Mark 2:1-12

Authority To Forgive

Devotional 9 of 50 · Mark chapter 2

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After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ See, I have told you.” So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.” While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the guards took

Mark 2:1-12 · BSB

¹A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard that He was home, ²they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them. ³Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men. ⁴Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked. ⁹“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? ¹⁰But so 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, pick up your mat, and go home.” ¹²And immediately the man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Jesus

Jesus is worth breaking down walls to get to Him. And at this moment in Scripture, He is worth cutting through a roof to get to. Even though this might have even been the roof of His own house, Jesus seems completely unfazed by this paralyzed man dropping into the house uninvited. What was Jesus seeing beyond this chaotic moment?

What Jesus says adds to the shocking scene and reveals where His mind was at; Jesus gives forgiveness to this paralyzed man. And this is not a simple forgiveness for the hole in his roof, but for all of this man's sins. Jesus saw past the obvious physical need of this paralyzed man to his greater need. Jesus saw his inability to walk in relationship with God; He saw this man’s eternal disability—his own sin.

Jesus offering forgiveness likely perplexed the crowd and clearly outraged the Pharisees, as they accused Him of blasphemy. The only person who can offer forgiveness for a wrong done is the person who was wronged. And scripture testifies that sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4). So the Pharisees are correct: only God can forgive sins. And they would be totally right in calling Jesus a blasphemer, unless He is in fact God. To further help them, and us, see His deity and understand that Jesus is God, Jesus healed this paralyzed man of his physical disability as well.

Jesus not only perceives the Pharisees' thoughts, rewards the collective faith of the friends who carried this man, but He also shows His glory in being the prophesied Son of Man—God incarnate, able to heal, and holy, able to forgive sins. The crowd was right in verse 12, “We have never seen anything like this!”

His Desires

Jesus does heal, even today. Yet, we see that alongside His desire to heal is a greater desire to forgive. And, unlike our current bodies, forgiveness from God lasts for eternity. This shows that He cares about our temporary needs, but He, rightfully, cares even more about our eternal need for forgiveness.

He desires that all know He has the authority to forgive sins. We cannot look to any other means or method to remove our sins before the Holy God than Jesus Christ.

In the case of the broken roof, we see Jesus is willing to let His (or other people’s) objects be broken and ruined for the sake of people knowing Him. The Bible doesn't say this wasn’t a big deal, but we can see that a life being forever changed at the cost of a roof is a small price to pay.

Follow Through

Seek forgiveness from Christ alone knowing He has authority to grant it.
Remove any barriers between you, your friends, and Jesus.
Rally a group of friends around someone that’s hurting and point/bring them to Jesus.
Rejoice and glorify Christ for His power to forgive!

Testimonies

This is where people will share how they actually obeyed this passage — and read what happened to everyone else who obeyed the same words.

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Comments

Coming soon. This is where readers will share how they obeyed this passage.