Mark 2:6-8 - Who can forgive sins but God?

2:6,7

This is the first confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders recorded in Mark. Many of the later confrontations occured because Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath. This time no healing has yet happened. What has offended the teachers of the law is that Jesus has pronounced forgiveness. What right has He got to do this? This is just one of the many instances that implicitly state that Jesus is God. For as the teachers said, who can forgive sins but God? He was blaspheming for He was assuming rights that only God could exercise.

2:8

Jesus knew in His spirit what they were thinking. This could be just general awareness of what the teachers of Law were like and being able to tell from their faces and mannerisms what they were thinking. Or it could be insight given by the Holy Spirit. Jesus asks them why they were thinking such things. Now Jesus had not heard what they were saying, so the fact that He asked them this should have made them sit up and think. We all sometimes have thoughts that are ungodly or unworthy. When this happens we too should ask ourselves why we are thinking that way. This can help us to recognise the wrong presuppositions that lie behind the wrong thoughts.

Isaiah 2:4-6 - You have abandoned your people

2:4,5

The Lord will judge between nations, bringing peace instead of war. Again, we see a partial fulfilment of this. The gospel has influenced societies in the West more than we care to admit. Sadly, Western societies are seeking to divest themselves of all Christian influence as quickly as they can. They do not realise that in doing so they are sweeping away the foundations on which they are built, and it will lead to a collapse in society. Indeed, we already see this happening.

Given these great promises, Isaiah urges “descendants of Jacob” to walk in the light of the Lord. We might say the same to the church. We should walk in the light of the Lord, not the darkness of the world. For it is God’s ways that will prevail, it is His ways that will bring true peace and prosperity.

2:6

Isaiah now declares that God has abandoned His people. This is something that we need to face up to, and if we don’t we have a skewed knowledge of God that will lead us down dangerous roads. We think that God will not abandon His people. Israel thought that God would not abandon them. The religious leaders in the time of Jesus could not see that they, not the Roman occupiers, were the major problem. If a people refuse to truly worship God, if a people persistently refuse to walk in His ways, if they ignore His word, then such a people should expect to be rejected by God. But what about His mercy, what about His forgiveness? We need to understand the path, the process, that God’s mercy follows. It leads us to become aware of our own sinfulness, our own need to repent. It leads us to see that God’s ways are right and that He is faithful. God’s mercy does not allow us to continue in our sinful (and therefore harmful) ways.

Isaiah then goes on to explain why God has abandoned them, for His abandonment was not without reason. The people had become full of superstition from the East, and they practised divination like the Philistines. They were adopting the ways of the world, they embraced pagan customs. Sadly the church today is still all too ready to do the very same thing.

Mark 2:3-5 - Taking the roof off

2:3,4

Many houses in those days often had outside stairs going up to the roof. Roofs would have beams, these were covered with branches or reeds, and then this was overlaid with mud or clay. Such roofs could support the weight of a man. Anyway, we now have one of the most well known healing incidents. The four men carrying a paralytic with them, presumably a friend of theirs. Finding no other way into the house, they carried him up the stairs, and then dug a hole in the roof, and lowered the bed down into the room. This shows how confident they were in Jesus’ ability to heal, as well as their determination not to miss out on this opportunity, and their initiative.

2:5

Jesus made events take a rather different turn, one they weren’t expecting. When we go to Jesus we will sometimes get much more than we expect! The first thing Jesus does is to tell the man his sins are forgiven. Now why does He do this? Part of the reason, perhaps the main reason, is that folk believed there was an association between sickness and sin. We often have the exact opposite belief, ie there is no association between sickness and sin. The Biblical truth is that ultimately all sickness is a result of the fall, sometimes sin is a direct result of a person’s sin, and sometimes it isn’t. So Jesus may have been addressing a fear in the man that he was paralysed because of his sin, and therefore there was no hope for him. So Jesus declares the man free of his sins. He is free to be healed.

Complete notes on Malachi are now available

Complete notes on Malachi are now available on DundeeBeliever.

Mark 2:1,2 - Preaching the word to them

2:1,2

Jesus eventually returned to Capernaum, and people quickly heard about this. The house would have room for at most fifty people. The house itself and the immediate area was full of people. “And He preached the word to them.” Note again the stress that is laid upon Jesus preaching the word. All the gospel writers do this, and Acts and the letters all place emphasis on the word of God. It is especially noteworthy that Mark does. His gospel could be called the action gospel, with space being devoted to the actions of Jesus, with limited reporting of Jesus’ actual teaching. Yet again and again we see that Jesus (and Mark) considered the preaching and teaching to be central to Jesus’ ministry. It is so important that we appreciate this, for there are so many attacks on preaching of the word. Sometimes this is direct in terms of direct persecution in some countries. Even in the west there are threats to freedom of speech. But there are also subtle attacks on preaching from within the church itself. There can be attempts to downgrade the sermon, either in terms of the time devoted to it, or its content. We should remember that God created the whole universe by His word (God said ... and there was ...). So if we imagine that the kingdom is going to grow by any means other than through the word of God we are fools.

Isaiah 2:1-3 - In the last days ...

2:1,2

Jerusalem was built upon a hill, and within the city the temple was high up as well. Cities of other nations were also perched on hills. Hence the reference here to Jerusalem being the highest of the mountains, it means that Jerusalem would become the most important city. All the nations would stream to it. We need to remember that at the time Jerusalem was not that important. Assyria was by far the most powerful nation, and would be succeeded by Babylon, and she in turn would be followed by other nations. So so far we have not seen the fulfilment of this prophecy, but one day it will happen, and nations will stream to it. This will only happen when Israel turns to Christ.

2:3

People from all nations will want to know the ways of the Lord. This has happened, and is happening, to some extent with the gospel. People from all over the world, from many different cultures, are turning to Christ, to learn the ways of the Lord. But there will also be an even greater fulfilment of the promise.

Mark 1:43-45 - Don't tell anyone

1:43,44

Jesus sternly warned the man. Jesus was not interested in popularity for popularity’s sake. He had a mission and He knew what it was. For the time being He was to preach the kingdom of God, to teach the kingdom of God and to demonstrate the kingdom of God. Later, He was to go to the cross and die on our behalf. Note also that the temptation of Jesus focused on getting Jesus to go down the cheap popularity route. So the man was instructed not to tell anyone. Instead he was to go to the priests and following the Law of Moses he would be declared clear, so he could function as a normal part of society again. Elsewhere Jesus says that He did not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfil it. We have an example of that here, yet so often churches seem to teach as if He did do away with the Law (in the sense of its ethical and moral demands).

1:45

The man paid no attention to Jesus’ instructions. This impaired Jesus’ ability to carry out His mission. He could not enter the towns because so many people would flock to see Him in order to get healed. We need to remember that medical services were virtually non-existent compared with today. And even today, if someone has a credible healing ministry (or even incredible) many will come, because there are still many diseases and conditions that we cannot heal. Jesus went to lonely places, but the crowds still came to Him.