The Miracles of Jesus - Healing the Paralytic

Three of the four gospel writers record the miracle of a paralytic man's friends exercising their faith to overcome obstacles in order to get this man to the feet of Jesus. But Jesus doesn't just heal him of his physical ailments. He does something that sends some of those present into a frenzy!

Transcript

 Thank you once again for listening to Cultivating Growth. We're excited that you've chosen to follow along and study with us. This month we've been kind of spending some time on various of the Jesus's miracles, and we've spent the last couple of weeks in a lot of ways in in the Gospel of John, in John chapter six with the feeding of the 5,000, and in John chapter 11 with the raising of Lazarus.

And now we're gonna talk about a miracle. Of, uh, Jesus healing, uh, a man who was paralyzed and he, he did this often. But there's some unique things in the midst of this story that I think are interesting that we'll spend some time talking about. Well, we will primarily spend our time in Mark chapter two, but the story is told in Matthew chapter nine and Luke chapter five as well.

We may make mention of those along the way, but there's a lot of interesting things that happen in the midst of this. We get great insight into, uh, a day in the life of Jesus with this story that we've talked a little bit about, uh, as well. And so I'm sure we will get into that discussion, but let's get right to it.

Jeremy, you mentioned we're gonna be primarily in Mark chapter two, but this is one of those miracles where three of the four gospel writers record. Uh, what happens here and, and I think it's no surprise that they do. Because this is one of those instances where it isn't just a miracle that's performed.

And I even hate to use that phrase, just a miracle. I mean, anytime a miracle is performed, it's not just a miracle, but this one has layers to it. Uh, there is faith seen on the part of those who are going to help this paralytic. There's obvious faith in the paralytic himself. And then Jesus, in order to showcase his power over both sin as well as the physical body is going to heal him and forgive him of his sins in the face of the Pharisees who are gonna be calling him a a blasphemer because of his claim to be able to forgive sins.

And so there's just multiple layers to this miracle that is performed, and that is probably why three of the four Gospel writers record what transpires here. But it, it's also a miracle, I think probably because of its almost theatric sense and feel to it. It's depicted a lot in cinema or pictures or those kinds of things.

It's a miracle that children learn about, because again, they can kind of show how this transpires as they kind of bring someone down through a roof and those kind of things. Uh, but it, but again, there's so much. Depth to this beyond just the amazing things that transpire. It's the deep spiritual lessons that Jesus is teaching, and we've talked about how that's one of the reasons he does these kinds of miracles are to challenge people to believe in who he is, but also it opens the door to him to teach a variety of different, important spiritual concepts to people.

And this is certainly one of those where he takes the opportunity to do that. Yeah, there's no question about that. I mean, there, there are some unique things that occur with this story. I mean, there's no question about that, but I do think it's interesting that the kind of start and set up to this. It isn't unique.

Yeah. And, and I think, you know, maybe we need to kind of start, you know, with that idea. I mean, certainly the miracle itself and the way that this man gets to Jesus is a very unique part of the story, but the setup to everything isn't unique. I mean, we find Jesus being, uh, in a house in Capernaum and, uh, so many people wanting to get to where he is.

That, you know, the text tells us that you, you couldn't even get to not, not just get through the door. You couldn't even get to the door. Yeah. And I, I think it's important for us to take note that just here in Mark chapter two or, or as Matthew and Luke tell this story, that that's not just one day when Jesus was in Capernaum, you wouldn't have believed what happened.

People found out where he was and they just thronged to be around him. That, that was every day. Yeah. People were finding out where he was and, and they were thronging to be around him and, and to push close to him whether he was in a house as he was here or whether he was out. Mm-hmm. Uh, and moving about town or teaching, he just seemed to have people around him literally all day long.

And, and the level of people now this is a very visual, you know, kind of story in that. You couldn't get to the door. There were so many people, uh, bringing Jesus the lame, the blind, the sick, and you just simply couldn't get there. And because of that situation, the rest of this story unfolds. But the beginning of this isn't unique to the story.

Mm-hmm. That, that's a day in the life of Jesus regularly. Yeah. Not unique. I think it also kind of highlights all of the different kinds of people that wanted to be around Jesus. You had followers. His disciples and others who were followers of Jesus, they believed in him. They wanted to be near him. They wanted to hear him teach those kinds of things.

You also had a lot of people who were curious about hearing what he might say. Maybe they're still unsure as to what they really think of him. But there is a level of curiosity that moves them to try to hear what he has to say or see what he's gonna do. And then you have the sick and the lame and the blind and all the ones that were seeking to be healed by him.

They would certainly be drawn to him. And then also you have the Pharisees who are kind of following him around to some degree, uh, trying to figure out exactly who this guy is, what he's doing. Can they catch him doing something that he shouldn't be doing, that they could hold against him? So you have all these different kinds of people that are all present around this house, and so you kind of picture in your mind you have certainly those who want to be there because they believe in him.

You have a lot of sick people. It's, it's a chaotic situation most likely. I mean, there are people probably elbowing their way to try to get closer to him. Certainly if you're sick, you're certainly trying to work your way in there. It can be a chaotic situation, but the way that Jesus handles those chaotic situations with such calm is always impressive to me.

I mean, if I was in a, a, a small room and people were just pressing against me and trying to get in the door and people shouting my name and. Sick people trying to get to. I mean, it would, it would be extremely stressful for anyone in that situation. But Jesus always handles himself with such poise in those moments, and we've made this point a couple of times over the course of this study this month.

But he's constantly thinking about what those in the audience might need to hear or see. So much so that in this particular miracle, he's thinking about the Pharisees, right? Who are there to try to trap him. He's thinking about not just the paralytic, but also everyone else. What do they need to hear?

What do they need to. See, what can I do for them? He's just so keenly aware of everything that's going on around him. Yeah, I love verse two of, of Mark chapter two, kind of as, as we're kind of setting the scene. Uh, he's, you know, he's entered, uh, Capernaum people here that is at this house. And then verse two, immediately, many gathered together.

So there, there was no longer room to receive them. Not even near the door. And he preached the word to them right here, here is Jesus saying, well, listen, if you, if you guys, if you guys are gonna be here, I, I've got some teaching. And so it, it is his understanding of the situation, understanding of, of what people need.

And so you have this incredible setup, you know, to what this story is. And then, and then kind of the miracle itself begins to take shape. After we're given that setup, we're told about now this, this paralytic who certainly cannot get, you know, to Jesus himself. He, he has some, some men who help them, friends, uh, acquaintances.

It would seem that they, mm-hmm. This is something, you know, that they would know who he is because of the links that they go and, uh, and they do. Whatever they can to get to Jesus. Yeah. And before we get to what they did, I think in that there's application. Yeah, I was thinking about that earlier today.

The great links that they went to to get to Jesus, that that needs to be our attitude. Zeke has come to, came to mind as well, uh, just to be able to see Jesus. He's. He's the stigma maybe of climbing up in a tree, uh, of being someone as short as he was. Maybe people pointing or maybe people whispering about him.

He wasn't concerned about any of those things. All he was concerned about, I need to get to Jesus. Yep. And this is what it's going to take. And so he was willing to do it. That's where these four men were. We need to get to Jesus. This is what it's going to take. And so I'm willing to do it. Yeah. And what they do is.

Take him up to the roof and remove some of the tiles of the roof and lower him down to Jesus. And I think to your point, verse number five is a really interesting one because it says when Jesus saw. Their faith. He said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. You. The, the faith that Jesus highlights in this particular moment is not necessarily the paralytic himself, but the ones who went to these great lengths to get him to Jesus, and, and that just says so much about, you know, these guys are still up on the roof.

You know, I mean, they, they don't, they're just kind of hanging out up there, I guess. I don't know what their plan is, but they're, they're still up on the roof. I mean, they've done some damage to this house. I don't know what it might take to fix all of this, but, but they know, there's just no doubt in their mind.

We get, we get this guy to Jesus and amazing things are about to happen. Just watch, and it, it, it just speaks to, to, to your point, the, the willingness to go the extra mile to be close to Jesus. To have the faith in him that makes you do something that seems ridiculous, but you do it anyway because you know, this is no ordinary man.

We're taking our friend to see this guy can do amazing things. And so Jesus calls attention to their faith in that moment as he does it. But then as I read just a moment ago. He doesn't immediately heal this man from his disease or whatever has caused him to be paralyzed. The first thing he does and says is, son, your sins are forgiven you.

I have to imagine for everyone standing around. They're like, that's not what I was expecting to hear in this moment. Uh, I expected to hear him say that this man can walk. 'cause that's what he typically does. Sure. He makes people, well, he heals people. I think only the scribes were excited. Yeah. That you're probably right.

Everybody else was maybe a little bit confused, but as I mentioned a moment ago. He knew those Pharisees and those scribes were standing nearby and he had a point to make to them as well. And he's gonna utilize the situation to make that point. Yeah, and to not to miss it really. Another miracle takes place.

I mean, right here in verses six and seven and eight, I mean it is if our six you have, but some of the scribes were sitting there reasoning in their. Right. Yeah. They're not, they're not whispering even. They're not talking out loud. They're reasoning in their hearts. And then verse eight tells us that Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned within himself.

So, I mean, in essence here, here's another miracle that takes place. Yeah. But what I love is, is what they're, they're thinking about or what they're concerned about, especially in verse seven. You know, they've got two questions. Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? He certainly is not. But their second question, who could forgive sins?

But God alone, they are on the money with that. Yeah. I mean, they, they are, they nailed it. They nailed, they, they nailed it. And, and I think Jesus would be like, uh, you are, you are exactly right. And, and it's a, it's certainly a point that he's making. Is, this is a claim of deity. Yeah. Um, it, it is him and he does so all over the pages of the gospels and he does so in several different ways, but this is one of the ways that he does so, uh, of forgiving this man's sins.

This is a claim to deity. Mm-hmm. A claim to the son of God. Yep. And that question that he's gonna then ask them is, okay, well, which is easier to say to this guy? Your sins are forgiven or arise, take your bed and walk. Well, we, we know the answer to that question, but it's a challenging one to the Pharisees and to the scribes that everyone's standing around.

It's a challenging question. And Jesus is gonna say, Hey, you know what? Don't even worry about answering it because I'm gonna do both. And so he takes, it's easy for me. It's easy. Easy for him. Yeah. Right. Don't, so don't even worry about, don't even worry about, you know, cuddling together and trying to come up with an answer, because I'm gonna do both in this situation.

And you know, you made the point last week when we were talking about Lazarus. How Jesus has all of the power. Mm-hmm. And he made that point in his resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, that he has power over everything. Life, death, sickness, it doesn't matter. Well, that that's a point he's making here as well.

I have power over everything. I have power to heal this man from whatever has made him paralyzed. I also have the power to forgive him from his sins. There is nothing beyond the scope of Jesus's power. And so he's making that point to these Pharisees. Both of these things are impossible to them. They can't do either one, right?

Jesus says, I can do both and I can do both, because I am God. And, and it it is. It's just something that they just simply could not, you know, kind of grapple with. And, and you know, he, he has this kind of side conversation, if you will. Then he does turn back, you know, to the paralyzed man, and he says to him, take up your bed, uh, and go.

Uh, to go your way to your house. And, and immediately, immediately he rises up. He takes his bed and he leaves in the presence. And, you know, the end of verse 12 is something we've talked a lot about. Again, the impact that this, it's always for a purpose. And he went outta the presence and they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this.

And I think that is a. A combo of not just him being, uh Right. You know, his legs being fixed. Yeah. But also his sins being forgiven. Yeah. Well, let's, let's end just a few verses down from where this story really wraps up there in verse number 12, because as this chapter progresses in. Chapter two, Jesus is going to point to his purpose and we, we've talked a lot about this over the course of this month.

Why is Jesus doing these things? Why did Jesus come in the first place? What is he here to do? And, and with the paralytic. He wasn't here just to heal this man and make him walk again, but he was here for a much deeper purpose and he makes that point as he's dining with Matthew and others, uh, tax collectors.

A little later on in this chapter and Mark, mark, chapter two, verse number 17, he says, when Jesus heard this, he said to them. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

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