Through the Roof, Part 2 - Pharisees and Scribes
Mark 2v1-12
8th March 2024
Last time we thought about this story from the point of view of the paralysed man's friends. This week, let's consider the reaction of the Pharisees and scribes.
Mark 2v1-12
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 paralysed 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 paralysed man, "Child, your sins are
forgiven."
Now some Scribes 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 paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say,
'Get up, take your mat and walk'?
But so that you may 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!"
As we saw last time, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, a crowd came to the house where he was staying, and He preached to them and healed the sick. Pharisees and scribes… had come from every village of Galilee and from Judah and Jerusalem (Luke 5v17). Why were the scribes and Pharisees there? I suspect they'd come to check Jesus out. Was He sound? Was He "one of us"? Was He going to cause trouble? Already John the Baptist had pronounced a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and Jesus had proclaimed "The kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1v15). The people said that Jesus brought "A new teaching – and with authority" (Mark 1v27). Change was in the air. They probably didn't like the sound of that at all.
As we saw last time, four men came, carrying a fifth man on a stretcher. They couldn't gain access to the house through the door, so they climbed up to the roof, made a hole in it, and lowered the man down to Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
That was absolutely revolutionary! The Pharisees and scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" They were half right, and they were half wrong. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" – nobody. So do the maths. There were two possibilities: either Jesus was a blasphemer or He was God. They chose the wrong answer. They were responding out of their existing theology and, perhaps, their fear of change. They could ignore the miraculous healings, the authority over demons, and the wonderful teaching. But how could this carpenter's son from Nazareth be God? Everything they thought they knew was under threat.
You and I know that the New Covenant Jesus brought was enormously better than the Old Covenant, but they didn't. Not yet, anyway. They should have known. They should have been familiar with the Old Testament and, in particular, with:
Jeremiah 31v31-34
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a
husband to them," declares the Lord.
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,"
declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the
Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the Lord.
"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts. Jesus had been baptised in the Holy Spirit when He was baptised in water, and before He said or did anything miraculous. Now, in the power of the Spirit, He had what St Paul calls a word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12v9). He knew what they were thinking. He knew they were calling Him – who is God – a blasphemer. Ironic, don't you think? - calling God a blasphemer.
He said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?" The answer is obvious. Any fool can say "Your sins are forgiven". It's not verifiable either way, is it? But if you say, "Take up your mat and walk" and he doesn't, you will look a fool, or a charlatan.
Can you sense the tension rising in that room? What's going to happen next? What would Jesus do? Can He heal the paralysed man? Might he fail? So far as we know, nobody said a word, nobody dared answer Jesus's rhetorical question, "Which is easier?" They just sat there and watched to see what would happen next. I suspect the scribes and the Pharisees just sat there simmering, with a "How dare he!" expression on their faces.
Jesus then said "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…" When Jesus called Himself "the Son of Man" He was identifying Himself as the fulfilment of the prophecy in Daniel Chapter 7, which includes these words:
Daniel 7v13-14
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming
with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his
presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every
language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass
away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
The Son of Man has authority, glory and sovereign power. The Son of Man is worshipped by every nation. The Son of Man's kingdom will never end. The Son of Man is the Messiah, and the Son of Man is God. Only God can be worshipped. He has all authority, including the authority to forgive sins. The scribes would have known what Jesus was saying in calling Himself the Son of Man, and they would have been horrified.
I like to think that Jesus had a dramatic pause – "pause for effect", as they say – at this point. Then after a moment to let all that sink in, He looked at the paralysed man and said "I tell you, get up, pick up your mat and go home."
I expect there were a few more seconds while the man responded to that because, when you've been told that, I think you'd think "Will it work? What if I fall over? I've been let down enough, thank you very much, I've been disappointed before". But somehow he had faith. Perhaps there was something in the authority of Jesus that he could believe that this was going to work. And he got up, and he took up his mat, and he went home. And they all watched him do it. I guess the crowd parted for him as he headed to the door.
Mark says "This amazed everyone". I'm sure it did! And They praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"' They really hadn't! They'd seen Jesus healing people before but they'd never seen Him do so as proof that He had the authority... to forgive sins.
Please don't stone me for being a little less literalistic than some of us might be but I don't think Mark means that everyone, including the Pharisees and scribes, praised God". I think he means "everyone else". I just can't see them worshipping God for what just happened. We know from many passages later in the Gospels that most Pharisees and scribes continued to oppose Jesus until, eventually, He was betrayed and executed. In my mind's eye, I see the ordinary people rejoicing while the Pharisees and the scribes sit stony-faced, working out their lines of attack, to oppose Him by any means possible.
William Barclay, in his commentary, says, "In this incident Jesus signed his own death warrant."
How tragic that some people take offence at Jesus! Even today people take offence at the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of God, the Saviour, the Redeemer. Some people will oppose Him using any attack line. But you and I are so blessed because we've seen the truth. Jesus is Lord, Jesus is kind, Jesus is good, Jesus is Saviour and Healer. Our eyes have been opened. How blessed we are!
We can joyfully accept Jesus as God, who came to earth, taught, healed, drove out demons, and then died for us and rose again. Or we can reject Jesus as a fraud or a madman, as a threat to the established order, a threat to the way we currently think, and seek to oppose Him. We can welcome Him and submit to Him or we can fight Him, or we can ignore Him. We can receive the forgiveness of sins that He offers or we can pay the penalty for our sin ourselves. I've made my choice.