A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Mark 2:1-12
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Experience the awe-inspiring power of faith and healing as we recount Jesus' return to Capernaum and His profound teachings. Can faith really move mountains? Witness the determined faith of friends who defied convention to see their paralyzed companion healed by Jesus. This episode sheds light on how tangible faith can be and the miracles that unfold when we trust in His divine power.
Reflect on the challenging yet vital role of faith in everyday life. Sometimes, faith calls us to act in ways that may seem irrational or even embarrassing, like sharing the gospel with those around us despite potential judgment. We'll draw inspiration from the unwavering persistence of George Mueller, a man who relied solely on prayer to support an orphanage, emphasizing the importance of placing spiritual well-being above material comforts.
Finally, we'll explore themes of persistence, forgiveness, and the transformative power of Jesus' love. Hear how George Mueller's lifelong prayers for his non-believing friends were eventually answered, illustrating the profound impact of persistent faith. We'll also address misconceptions about sickness and sin, underscoring that not all suffering is due to personal wrongdoing. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on the gift of forgiveness and learn how to share these truths with the world, ending with a prayer for strength and courage in our faith journey.
Here we are. Mark, chapter 2 will work. If your Bible is Mark, chapter 2, we have broken into chapter 2. Okay, no rush, no hurry. Verse 1 is where we will jump off today.
Speaker 1:Going through the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, the account of the life of Jesus, and backing up just a smidge here to chapter 1, verse 38, we will see that it was there in Capernaum, jesus, having lots of great ministry going on there in the city. Verse 38, he says after praying, he says let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth. So jesus spent a lot of time in capernaum, kind of a base of operations there. Um, and through prayer he comes to this conclusion that the will of the Father is to go to the surrounding villages. So picture it all these villages around the Sea of Galilee, little fishing villages, beautiful place, and Jesus is just kind of going town to town. He's sharing the same good news, the gospel there of what God was doing, and he moves on Well, in chapter two, verse one, we start with this and again, he entered Capernaum. So time has gone by and Mark's not so worried about chronological, but time has gone by, and again he entered Capernaum. So after some days, and, and Jesus goes back to Capernaum, the town of Peter and James, john, andrew, and he begins to minister there again. And here in chapter two, verse one, is a rather famous account Matthew, mark and Luke all cover this of the man let down through the roof. We'll read it, you'll see. So, chapter 2, verse 1. And again he entered Capernaum and after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house. So Jesus back in the house. So Jesus back in the house.
Speaker 1:We're going to assume not guaranteed, but we're going to assume for just the sake of some color here in the story that we're back at Peter's house Seems like a good place. Lots of ministry goes down at Peter's house and immediately, verse two, many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door, and he preached the word to them. So Jesus picks up right where he left off preaching the word, teaching the word. Can you imagine God in flesh talking about things like heaven, the heart of the Father, talking about things like heaven, the heart of the Father, all the secrets and things that you ever wanted to know about God Jesus is there teaching and they're just on every word that he says. They're packing out the house.
Speaker 1:Now, the houses in that area didn't really get any bigger than what we see here. Probably. This is huge. This area right here would probably be way bigger than a house would be. But 40 or 50 people was the max that we're talking about in these houses in that area and it was packed out. As Jesus taught the word and preached the word to them, they couldn't even get to the door. People are hanging out in the courtyard, people are hanging out in the yard all around the house to hear what Jesus says. So picture that the place is packed and verse 4, no verse 3.
Speaker 1:Then they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men and when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. So, as Jesus is teaching and preaching, the place is packed, a group, a squad of people, I guess you could say come, four men carrying a man who's paralyzed and the spotlight goes over to them. Here in Mark's account, the spotlight goes to them like some kind of sideshow act, it seems, and we picture it as they get to the house. They've got this guy, they're trotting along, you know he's on a stretcher, and they get there and they can't get in the house, it's too crowded.
Speaker 1:Well, you know the story they go up on the roof. Now, this was not a hard thing to do because the houses in those days had flat roofs and it became kind of like a patio, kind of a patio of sorts where people would go and hang out. So picture it, picture it here. These men, these four men, they head up on the roof and, what's more, they look at the roof and they've got an idea and they begin to take this roof apart. The word here, the word here, is kind of interesting in the Greek they unroof the roof. Right is what this is. They went up on the roof and they unroofed the roof. Right is what this is. They went up on the roof and they unroofed the roof because in those days, everything pretty natural, we were not looking at, you know shingles made of tar or anything like that. They had boards that were put across these roofs, these big beams, and then they would put palm branches, thatch mud and it was like layer of palm branches mud, palm branches, mud, and they would put these layers of dirt and like whatever they could find on top of the roof until it was about two feet thick. These roofs Pretty significant roof there. So as these guys go up and they begin to unroof the roof, they're taking layer after layer, they're peeling these layers off and the goal here is to get their friend down to Jesus. So a pretty detailed process here of doing this, but they're determined.
Speaker 1:Now notice, they had faith in this, verse five. When Jesus saw their faith the man, his friends, their faith. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven you. So Jesus saw their faith. Come back for a second here. Something we get from this faith is something you can see Now. Faith if we were to find faith, it'd probably be belief or trust. That's what we'd say if I said what's faith to you? Well, it's believing something, it's trusting someone. I have faith in them. But here we see that faith is something you can see. Jesus saw it.
Speaker 1:And we go back to what James says many times in his book Faith without works is dead. Real faith, honest faith, will do something, it will act. If it's alive it'll act. Now we're saved through faith, by grace. I'm sorry, through faith, but faith of outworks is is dead.
Speaker 1:And here these guys come and they show their faith. They show their simple trust that Jesus was the answer, or had an answer, to their friend's problem, and they believed it, and that belief absolutely changed their actions, right. So consider that their faith, their belief, absolutely changed their actions, and it was beautiful. So here's this guy. He's being brought to Jesus by, we would say, the faith or the trust, the belief of his friends, something we want to notice in this for this guy, this guy who's crippled. He's been that way we don't know how long, but he's unable to walk, and his friends had faith. His friends' faith couldn't save him, though that's important to understand about faith, faith has to be personal. We're going to talk about forgiveness that comes to this crippled guy and healing that comes to him. His friends had faith, but their faith couldn't save him. It had to be personal. His friends, though, had faith in who Jesus was.
Speaker 1:Now, they had no idea who Jesus was right. Did anybody really know who Jesus was? At this point in the book, no one had a clue. His disciples had some ideas, probably, but they had no clue. So they have an incomplete faith, but they had no clue. So they have an incomplete faith, but they look at Jesus and they go that guy, he does miracles, that guy has healed people, that guy is kind, right. So what they knew about Jesus he's kind, he's able to heal, he's powerful they didn't understand much, but that what they understood of Jesus caused them to bring their friend to Jesus and notice, they became a spectacle for their faith.
Speaker 1:I think, right here they come down the street. Now I picture them a little younger, right? Younger people don't care what the world thinks about them generally. Right, they come running down the street. They're like, let's do it, come on, guys. Yeah, going to Jesus, you know. And they're coming down the street, this little parade, carrying their friend. They go up on top of the roof, somebody's roof, and they begin to disassemble it. Right, vandalism, in the name of faith, right, I don't recommend that, by the way, but you know it was a big deal they start tearing the roof apart.
Speaker 1:Now there's this one cartoon I have and do watch cartoons from time to time it's Claymation actually of the life of Jesus and I love it because most of the people in this Claymation account of the life of Jesus and I love it because most of the people in this claymation account of the life of Jesus have British accents. I have no idea why they have British accents, but they do right, most of them have British accents. Peter, whose house we assume this might've been, he has a Scottish accent because he's a fisherman, for goodness sake, right. So here's Peter in this account and I think it's accurate. Honestly, I don't know about the Scottish accent, but maybe and he's watching as fragments of his roof start coming down into the house and he looks up and he goes what in the world? My roof, what are they doing to my roof? My roof, what are they doing to my roof? Imagine that's a big deal to tear apart somebody's roof To cause collateral damage. Because you believe Jesus can heal your friend. They were kind of a spectacle. What did people think of them?
Speaker 1:Now, faith will make you do crazy things from time to time. Faith will make you do crazy things from time to time. A lot of times people won't understand the things you'll do, because I feel like God's telling me. Now, know what God's telling you. Don't just do random things. But sometimes living by faith can be embarrassing, right? Think about just the ground floor of this.
Speaker 1:We believe in God, we believe Jesus is the only way to the father, the only way for forgiveness, and we believe heaven is a real place. We believe hell is a real place, and so we have friends, and it panics us to say stuff like this, but we must say to our friends, to our families sometimes you got to trust Jesus. You can't trust your works. You got to trust Jesus. This is a real deal. Heaven is real. Hell is real. The truth is that we're all sinners and we need a savior, and Jesus is it. And I tell you, I panic when God's leading me to say something like that to someone, and half the time, honestly, I chicken out.
Speaker 1:But God calls us for our faith to sometimes make a stir and our heart beats, you know, and we worry. What are people going to think? They're going to think I'm some kind of crazy or something. And yet sometimes our faith will move us to do these kinds of things uncover a roof, have a conversation. That's heavy and real, but that's what faith does. And why did they do it? Well, they believed it for one.
Speaker 1:But check it out. They believed that their friend was more important than the things that they were losing. Check it out their friend was worth more than that roof. And a lot of times in our world today we don't feel that way about people anymore, do we? We hear a lot of numbers on the news A thousand people October 7th perished. And we go oh, that's lousy. What's for dinner? Right, you know, we think about earthquakes where hundreds of thousands of people die. We go that's a shame, what? What are we going to do now? And we just go on with it. I understand those are safety features in our lives sometimes, but check it out, people are worth it. People are worth more than the roof worth it. People are worth more than the roof. People are worth more than success, right, all these different kinds of things.
Speaker 1:These guys had a faith that their friend was worth the discomfort, worth being a spectacle, worth bringing him to Jesus. Their faith was also persistent. Think about that. If the roof was two feet thick and they had to peel, layer and layer and layer off of that, it took some persistence. They didn't just get to the door and say, well, not today, and they left, right, they didn't just go up in the roof and say, well, we're up here, but this is a thick roof. They were persistent. They were consistent with the things they did to get their friend to Jesus and bringing people to Jesus. It takes persistence, doesn't it? Lifelong persistence sometimes.
Speaker 1:I love the account of George Mueller. George Mueller kind of overwhelms me sometimes. He's a guy from the 1800s England, bristol, england. He had a heart for orphans there in Bristol and so he started an orphanage and, without government help or anything like that, he started an orphanage and he determined he was only going to pray. He wasn't going to tell people what he needed, he was just going to pray for the things that he needed Pretty intense and George Mueller not perfect, but he needed. He was just going to pray for the things that he needed Pretty intense and George Mueller not perfect, but he prayed. He's an example of praying.
Speaker 1:Well, the story is told of George Mueller that he had five specific friends that weren't Christians, weren't believers, just people he had come in contact with, and he dedicated to pray for these friends until they got saved. We have people like that in our life, don't we? That we determine I'm going to pray for them, to love them and pray for them. And throughout George Miller's life some of these guys got saved. Mark them off the list. They become a praise report, right? Well, one never did get saved, but George Mueller prayed for this guy. Now, it wasn't George Mueller that did it, right, it was God, right, god's the one who does the saving. But he prayed for this guy his entire life. And when George Mueller died the guy still was not a Christian, still did not believe. But after George Mueller died he came to the Lord.
Speaker 1:Now, that's not guaranteed that everybody we pray for is going to be saved. I think there's a thing called free will. That's my thought on the issue. Everybody's got a choice. But man, persistence in bringing people to Jesus, persistence in just daily praying we pray for a lot of things, man. When there's sickness in our life, we can pray day and night, we can pray while we sleep, you know. When there's difficulty or bills to be paid, we can panic and we can pray. But you know, this persistence in bringing our friends to Jesus, no matter what it takes, that's sometimes a lifelong thing. And these guys, through the thick and thin of it, they persisted in that.
Speaker 1:Now the end of the story here we see is that the man had to have faith himself and it's just totally necessary. Let's look on and see what happens as his friends bring him there. They let him down through the roof in front of Jesus Verse 5,. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic Son your sins are forgiven you. Now, that's not what the man was looking for at this point, right, the man was looking for healing and Jesus gave him forgiveness. But Jesus dealt with the most important part. Check it out what does it profit a man if he's healed of every sickness and loses his soul? Kind of a variation of that passage, right? What does it profit a person if they're healed of every sickness and yet they lose their soul? Jesus here deals with the most important problem the forgiveness of sins.
Speaker 1:Now, some in this have thought perhaps this sickness is related to some kind of sin. Jesus deals with the sin. In healing, the man deals with the sin. So maybe this sickness was related to sin. And that was a big thought in the day, as we have a thought of it too, that if somebody was sick or going through it, that the reason why they were going through it was because they were worse sinners than everyone else, that's a nice theory to have, but not if you're the one that's sick. Else, that's a nice theory to have, but not if you're the one that's sick. Right that every sickness was because of sin. In fact, jesus dealt with his disciples on this in John chapter 9, right?
Speaker 1:Another sweet story there, john chapter 9, a man who's born blind. And Jesus' disciples ask him well, was it this man that sinned, or his parents, that he should be born blind? Now, what a horrible thing to say to someone or about someone. This guy can't see because either his parents sinned or he sinned. Number one how did he sin? They're in the womb. Had a bad thought, you know, had an evil thought, you know. He lied while in his mother's womb. How could he sin before being born? Impossible, right. And Jesus here says who sinned? Neither, I think, is the way it reads. Neither of these sinned, but that you would know. The glory of God, here I am. Jesus says and so why is there sickness? Well, because of sin in the world, but not necessarily because of a person's sin. But it could have been. Now, come back for a second. I know I've been okay. Come back for a second, I know I've been okay, come back for a second. Perhaps this man's being paralyzed was because of sin.
Speaker 1:I've done some pretty lame things in my life that's a terrible word to use there. I've done some pretty lousy things in my life and you ever do something that has like future repercussions. You know what I mean. Like, okay, I was walking around Dallas not that long ago and I was taking pictures, because that's what I was into. I was just taking pictures of buildings and stuff and I tripped on a crack. You know you can do that when you're 50, right, you can trip on a crack. You know, and I tripped on a crack. You know you can do that when you're 50, right, you can trip on a crack. You know, and I tripped and nobody saw it that I know of. But I bloodied myself up real bad leg and I tried to get up and just keep walking like nothing happened. You know, because that's what you do. But you know, my knee has never been the same since that falling on that knee. Don't you hate it when you can pinpoint a silly thing that you did and you go now? My life is never the same, right?
Speaker 1:Well, this guy, perhaps his sin really did lead to his being paralyzed. Maybe it was a bad idea, maybe he was out when his parents said don't go out, I don't know. You know, maybe it was some other kind of sin that brought this crippling effect to his life, because that's what sin does. But just picture him because we can all picture this that there he is lying on this stretcher and he knows, he knows that lousy thing, that I did that one moment of time, and now my life is totally different. I wouldn't be in this place if I hadn't done that thing. And just imagine the guilt that he would have felt and just the depression that goes along with that. And here Jesus is going to heal him.
Speaker 1:We know the end of the story, right, but Jesus deals with the most important thing his sin. We all have sin. You know this Romans 3, 23,. All have sinned. You know this, romans 3, 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We've all done lousy things and it's an offense to God. It separates us from God. Our sin, the wages of sin, is death. And yet here Jesus says to the man right off son, your sins are forgiven you and it's going to lead to his healing.
Speaker 1:But how does this happen. If Jesus has forgiven this man's sin, something has to happen, because God doesn't just forgive sin, just the world. Here's the world. Your sin is forgiven, you're all forgiven. That's not how it works. A few things are actually necessary for sin to be forgiven. Number one is confession. Right, you know it. 1 John 1.9,. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now you got to understand this. If we confess, if we don't confess our sins, we don't confess our sins. There's no forgiveness of sins, there's no cleansing. The word confess means to agree to say the same thing. So follow this To confess our sins means to say God, I was wrong, the things that I did and the attitudes that I have.
Speaker 1:They're wrong Because we can accept forgiveness. If God were offering us forgiveness, we can be like have they're wrong Because we can accept forgiveness. If God were offering us forgiveness, we can be like oh, that's nice, I'm forgiven, but check it out. We can go through our whole life and say but you know what? I was right in what I did, that thing that I did, I was right, I don't have to be sorry for it. I don't have to say sorry for it. I'm right and you know. We can hold to that our whole life. But check it out If we don't confess our sins, we don't say God, you were right and I was wrong, we're not forgiven.
Speaker 1:So, in order for this man to be forgiven, he had to confess in some kind of way in his heart. He had to realize, god, I was wrong in the things I've done. I've been wrong and I am wrong, and so, definitely, if this man was forgiven, then he had to confess. He also had to repent. That's another thing that's important to salvation is repenting. Now, repenting is a big Bible term, maybe too big for a Sunday morning right. Repenting, though, is simply to go the opposite direction. So check it out.
Speaker 1:If we're sinners and do the wrong things, we confess I was wrong, this is wrong. Then we repent. This is important. We have to hear this. We go the other direction If we're going our own way and if we're going the way towards sin. To repent means to turn around and go towards God, to do different things. Now, we're not going to be perfect, but it's a place in the heart. Repentance means I'm going to stop stubbornly going my own way and I'm going to go God's direction. You repent.
Speaker 1:This man had to have repented, because, without repenting, he would have never come to God. The last thing, though, and this is the most important thing, the last thing that we know about this man is that he had to have a sacrifice, because Hebrews 9.22 says this Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Without a sacrifice, sin can't be taken away, sin can't be forgiven. So this man had to have a sacrifice for his sin. Well how Jesus hadn't went to the cross, yet, how could this man have a sacrifice for his sin? Well how Jesus hadn't went to the cross, yet how could this man have a sacrifice for his sin? Well, he was saved. The same way, everybody, whoever went before him, was saved. That was saved by faith in what God was going to do there in the garden. God promised he would take care of sin. A Messiah would come. One would come and deal with sin. Now check it out.
Speaker 1:People in the Old Testament didn't always know everything about what this Savior would be, but they knew they needed one, and they knew that God was going to be the one to provide it, and so, just like Abel, looked forward to a sacrifice for his sin. Just like Abraham looked for a sacrifice for sin, just like they all look forward to a sacrifice, so this man had to look forward to the sacrifice that Jesus would be. And Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, god's intention before time began. And this man would have to look toward that same sacrifice. So check it out. These things are important to this guy. As Jesus says son, your sins are forgiven. He had to confess. Yeah, I got sins. Yeah, I'm sorry, I was wrong. He had to repent. He had to turn from his sin and turn to God. And he had to have a sacrifice. And he looked forward. He had to look forward to what God would do for him there on the cross through Jesus. Now let's read on and see what happens. We'll go very quickly here. This all happens. Jesus says son, your sins are forgiven.
Speaker 1:You and some of the scribes, the Bible teachers really of the day, were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. So we can only see that in our story. Right, they're reasoning in our hearts. You're reasoning in your heart right now, wonder what's for lunch, wonder how much longer he's going to go. You're reasoning in your heart right now. Right, it's hot in here. You're reasoning in your heart, but I can't see what you're reasoning in your heart. And you're glad, because that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it, right now. But they were reasoning in their heart. They're just thinking. Notice what they're thinking.
Speaker 1:Verse 7, why does this man speak? Blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins? But God alone? So they're thinking in their own hearts and their heads. You could say this guy can't forgive sin, only God can forgive sin. And they're right. Only God can forgive sin, because sin is always between us and God.
Speaker 1:Even David, right, david in Psalm 51, who's committed adultery with Bathsheba, who's had her husband killed? Right, big time sin in our minds. David says God against you and you only have I sinned. Now he sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and all of them. But David understood that sin, our sin, is really between us and God, and so they're right. Who can forgive sin? But God alone, only God. In fact, they didn't believe that even the Messiah could forgive sin. Only God could forgive sin. Now the trick here is Jesus is Messiah and God, right.
Speaker 1:But notice as they're thinking this, but immediately verse 8, 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 heart? What, huh, what the busted? Right? Which is easier to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiving you? Or to say rise, take up your bed and walk? So Jesus starts a conversation with them as they're thinking not only God can forgive sins. Jesus says you're thinking it only God can forgive sins. And they're like what? And then Jesus says but which is easier? To say rise and walk or your sins are forgiven? Well, to say your sins are forgiven is easier, right? I could just right now go around the room. Your sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven. Now, it may not be true, but I could say that. And how can you tell if it really happened, right? How can you tell if your sin is forgiven? It's a nice thought, but how can you tell? Which is more difficult is to say rise and walk, because if it doesn't happen, you know he's a liar, right? If he doesn't get up and start walking around, then well then, you know what happened. And so Jesus says which is easier?
Speaker 1:But verse 10, that you may know that the son of man he's talking about himself 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 and took up his bed and went out in the presence of them all. So Jesus says so that you know I can forgive sin, I'll say it rise and walk. And the guy got up and he took up his bed and walked out, right, and that was it Probably kind of happy I would guess at that point, but he did it. Now that's wonderful. The man can walk.
Speaker 1:But what's even more wonderful is that we can be forgiven, that Jesus has the ability to forgive us. More amazing than somebody who can't walk anymore being able to walk. You can be forgiven and we can all look back, as that guy would have probably looked back at the regret in our life, the things that separate us from a relationship with God. Wish I wouldn't have done that. I wish you wouldn't have said that, boy, now I'm paying the consequence of this, all these things. And Jesus says you can be forgiven.
Speaker 1:Now they were all amazed. We'll just read it very quickly. So they were all amazed and glorified God. Read it very quickly. So they were all amazed and glorified God, saying we never saw anything like this. Never saw anything like people being healed. No, capernaum had seen people being healed, but people being forgiven of their sins by Jesus. That's amazing stuff. Never heard anything like that before. And yet that's the bottom line of this whole thing.
Speaker 1:Come back for these last couple minutes here. The most amazing thing God can forgive us, but the same is true for us. There really needs to be confession. This is important. There needs to be confession. God, I've messed up. God. I've messed up God, I'm not right.
Speaker 1:We confess God, you were right, I'm wrong. We turn from our sin, even in our heart. That's where it all starts right the direction of my life. I was going this way with everything that I had. God, I want to come towards you Repentance. But we need a sacrifice, and Jesus is that sacrifice for each one of us.
Speaker 1:But we have to come personally to that cross. We have to realize it was for our sin that he died, because he loved us. He paid the price for our sins. But we have to receive it personally like a gift confessing our sins, turning from our sins, turning to God and receiving this amazing gift. That's not because we make ourselves a better person. We get some things right. That's not it. But, god, I'm lost. I'm drowning in this sin.
Speaker 1:God, will you save me, like you said you would, and he will, but we have to come to him personally.
Speaker 1:God, I absolutely know I can't do a work in my heart. I can't do a work in anyone's heart, but God, you can and you've been so sweet to us. God, when we were without hope, god, you loved us and you had pity on us. God, we don't have pity on people going their own way, but, god, you have pity on us and compassion on us. You love us enough to tell us the truth, to turn from our sin, to turn towards you. And, god, you provide a way for us to be forgiven and set free from sin and the wages of sin.
Speaker 1:God, I know you can do that work in our hearts, so I pray. Whatever it is, god, we would come to you personally today, see you at that cross loving us, dying for us, doing everything that we needed. God, because you're so good that we receive it as a gift. God, we'd celebrate it this week. God, help us to believe those truths enough to share it with this world around us, no matter what it costs us. I would pray these things in Jesus' name Amen. In Jesus' name amen.