way to Jesus by pressing through the crowd. But that was unsuccessful. People would not give way and let them through. People can be very selfish and cruel. It often happens that when someone is trying to make his way to Jesus other people get in the way. They try to dissuade the seeker saying, “He cannot help you. Besides, he is probably too busy right now. Come back later.” Or they will say, “Don't be stupid! There is nothing wrong with you. You don't need him.”

·         But these four guys did not let an unhelpful and discouraging crowd turn them away from what they had come to do.

·         The houses in those days usually had a stairway to the roof that ran up one side of the house. People would go sit up there in the cool of the evening, would often eat their meals up there, and would even sleep up there when the weather was unbearably hot. This stairway would have allowed the four bearers to carry their paralytic friend up without difficulty. The roofs were usually made of wooden beams overlaid with lath strips. Then this would all be overlaid with a composite of dirt, dung, and grass, or plaster, or tiles.

·         Look back at the verse again: “... they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” Can you imagine the audacity of these guys? Chances are they did not even know the owner of the house, but they did not let that stop them. They literally tore the roof apart to make an opening above Jesus’ head. And it was not a small opening either! It had to be big enough to let the man’s whole bed through.

·         Imagine the scene inside the house. Jesus is talking, preaching, teaching, and healing. Everyone is listening intently. Suddenly sunlight bursts into the room as dirt and dust and pieces of wood start raining down on everyone’s heads. They all look up as this paralyzed man is let down through the ceiling by four ropes. The four guys carefully drop their friend right down in front of Jesus.

·         Personally, I think this was Simon Peter’s house. Can you imagine what was going through his head as he saw these guys demolishing his house? Maybe Jesus leaned over and said to him: “Relax, Peter. I’m a carpenter, and I can fix that hole for you after everybody leaves.”

Verse 5: When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

·         “When Jesus saw their faith...” Whose faith? Whose faith was really on display here? So far neither the paralytic nor any of his friends have uttered a word to Jesus. They just demonstrated their faith by acting. Maybe this means the faith of all five of them. Maybe it was the paralyzed guy’s idea from the beginning. Maybe he called up four of his best buddies and said, “Hey, I heard that Jesus is back in town, and I need your help to carry me over to that fisherman’s house so that maybe I can get healed.” Then again, maybe his four buddies came by his house and said, “We have talked it over and we are taking you to Simon’s house because we think that Jesus just might be able to heal you if we can get you close to Him.” We do not know how it all went down and, in a way, it is not important.

·         When Jesus looked at this situation, He saw their faith. He saw five guys that were willing to risk a lawsuit and getting beat up by an angry fisherman just to get their friend in front of Jesus.

·         But listen to Jesus’ words... He did not say what everyone expected Him to say. Those who believed in Him thought that He would say to the man, “Be healed! Get up and walk!” Instead of that He said: “Child, your sins are forgiven.” You could have heard a pin drop in the place. The four guys holding the ropes have their faces stuck through the hole in the roof to see how Jesus would heal their friend. But instead of that, Jesus forgave the man’s sins.

·         Why did Jesus address the young man as “Child” [Gr. téknon)? Possibly just as a term of endearment, although Jesus did not know this man. But maybe He used it to remind all of us that when we come to Him, we are to come with the faith of a little child.

·         Some of them there might have thought to themselves: “Well how many sins can a paralyzed guy even have? He doesn’t get out much.” But Jesus zeroed in on the biggest problem that all of us have, even quadriplegics. Our biggest problem is sin, not sickness. Jesus was using this occasion to teach everyone assembled there an important lesson. And the lesson is just as valid for us today. Our problem is spelled… SIN.

Verses 6-7: Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

·         Two studies ago, I described the three main groups of religious leaders in Israel: (1) Pharisees (ultra-conservative legalistic fundamentalists); (2) Sadducees (theologically liberal sceptics); and (3) Scribes, who hand-copied the OT Scriptures for a living and who were the main teachers of the Law, because they knew it backwards and forwards.

·         After Jesus said those words, the Scribes immediately began grumbling among themselves. They were very bright and the conclusion they came to was correct. Indeed, only God can forgive sins. So, the question comes down to... who is Jesus? If He is God in the flesh, the Son of God sent to be the Savior of the world, then everything is good. But if He is not God, then He is a blasphemer, claiming to be able to do something that He cannot do. 

Verse 8: 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?”

·         It does not say that Jesus heard their words. They were speaking quietly among themselves. But Jesus could read their thoughts and He knew what was in their hearts. He confronted them head on.

Verse 9: Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk?’

·         Jesus rebutted their questions with a question of His own. Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, take up your mat and walk? Which of those is easier to say? The Scribes probably started counting the number of words in each of those phrases. But Jesus did not give them a chance to answer Him back. He was not inviting a dialogue with these clueless self-righteous, self-important religious leaders. Jesus was here to make a point, and He was using the paralytic man to do it.

Verses 10-11: But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

·         I love this verse! This whole thing was a setup from the beginning. Jesus was in charge, and He was using this as an occasion to run His flag up the pole to let them all know who He really was.

·         Jesus zeroed right in on the relevant issue—authority! Jesus not only had the power to heal, but He also had the authority to forgive sins, because He was God clothed in human flesh. However, from a human standpoint, any fool could pronounce the words, “Your sins are forgiven.” Who would know whether they were or were not? You cannot see forgiveness with your physical eyes. It is not scientifically verifiable. So, to prove the validity of the invisible act, Jesus performed a visible act of healing. The visible proved the invisible. 

Verse 12: 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!”

·         Capernaum was not a big town. It only got up to about 1,500 inhabitants in its heyday. Everybody in that town knew practically everybody else. This paralyzed guy was not some stranger from out of town, just brought in for the day. He was one of them, and so were the four friends who busted out the roof tiles to drop him down from above. They all knew that the guy really was paralyzed. His problem was not some weird kind of psychosomatic illness. It was not in his head. He was not a hypochondriac, inventing his own illness.

·         Now, right in front of all of them the guy stands up, reaches down, and rolls up his pallet, and heads out the door toward his home. What a sight that must have been!

·         The Greek word Mark uses here for “amazed” is existemi, which literally means “to stand out from.” In Mark 3:21 it is translated, “to be beside oneself.” It means to be completely astonished and amazed, almost to the point of losing control of your emotions. In other words, the whole crowd, including the Scribes and the four friends of the paralytic man, were totally overcome with joy and amazement. They were beside themselves.

·         Look at their response: “... They praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’” So, what made this healing different from all those others that Jesus had performed right there in town just a few days before? Remember back in chapter one when He healed many who came to Him that night and then again, the next morning? Many people got healed then, and He also cast demons out of a bunch of people. Why is this healing different?

·         Because this time Jesus performed a much bigger miracle—He forgave a man’s sins, right there if front of everyone! And all the people present knew that He had really forgiven those sins because He validated it with the accompanying miracle of healing the man physically. 

CONCLUSION:

I believe that the greatest need in the heart of every person and the thing we all crave the most is to know three simple things:

1.       That we are loved unconditionally,

2.      That we have truly been forgiven of the evil things we have done,

3.      That we will go to Heaven to be with Jesus when we die.

These are more important than physical health or material wealth in this life. If rich men thought that they could buy these three things, they would gladly give up their fortunes in exchange. The Good News of the Gospel contains these three assurances and many more.

·         We are loved unconditionally, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

·         We have been forgiven, “If we confess our sins, He is faith and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

·         We will go to Heaven when we die- “In My Father’s house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

Have you believed on the Lord Jesus to be your Savior and Lord? On that day when He healed that paralytic who was carried to Jesus by his four friends, many people put their faith and trust in Jesus as their Savior and Messiah. You can do that right now if you are willing.