Monthly Archives: May 2020

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN

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CHAPTER 2

YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 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. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?
8 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? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 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!” Mark 2:1-12

Jesus roused the anger of the Pharisees over something that doesn’t make sense until one recognises a profound truth hidden in Scripture from the beginning. From the Pharisees’ perspective, Jesus was a man and yet He was declaring this paralytic’s sins forgiven. To them He was blaspheming because He was taking on God’s role and usurping God’s position as the only one who had the authority to forgive sins.

If only they realised it, this was a set-up to show them that Jesus was indeed God! He latched onto their objection even though it was only in their thoughts. He was sharp enough to discern their reaction and set up a challenge. Two situations here – one inward and invisible, the other outward and visible. If He did the apparently more difficult thing – heal the paralysed man, would it not show them that He had the same authority to do the inward thing – forgive the man’s sins?

When it happened, the Pharisees had no answer but they were not convinced because they didn’t want to be convinced. Jesus was providing proof over and over again that He was God, if they would only weigh the evidence honestly. The common people were delighted but the Pharisees were frustrated.

This poses a serious question. In the Pharisees’ understanding, sacrifice was the ground of forgiveness, but Jesus was offering forgiveness without sacrifice. How could that be? What the Pharisees did not understand was that animal sacrifice was the visible evidence of a sacrifice that had already been made before time.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Revelation 13:8

When Jesus was crucified in time, He was revealing what had already been accomplished before time. The animal sacrifices of the old covenant were useless to deal with sin apart from the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Hebrews 9:12-14). Therefore, Jesus had every right to offer forgiveness because of the eternal redemption He had already accomplished and would make visible through the cross.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THEY STILL CAME FROM EVERYWHERE

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THEY STILL CAME FROM EVERYWHERE

40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Mark 1:40-45

Jesus had reasons for everything He did, but it is also understandable why people did not always obey Him. The “leper” who came to Him must have been through years of feeling helpless and hopeless, stricken with a disease which would never get better and condemned to be an outcast for the rest of his life.

Jesus was his one chance to be delivered from his isolation and his deteriorating condition. Did he wait for Him to visit his area or did he seek Him out? Whichever way it happened, he came face to face with his Healer and grabbed his opportunity!

Faced with a man in a pitiful condition, Jesus spontaneously reached out and touched him – something no-one would do and especially a rabbi because he would not want to be tamai. But it was never an issue with Jesus. Every touch transformed tamai to tahor in an instant.

What was it in the heart of Jesus that responded so spontaneously to the man’s plight? It was His compassion that brought immediate action. Psalm 103:13 – “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”

What is this compassion that brings a response from the heart of God? Does He see, not only wasted potential, but also the possibility of restoration because the sufferer has turned to face Him rather than doing nothing out of hopelessness and despair? What makes the difference between staying broken or walking in wholeness? A simple act – turning the head to face the one who can bear the burden – changing one’s awareness.

This leper acknowledged his condition. He was tamai – unclean. He also recognised that Jesus had the power to cleanse him. He turned to Jesus and made his request – “If you want to, you can cleanse me.” He put his confidence in the one who could do it. It was up to Jesus and He responded in pity. Done!

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – IN A SOLITARY PLACE, HE PRAYED

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IN A SOLITARY PLACE, HE PRAYED

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Mark 1:35-39

The disciples were in for a rough ride! They were called to follow a most unusual man. Whoever went out before dawn to seek solitude to pray? Those who took prayer seriously went to the synagogue or prayed the written prayers of the Bible or the prescribed prayers of their religious system, but to go out into the night alone?

They also didn’t understand that Jesus wanted to be alone. They intruded on His private prayer time because people were clamouring after Him. His response was lovely. He was unfazed by this burst of popularity. What the people thought or said about him was irrelevant. His heart was set on His mission. He was here on kingdom business. He focussed on telling and showing people that they were immersed in God and that He was a good God, not anything like what their religious leaders taught and represented; a loving, kind and merciful God who cared about them and wanted to restore their lives to wholeness – shalom. It was a message for everyone, not just for those in Capernaum. He had to tell the good news everywhere and He had a limited time in which to do it because there were those who hated what He was doing and would eventually have Him killed for doing it.

If we were to track Jesus’ path, we would find that He criss-crossed the whole of Israel and beyond in three and a half years. Is it possible that He visited every town and village in the land? He was not caught up in people’s need to the extent that He lost sight of the bigger picture – hence the many hours He spent in prayer with the Father. He was lining up His “flute” with the “wind” so that God could play His “tune” through Him.

An imitator of Jesus, then, is someone who sees what He sees and copies what He does, not in a mindless but in a purposeful way to achieve the same result – ECHAD with God.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THEY TOLD JESUS

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THEY TOLD JESUS…

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Mark 1:29-34

Fishing, fishing, fishing! After the synagogue service, the two lots of brothers and Jesus went to Peter and Andrew’s house. Another crisis! Peter’s mother-in-law was gravely ill. She had a burning fever – the whole household came to a standstill. Jesus walked right into the situation and took charge. He reached out and took her hand – from tamai – unclean – to tahor – clean – in an instant. Jesus didn’t bat an eyelid. He moved in the environment of God where everything was tahor and perfect.

What went on in the household in that moment? Amazement, excitement, joy? One minute she was really sick and in the next instant, completely well – and all He did was touch her. It was as though her illness was a minor interruption that was over in a flash.

Well, that did it! The news was out and the whole community erupted into pandemonium. Hope rose in every sick person’s heart. Every loved one moved. “I’ve got to get…. to Jesus.” They waited impatiently for the sunset that heralded the end of the Sabbath so that they could legitimately carry their sick folk to Jesus. Not one person did He send away unattended.

What were the people thinking? “O boy, have we got it made! A healer in town and all our troubles are over.” A resident miracle-worker who would take care of all their needs? Is that why Jesus came or what He wanted? He could have won the popularity poll for the greatest beneficiary to the community hands down.

But Jesus hadn’t come as a magic cure for all their ills. What He did was a demonstration of the eternal kingdom He was introducing them to. He didn’t come to run a clinic for sick people. His intention was not to be a one-man show but to teach and train His followers to do the same as He was doing – to be a walking demonstration of the nature of that kingdom He was representing, and to call people to participate with Him in blessing people with God’s favour and kindness. It would take people a long time to get it – to become givers, not getters!

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – “OUT, SQUATTER!”

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“OUT, SQUATTER!”

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. Mark 1:23-28

What is the essence of authority? Jesus knew what He was talking about because He knew the Father and had confidence in Him. He was not theorising or speculating. He was speaking from reality and experience. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, He confidently asserted, “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen…”! (John 3:11). During the last supper, when He undressed Himself and washed the disciples’ feet, John commented, “Jesus knew that the Father has put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God…” (John 13:3a).

John could not have recorded things like this unless he was divinely inspired. It seems, then, that the greatest authority comes from complete confidence in the one who has the authority.

Jesus translated that confidence into action in the synagogue in Capernaum. He was confronted by a shrieking madman who reacted violently to His presence. When Jesus spoke, the demon yielded, under protest, yes, but he had to give way because Jesus had the upper hand. Another demonstration of “fishing” for His disciples.

Jesus was not intimidated by the demon’s blustering show of strength. He confidently stood His ground because He knew where the authority lay. When it comes to a stand-off between His kingdom, where everything is perfect and orderly, and the kingdom of darkness, where chaos and ruin are the outcome, God’s kingdom prevails because Satan’s kingdom is all bluff.

In partnership with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, every child of God carries the same authority to restore order and calm in the chaos we have created by siding with the devil. When we can confidently align ourselves with God and purposefully believe in His plan to restore perfection, He said that nothing is impossible. 10