| February 20, 2000 | Which Is Easier? | Mark 2:1-12
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Mark 2:8b-9 "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"
In today's Gospel lesson we have a rather interesting account if you take some time to study the details. It presents an event of Jesus' teaching the Word along with an event of Jesus performing a healing miracle along with Jesus teaching a difficult lesson to the enemies of the Gospel. All these events are intertwined as only the Lord of the universe could do. It is reported to us in just a few short verses.
Perhaps by taking the intertwined events as a whole we get the simple message regarding the identity of Jesus Christ. Exactly who are we reading about here? Who is Jesus? The answer is, plain and simple, He is God. Now, does Jesus stand up and communicate that in so many words? Does He go into the Temple and shout: "I am God"? No. If you think about it for a moment you can probably imagine why He doesn't make such a statement. What might you think of an individual today who stood up and indentified themselves as God? It would be hard to believe that person and easy to think they were crazy.
Indeed, Jesus warns us to careful with such people. In Mark 13:5-6 it is written, "Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many." If someone did come and claimed to be God or claimed to be Jesus we ought to watch out that we are not deceived.
In fact, Jesus seems to never make a direct statement that He is God. He tempers His message to our human weaknesses. In John 8:58 Jesus speaks about Himself. "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" This seems like this should not been such a powerful statement. However, the Jews were listening to Jesus. Notice how they respond in John 8:59 "At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds." You can see by the Jews response that what Jesus said was very offensive. They were fighting words. They were ready to kill Him because He said, "I am."
This phrase, "I am" in the original Greek is "Ego Eimee." Ego is a fighting phrase. That is why you have those people fighting over the toaster waffles today. "Leggo my eggo." Actually, "Ego Eimee" is the gramattical equivalent to the name of God in the Old Testament, which is "Yahweh." It means something like, "I am, I was, I will be." It really is a testimony of God's eternal nature. He has always been and will always be. Never a beginning and never an end. Thus Jesus said, before Abraham was born, I am. In other words, He was saying that He existed before Abraham and He exists eternally. Jesus is saying that according to His divine nature He is God. This is why the Jews want to kill Him by stoning Him. They understand what He is saying, that is, that He is identifying Himself as God. It was equivalent to standing in the Temple shouting "I am God." Now the Jews took this as a sign of blasphemy against God and that is why they wanted to stone Him. This is why Jesus more often used subtle messages to teach His true nature. That is what we have in today's Gospel lesson.
Jesus gives the message that He is God by healing the paralytic. The man is brought to Him on the mat and those who were carrying him went to dramatic means to bring the paralytic before Jesus. Jesus heals him of his paralysis simply by saying, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Jesus just tells Him to be healed and it happens. He speaks the Word and things take place. This is just as God spoke the world in to existence, saying "Let there be light" and so forth. God speaks and actions result. He has a powerful word. So, the text reports, "He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all." The man was healed, going from paralysis to walking around carrying his mat. Jesus is here delivering the message that He is God because He heals.
The response of the people to this healing is reported for us to read also. "This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'" So the miracle was a dramatic miracle. The people thought they certainly had witnessed the power of God at work, for, as it reports, they praised God. However, did you notice that it doesn't say they praised Jesus. Is there a distinction? Well, of course we know that Jesus is clearly God as are the other two persons, the Father and the Spirit. However, the distinction is made here in our text. The people praised God and this does not indicate that the believed they were praising the one who did the miracle.
What can we make of all this? It is probably true that the people did not understand that Jesus was God. He had not made His Ego Eimee statement yet. He did not teach that point strongly early on. So, the people praised God, not realizing that the one they were praying was right there among them, God incarnated in a human being, the Word made flesh, God with us, the Emmanuel. Jesus was delivering the message that He was God through the healing, but the people missed it.
These four men brought the paralytic to Jesus to be healed of His paralysis. They were looking for a physical healing. This is why all the crowds had been following Jesus around. They wanted to be healed from their physical illnesses. You recall the readings we had the last few Sundays from Mark, chapter one, where so many came to Jesus that He was forced to go to other places, where the people were not found. He was followed and so many wanted to get their chance at a physical healing miracle. This is the reason Jesus left Capernaum, His hometown, previously. Now, in our text He comes back. It actually seems like Jesus is getting some teaching done. This huge crowd gathered inside and outside the house and the text says, "He preached the Word to them." This is what Jesus seems to have considered His more important activity. However, presented with a person who needed physical healing, He had compassion on him.
So here come the men carrying the paralytic and they went to great lengths to bring this man to Jesus. They carried him up on the roof. It seems many houses had staircases on the outside to go up on the roof. The roof was most likely clay on top of wood branches and beams. They dug through the clay and lowered this man down to Jesus.
Jesus is reported in our text as recognizing the faith of these men. They went to great trouble to bring this man to one who they were sure could help him. They would not have gone to all that work had they any doubts about Jesus. Rather, great faith was demonstrated. However, it wasn't the great faith of the man needing the healing.
Now that brings up a point for you to ponder. Does He ever heal an unbeliever? Does Jesus ever grab someone who does not believe in Him and His power to heal and take that person against their will and heal them? I can't think of an occasion of this mentioned in the Scriptures. However, we know that there was much that Jesus did and said which is not reported for us. "If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."
However, it would not be like Jesus to work against someone's will. He works within our free will. We have free will to reject Christ. We are not forced or compelled to believe. That kind of free will we have. Now, we don't have free will to believe. It takes the Holy Spirit to create faith in us. The Lord, however, leaves us free to reject that faith.
In considering our text, we can see that the men who brought the paralytic were hoping for a physical healing. As so many in Jesus' time were looking for physical healing, so today so many are also looking for freedom from disease and good health. However, have you noticed how we may tend to go to far? This is the Law, by the way. Just consider some of the efforts that we put into health care today. Look at the money the is poured into insurance and doctor's visits and prescriptions, etc. Look at the growing clinics and hospitals. Look at the shortage of doctors and nurses. We see that health care is a business from which many people are wanting to buy.
Now, of course the miracle of healing came come through the means of modern health care. I am not suggesting that we avoid making use of that. However, I wonder if we don't give greater importance to physical healing by the health care business than we do to the spiritual healing we get from God? How many will drop all other things if they have a doctor's appointment, yet when it comes for their weekly appointment in God's office, they so easily miss it?
If we neglect our spiritual health and instead seek after physical health, have we not gone astray? Are we not in the category of he who seeks to save his life in this world, who will then lose it in the world to come? Sure physical healing is good and desirable, but spiritual healing is so much more important.
Well, we have these four men bringing the paralytic, certainly looking for physical healing. Yet, intertwined in the healing of paralysis Jesus does the unexpected. In fact, before the physical healing, Jesus takes care of the more important matter. His first words to the paralytic are: "Son, your sins are forgiven." How much more important for this man to have His sins forgiven. How much more powerful for Him. How much more influential for his future. See, with his sins forgiven he could live forever in the blessedness of heaven. With only his paralysis fixed, he might be temporarily happy in this life, but having facing judgment for his sins that nevers comes to an end. Which is better? To have your sins forgiven is certainly better. This is the good thing this man needs and Jesus gives it to him right up front and right away. The man did no works to earn the forgiveness. He demonstrated no deeds deserving of forgiveness. In fact, it seems to be the faith of the four men carrying his mat which Jesus notices. Then He turns to forgive this man's sins.
This was certainly a surprise, and in this surprise, Jesus again gives a subtle message that He is God. He is God because He cares about what is most important for us-our eternal life with Him. He sees the big picture, from a perspective of eternity and he delivers this man into the security of that eternity by forgiving his sins.
Now, this forgiving of sins in our text is also demonstration that Jesus has the power of God. It is an act which only God has authority and ability to perform. Jesus is the one who does it, but it leaves the audience guessing. There were those who were experts in the Jewish law who were sitting there. They are the Scribes.
Jesus caught the Scribes thinking: "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" That's right, Jesus caught them thinking this. Here again, the subtle message that Jesus is God, for He knew their thoughts without them speaking it. This is something easy for God to do. The ease of this task is given by the text: "Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts." Jesus is God.
Jesus also demonstrates in our text that He is God by teaching the truth. He replies to the Scribes unspoken thoughts with the following: "Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"
You can take that statement literalistically and suggest that Jesus was asking which is an easier statment to make. The first is shorter. Your sins are forgiven or Get up, take your mat and walk. In the original Greek, the first statement is four words, the second is eight. So, the first is easier to say. Somehow, it doesn't seem like Jesus would speak in such simplistic terms.
Is He not instead asking which is easier to accomplish? Which is easier to carry out? Now His point to the Scribes would be that the easier one is the physical healing of the paralysis. So, they should recognize that He already had done the harder task, which was healing the man's sins.
You might have the comparison of the weightlifter, who gets up and first lifts 250 pounds. Then he goes after 100 pounds. Which is easier? Does he even need to do the 100 pound lift? No, if he already did the harder one, you know he can do the easier one.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.