From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part four of a series. Read part three.

Have you experienced the greatest of all miracles?

In our consideration of Jesus' healing of the paralytic in Mark chapter 2, we have come to the point where four men have lowered this desperately disabled man to the feet of Jesus through a hole they cut in the roof. We read in verse five that "Jesus saw their faith."

"Seeing" Faith

How did the Son of God see faith? It is interesting to note here that Mark, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does not use the Greek word that means "to see with the eyes." He uses a different word, the Greek word oida, which means "to know something, to possess information about something." To see with the mind. That is the point here. This is the Son of God who saw their faith. This is the discerner of hearts. This is the Lord, the creator God, who does not simply look on the outward appearance, but looks on the heart of a man.

"Jesus saw their faith." Faith means belief. It means trust. Faith always has an object. Biblical faith in particular - the kind of faith we see exercised here - clearly has the Lord Jesus Christ as its object. The four men have brought this paralyzed man to Jesus. They let nothing stand in their way. Not the crowd, not even a building. They have faith in Jesus that He can do for this man what no one else can do. They bring this man to be healed physically. They come expecting a miracle. But Jesus performs not one miracle, He performs two. In infinite mercy He performs not only the miracle they were anticipating, but also a far greater one.

Once again, place yourself in this scene. There is a hush of anticipation. We are expecting the miracle. We are expecting Jesus to heal this man. He has done it so many times for others in recent days. And we expect Him now to do it again.

The First Miracle: Jesus' Forgiveness of Sins

But what does Jesus do? He does not heal the man at once. He does not immediately relieve his severe physical problem. Jesus recognizes that there is a much deeper and more serious problem. There is a deeper problem in the paralytic. And there is also a deeper problem in some of the others who are present.

Mark tells us that Jesus says to the man, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And Matthew, in his parallel account of this event, elaborates even further. Jesus says, "Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." What would be your response if you had been standing there in the crowd? We can well imagine that some were thinking, "Be of good cheer? How can He possibly say such a thing! This man cannot even move! He cannot even speak! His condition is desperate! And Jesus tells him to be of good cheer, because his sins are forgiven? This does not make sense!"

And to the finite human mind affected by sin, it would not make sense. "Lord, how can you ignore his real problem? It is all well and good to reassure this man that his sins are forgiven, but do you not see the condition he is in? Are not you going to do anything about that?"

Jesus will do something about that, but He takes things in their proper order. This man's greatest need is not healing of the body, as desperate as that need is, but the salvation of his soul. That is the greater miracle that Jesus performs here.

Jesus says, "Son, be of good cheer." He addresses the man as "Son" - and he is indeed a son. The word that is used for "son" here has to do with lineage. We read in John chapter eight that on another occasion Jesus told the unbelieving Jewish leaders the truth about their lineage:

If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My Word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. (John 8:42-47)

You are of your father the Devil, Jesus had said to them. That is your lineage. But to this man he says, "Son" - identifying him for all to see as one of those that John spoke of in his Gospel account when he wrote, "As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be called the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name." (John 1:12). Jesus is identifying this man as one of His.

And He tells him, "your sins are forgiven". In the original this is a word that signifies a once-for-all action, completed in the past, never to be repeated. And the verb here is passive - the subject is the recipient of the action, because he could not do a thing for himself. This is perfect forgiveness. The word "forgiven" here in the original signifies that the man's sins have been put away, sent far away. As the Scripture says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).

Charles Spurgeon thought, and I tend to agree with him, that Jesus declared the man's sins forgiven first because the man may have thought that his physical paralysis was the result of his sin. This seems to be indicated by the fact that Jesus says to him, "Son, be of good cheer..." In the original this is a strong imperative: "Son, take heart! Take courage! Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven!" When Jesus was about to heal a blind man in John chapter nine,

His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." (John 9:2-3)

And so it is also here. It was not because of his sins that this man was in this condition of paralysis. His physical infirmity has been for the glory of God. But we read in verses six and seven of Mark chapter two that

some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Here the unbelieving scribes speak their own condemnation. They refuse to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. To them He is merely "this man." And they are always looking for a way to accuse Jesus, always looking for a way to trap Him. But instead, the Lord Jesus Christ springs a trap on them, verse eight:

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?"

The Second Miracle: Physical Healing

Again, we see the all-knowing creator God, the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Jesus has cloaked His glory, He has taken on a body of flesh, come in the form of a servant (Philippians chapter two), but God in the flesh still knows the hearts of men. He knew the believing hearts of the paralytic and those who brought him. He also knew the unbelieving hearts of the scribes. And Jesus says to these unbelieving scribes, verse nine

"Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" - He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

A double miracle. The God who heals the sick is first and foremost the God who heals the soul. The Lord Jesus Christ not only makes the paralyzed man able to take up his bed and walk, not only postpones physical death, but first He saves his soul from Hell, and causes him to walk in newness of life - eternal life.

Dear reader, have you experienced the greatest of all miracles - the forgiveness of your sins? Or are you still spiritually paralyzed under the burden of them? If you understand that you are a sinner, and you want God to forgive you and save you from eternity in Hell, please contact us. We would be glad to show you, from the Scriptures, how to be saved.

Next: Are You a Stretcher-Bearer for Christ?

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