An aside as we begin this week.
Chapters and verse divisions are not part of the original text. Those were added much later for ease of finding specific passages
- Stephen Langton, a professor at the University of Paris and later the Archbishop of Canterbury, created the modern chapter divisions in the early 1200’s.
- The Old Testament was divided into verses in 1448 by the Jewish scholar, Rabbi Nathan, who numbered every fifth verse in a Hebrew concordance.
- The New Testament was formally divided and numbered in 1551 by the French printer Robert Estienne (also known as Stephanus) in a Greek New Testament edition.
- The Geneva Bible, published in 1560, was the first complete English Bible to feature both modern chapters and numbered verses.
Back to the text
The text of Mark is full of action. Mark moves from one event to another, without a lot of commentary, without a lot of transistion words. He wants to get right to the point.
I think it is important for us to remember that the Gospel of Mark is really the gospel of the kingdom of God. We need to keep in mind Mark 1:15
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 2:1-12
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 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!”
Tension can physically and emotionally drain you; tension can also energise and motivate. Tension can be a force that moves us.
Mark’s Gospel has several stories where we see the religious authorities struggling with Jesus.
Mark 2 has the first of these stories.
The news of Jesus is spreading. People are drawn to Jesus in such a way that people are doing whatever they can to get to him.
The text here says that Jesus was teaching and the people “gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door,”
One group of people “made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on”. They did everything they could to get to Jesus.
At the same time, there were “some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves”
Jesus confronts them. He knows what they were thinking. He wasn’t making assumptions like we often do when we think we know what others are thinking.
Jesus sets the stage for healings: physical and spiritual. There is a wholistic result in this encounter with Jesus that we should not miss.
Jesus is always inviting us to wholeness. Not just physical, but the core of our relationship with God.
I have had the privilege of spending time with brothers and sisters in East Africa [primarily Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya; but also friends from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania]. One of my takeaways from time with them is that we cannot separate the physical from the spiritual. We may profess that in the West, but our actions often deny this truth.
We are more like the “teachers of the law” than we often want to acknowledge.
Think about it.
- They have a system.
- They have studied.
- Their system makes sense to them.
- It is a system that requires they have faith.
- And all of that, and more, will be turned on its head if Jesus truly is the Messiah.
- Their ‘system’ is turned on its head because Jesus is saying, “Come to God”, whom He addresses as Father.
Consider one aspect of their system: forgiveness.
Forgiveness in their system involves an offering.
The Temple Priest carries out a ritual which involves the slaughter of an animal by which God forgives.
Yet here is a man (Jesus) offering forgiveness.
How can he?
The answer: He is God.
Those who are present are correct in saying that only God can forgive sins
And he has forgiven this man - whose act of faith in Jesus is the offering.
Yes, I know, that at this point in the story, Jesus has not yet gone to the Cross to make that sacrifice.
Yet what he asks of us after the Cross and Resurrection, is the same he is asking those who come to him before the Cross
Do you believe him, do you believe in him?
Do you believe that today Jesus can forgive your sins and make you whole?
Not just that Jesus lived.
That He taught.
That He did amazing things.
We can believe in some parts of the Jesus of the past.
But what about Jesus of the present?
Do you believe?
And if you and I believe, then what tension are you experiencing? For He is never done with us. C.S. Lewis explains that He draws us “further up and further in”. How is He drawing you?
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