The Teachers of the Law

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Abba, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Abba, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  Mark 2:1–12 (NIV) A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 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. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 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? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 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!” CONSIDER THIS Jesus had been traveling throughout Galilee, and he now returned to Capernaum, a city where he often stayed when he was in the north. Word of mouth announced his arrival, and a crowd gathered around the house in which he was preaching, possibly that of Simon and Andrew,1 such that even the entrance was blocked with people. Determined that a paralytic man would have an audience with Jesus, four men dug a hole in the likely mud-and-thatch roof, one that could be easily repaired. They then lowered the man into the presence of Jesus. What Jesus did next, in seeing the faith of all involved, the paralytic included, no doubt surprised the people at that time just as it continues to astonish us today. That is, Jesus did not immediately heal the man (which, for us, seems to be his most obvious need); instead, he declared: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” What could this statement possibly mean? Among the Jews of the period, there was indeed a strong association of sin and illness. In fact, even the disciples of Jesus had already raised this question in terms of the man born blind: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus replied, however, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned . . . but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (v. 3). We have to be very careful in this area so that people who are already burdened with disease or illness are not further burdened by negative judgments that are both uncalled for and very inappropriate. Granted, some sin is strongly associated with disease: promiscuity, laziness, and poor stewardship of the body, especially in terms of eating and drinking, but not all disease or illness is connected with sin as its generating source. It just doesn’t work that way. Even today, doctors and other medical staff are baffled in terms of the causes of some diseases. Pathogens do not follow a hard-and-fast moral order. They don’t follow an ethical trajectory but a biological one. Catching the flu, COVID-19, or some other virus is not necessarily the occasion for repentance. The book of Job should have already taught us such things. Again, take note of what Jesus did. He declared to the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, thereby highlighting the specific authority of Jesus himself, and not simply the more general authority that even a Jewish priest would enjoy in pronouncing forgiveness on behalf of God. How do we know this? It is evident from the text because the teachers of the law, or scribes, thought to themselves that Jesus was blaspheming. In their minds, at least, Jesus was exercising a power—indeed, a prerogative—that rightly belonged to God alone. Lines of properly established religious authority may also be in the mix here because Jesus had just skirted the authority of the priests, the Sadducees, as the ones who were duly ordained to pronounce the forgiveness of sins in the name of the Almighty. Simply put, the directness of Jesus, going around the usual channels, was patently offensive to the scribes. Once again, we can almost hear the internal rumblings among the teachers of the law, “Who does he think he is?” that now comes in the form of their actual question: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Accepting this challenge to his authority, Jesus, in turn, posed a question to the religious leaders that on its surface appeared to be easy and straightforward, but upon further reflection, it was actually not the case at all on both counts. Let’s take a look at this more carefully. Notice that Jesus raised a comparative question in the following way: “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?” Before we open up this question with its several parts, kindly keep in mind that the question also implies that there is a distinction between saying something and doing something. Indeed, we are already very familiar with this distinction in the old adage, “Easier said than done.” Let’s just explore for now the first level of saying something. Is it easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk”? On the one hand, if Jesus said to the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, then how would we know that his sins were indeed forgiven? Would there be any evidence of this? If not, it seems that this is easy to say, for how could such a declaration be refuted? On the other hand, if Jesus said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and walk,” then how would we know that this saying was true or that it demonstrated real authority? Would there be any evidence of this? The answer is yes. Evidence would come in the form of the paralytic actually doing what Jesus had commanded, that is, getting up and walking. So then, this second saying appears to be harder because the evidence for its fulfillment should be readily observed. Notice also the question of Jesus was already moving in the direction from saying something to doing something as important elements that will help to confirm his authority. Now, Jesus already knew that he would heal the man. He also, however, wanted to demonstrate his authority to forgive sins, a forgiveness that does not always have clear signs when it occurs. He could accomplish all of this by raising the comparative question to the teachers of the law by drawing a relation between the forgiveness of sins, on the one hand, and the healing of a paralyzed man, on the other hand. Why would this be so helpful? Jesus assumed that to heal such a man, with all its evidence of getting up, taking your mat, and walking, would be received as the act of God that it is. With his comparative question in place, then all who witnessed this miracle, this powerful sign and wonder, could then make the transition from doing something to saying something, from healing a man to declaring that his sins were forgiven. The power of God would be the common denominator; it was entailed in each instance. Though Jesus as a good teacher likely set up this comparison as an aid to belief, for both the scribes and for those assembled around him in the house, the focus of attention was not actually on the deeds themselves, as great as they were, but on the doer of the deeds and his authority which is simply divine. After all, it may actually be harder to forgive sins (and so forgiving sins is, after all, an action as well and not simply a declaration) than it is to raise up a paralyzed man—and we think that it is. Doing the one, then, would not necessarily imply the other—although in this case, it did. Why was this so? It is because Jesus, through this miracle (as well as through several others), demonstrated quite clearly his authority and trustworthiness and, in this particular case, his divine nature as well. The “who” here was far more important than any “what.” THE PRAYER Heavenly Father, thank you that your Son has both the authority to forgive sins as well as the desire to heal us of sickness. May your kingdom come and your will be done here on earth, in all of its fullness.