Mark 2:1-12

 

•           two in one – Mark’s story really combines two stories—a healing story and a pronouncement story.   The healing story comes as a triptych:  the ill man on the pallet; the friends who demonstrate faith-in-action; and the action of Jesus in response to their faith.   The successful healing also serves as a response to the argument that the scribes have raised about his unconventional healing ritual. 

•           niv – The story of the paralytic reminds us that forgiveness is central to healing.  Psychoanalysis has taught the 20^th century that deep-seated irrational guilt and self-hatred can generate imprisoning physical symptoms.  The story highlights another important feature of the social context of illness:  the faith of the paralyzed man’s four friends initiated the healing encounter with Jesus.  For many people, the most difficult part of enduring a severe illness is helplessness, the need to rely on others for one’s basic functions of daily life.[1]

•           early church comments – The administration of forgiveness, which according to the scribes is the office of God alone, acutely raised the question of Jesus’ identity.  Being God incarnate, of the same nature as God, he had authority on earth to act as God.  If Christ forgives sins he must be truly God, for no one can forgive sins but God.[2]

[3]

•           Do you have a network of friends?  If you needed to lean on someone outside your immediate family in crisis, what four persons could you call?

•           If you or someone you know has experienced serious illness, what has been some of the negative impact on the person?  Sense of helplessness?  Isolation?  Silent suffering?

•           In what way is sin like paralysis?  What freedoms has Jesus’ word of forgiveness given you?

 

•           confusing words –the text troubles the reader when Jesus meets the paralytic man with “My son, your sins are forgiven” and later to say “Which is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up and walk’?  Does Jesus mean to say that there is a connection between the two?  You may want to raise this question among your listeners. 

•           get up and walk – Reflect on our very good humanitarian efforts to help people get up and walk through advocacy groups and government assistance programs and shelters and strong volunteerism.   We are involved in health care needs through the social agencies:  “Get up and walk.” 

•           your sins are forgiven – The church too approaches people in a healthy way; we come with an ancillary cure that cuts deep into the soul.   We affirm the imperative, Get up and walk kind of help,” but we also dare to say, “Your sins are forgiven.”  We still need to hear those words.  They are words of hope for those whose lives are disfigured by purposeless, hopelessness, and warped by life.   Those words makes it possible for us to go out into the world with a sense of confidence that we are part of God’s creative answer to the needs of our time.[4] 

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[1] IThe New Interpreter’s Bible VIII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), page 551.

[2] Chrysostom and Irenaeus, in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture II  (InterVarsity Press, 1998), page 27.

[3] Serendipity Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1998), page 354.

[4] Adapted from Sermons on the Gospel Readings (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing, 2002), page 71.