This is a passage of scripture which appeals to every level of Christian experience. It is good for Sunday School lessons from pre-schoolers to the teens and adults. And it contains enough mystery to baffle John Gill and John Calvin combined. There are lessons here for the seasoned child of God and for the child of Satan as well. It has an evangelical message, but also a message for the evangelist.
While there is much to talk about in this scripture, in one way it is difficult to preach, because you have probably heard it so many times, and in so many ways, it is somewhat difficult to keep everyone’s attention. Is there anything that I can say about it which you haven’t heard before? Probably not. You may be just like some of the people there in that stuffy room in Capernaum that day. “If there aren’t going to be any miracles, then let’s all go home.” Sorry, even though I can’t promise you any miracles this evening, I am still hoping.
One of the more baffling aspects of this scripture is its location in the holy cannon – where it is found in the Synoptic Gospels – the summary gospels of the life of Christ. Verse 1 suggests that after dealing with the Gadaran demoniac, Jesus and the disciples sailed back across the Sea of Galilee and returned to Capernaum, the center of Christ’s current ministry – “his own city.” However in Mark 2:1 – two chapters before the episode in Gadara, we read – “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” From there Mark gives us much of the same language that we have in Matthew 9. Then Luke 5 gives us the same story. And why didn’t Matthew mention anything about the roof? And why in Luke and Mark does this come before what they tell us about the events in Gadara? Either there were two very similar paralytic healings, or we don’t have them in chronological order. And do you know what? I couldn’t find a statement in Gill, where he even attempts to reconcile those differences. Apparently it isn’t important, and to that I agree. But I do believe that they are all talking about one event, despite the chronological problems.
This evening I am going to try to make various applications; at least one for every person here. Let’s think about the mis-diagnosed problem, the misunderstood provision and the missionary’s path.
Let’s starting with the MIS-DIAGNOSED PROBLEM.
Isn’t it true that one of the great problems in this world today is mis-diagnosis? The crushing national debt is due to the Democrats – if you listen to the Republicans. But if I’m not mistaken, when the Republicans were in power, they didn’t fix the debt problem. I have heard that the criminal is the product of his environment – either his parents or his surroundings. But why is it that there are so many obvious exceptions – criminals from the best of circumstances? Protestants point to the Catholics as the source of world’s problems. But then the Catholics blame the non-Catholics. I have heard a lot of Baptists blame everything on the Jews. And now we have the Muslim problem.
Christ Jesus re-crossed the Sea of Galilee and returned to Capernaum, probably staying in Peter’s house. And here once again he began to teach. Probably the lessons were about the Kingdom of Heaven or some such thing. The crowd that day was so large that the house and the street in front of it were teeming with people. Some there were yearning for more truth about Jehovah and preparations for eternity. Some were there out of curiosity; they had heard about this miracle-worker. Some wanted to see or receive some of those miracles. Some undoubtedly wanted only what they could get out of Christ, such as better health or government. Some listeners were hanging on every word of the Saviour as He spoke. Some were impatient, awaiting the start of the real show. Some of the curious had grown bored with everything, but couldn’t get out. Then all of sudden a little piece of ceiling or roof tile fell onto someone’s shoulder. The distraction was probably ignored until there was a second piece with some more dust. Quickly every eye was trained on the hole being created in the roof. The Saviour probably stopped talking for a moment and looked up as well. Then slowly and very dramatically there dropped down a sling-like bed, carrying a man paralyzed from just below the heart on down to his toes. He certainly couldn’t walk, and he may have even lost the use of his arms as well. Whether he was paraplegic or quadriplegic is unimportant anymore. Today the man is whole and more complete than he was on the day that he was born.
Why was the man brought into the presence of Christ that day? I can’t know the man’s heart, but my experience leads me think that he was coming to Christ in the hope that the Saviour would have pity and heal his paralysis. Here is a classic case of problem mis-diagnosis. The restoration that man’s limbs would be like putting a Band-aid on a bullet wound to the head. Some people think that the spiritual paralysis of America would be healed if prohibition was reinstated. Others say no, it’s because of our abortion practices that God has withdrawn His blessings. Others think that if schools could be forced to teach only truth, God would heal our land. Some want to rid government of the liars, liberals and lying liberals. Others see a solution in shutting our borders to drugs and aliens. These may be worthwhile desires, but they do not deal with the real problem in this country. The palsied paralytic man was plagued by a greater pestilence than paralysis. He was sinner leaning on a crutch planted on a very slippery slope overlooking hell. His malady was far worse than most of the people could see.
Christ went straight to the root of his problem and forgave his sin. Whether or not he ever walked again in this world was beside the point. To be healthy in Heaven is infinitely better than to be healthy on earth. “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” Amen and praise the Lord! Christ addressed the man’s real problem, not the perceived problem.
That brings us to the MISUNDERSTOOD PROVISION and the MISUNDERSTOOD PROVIDER.
I wonder how much about forgiveness and salvation from sin any of those people understood. And I’ll even include the disciples in that question. They knew that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed of God, the Son of God and so on. They may have begun to grasp the rudiments of regeneration, having personally experienced new life. But did they understand justification, adoption and reconciliation? I wonder. Fortunately for the disciples, they were open to instruction. And they probably had more of a foundation than most of the people who were before Christ that day.
Mark says, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Do not be mistaken about this – the Lord Jesus didn’t just talk about the forgiveness of sins – He forgave the man. As I’ve said many times, I cannot forgive you for things that you have done to someone else; I can only forgive you for the harm that you’ve inflicted on me. But the Lord Jesus forgave that man of his sins. The man had sinned against God and Christ, the Son of God, forgave him.
This highlights one of the common misconceptions about Jesus. And since we’ve dealt with it recently I won’t dig too deeply into it again. “Why doeth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” Who indeed? Absolutely no one. Not David or Abraham; not Peter or Paul. Not parents, not children – and certainly not prophets, priests or Roman popes. Those Jews who were so often theologically confused, got that point perfectly correct. “Why doeth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” Their only problem in this regard was their misunderstanding of the One doing the forgiving.
Briefly notice the deity of Christ in this scripture. Christ saw the faith of the people involved – not only in the paralytic, but also in his friends. He saw the KIND of faith that they had, and He saw that it was submissive to His will. Even though they may have come looking for restored health, they were willing and able to receive anything which the Lord had to offer. None of the gospels suggest that they were displeased with Jesus’ forgiveness. Then the omniscience of Christ could be seen in His knowledge of the unbelievers. The scriptures say that He knew their thoughts. “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” And then there was the inexplicable miracle healing. “Arise take up they bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house.” There was no one on earth who was curing paralysis in those days, including John the Baptist. This was a divine miracle.
“For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?” As far as the words are concerned, there is no difference – five words versus three words. In the Greek it appears to be the same number of words. But really the words don’t mean much at all. “Which is easier to utter?” And when it comes to the power of God, what is easier – to raise the dead body or to raise a dead spirit? Which is more difficult, to quicken a dead body or to quicken a dead spirit? The world would answer in the same way as most of the people present that day – to heal the body would be the more difficult. Then they would probably add – the body is certainly the more important. But the Lord first dealt with the fundamental problem – sin
Having addressed themes similar to these several times recently, let’s move on to something new.
The MISSIONARY lesson.
Using the paralyzed man as a picture of someone dead in trespasses and sins, how did he come to the Saviour? He couldn’t walk, ride a bike or drive his car over to where the Lord was teaching – his body was dead. Even if he could have crawled or used his arms to drag himself to where the Lord was, according to Mark, he couldn’t have gotten through the crowd into the presence of Christ. Someone either had to bring him to the Lord, or to bring the Lord to Him. That, my friend, is the work of the evangelist, the missionary, the Christian ambassador. That, my friend, is your work and mine as Christians.
We picture Burt Craft working in the hills of Southern Mexico or perhaps Rodney Spears traveling into the mountains of Peru, carrying the gospel of Christ. How are those native people going to hear or meet Christ without the effort of these “friends”? The illustration might be more crisp when we think about the rustic surroundings of some mission fields, but there is little difference between those situations and those in which we live. Our neighbors are just as lost, and just as separated from Christ as the most heathen person in the world. Without friends to make the spiritual introductions, those paralyzed by sin will forever stay in that condition.
Sometimes the work of the evangelist is relatively easy – but at other times it is extremely hard. Could we compare the work of the foreign missionary, like Judson or Carey, to the breaking of the roof? There is a wall – a roof – separating the sinner from Salvation. It is made up of ignorance – Satan inspired and human encouraged. It is fortified with superstition, racial prejudice, economic differences, language barriers and a hundred others impediments. But the true missionary doesn’t care what it takes to break through and to make the introductions. Do you suppose that there were wives and families at home praying for the sick man and praying for the success of his friends? You and I haven’t been to Brazil, but we have a missionary there whom we can support through prayer. There are all kinds of roofs and other barriers that they need to break through.
The Lord saw the faith of the men involved. There were four of them who lowered the litter into the midst of Christ’s teaching service. And there was one man in the midst of that litter who was willing to be dropped if necessary. “I am already paralyzed. Drop me onto the floor if you have to. Christ can heal that injury as well.” Who of the five had the greater faith? Does it really matter? From where did that faith come? Initially, it was the gift of God. One of the problems with most church visitation programs, including ours in days gone by, is a lack of faith. Can we go out actually expecting the Lord to heal the sin-sick soul?
Mark gives us the words of Jesus this way – “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.” I remind you that the primary purpose of the missionary/evangelist is not to feel good about himself, although he may feel some satisfaction about doing the work of God with the Lord’s blessings. And it should not be his primary purpose to be a blessing to that paralytic man. The ultimate purpose of the work of God – no matter what aspect of it that you are talking – is to bring glory to the Lord. That paralytic needs to pick up the residue or the effect of his sins, carry them home and burn them. He who couldn’t walk a single step needs to walk into the baptistry and in the presence of others, illustrate to all that he is now a new creature in Christ. It is the work of evangelism that all the world may say, “We never saw such a thing like this before.”
The wicked may say that it is blasphemy to talk about compete forgiveness of sins and assurance of Heaven. The majority of Protestantism thinks that positive assurance is heresy. Let them think what they like, I can assure that it is not heresy. The paralyzed man in this scripture was physically restored to a good, healthy body. But more importantly, by the mercy and grace of God, his soul was restored as well. I cannot think that he was forgiven without also being born again.
This is a wonderful story and it provides us with a variety of important lessons.