Healing and Forgiveness

Everyday Church, Wimbledon - Online Church Service
Mark 2:1-12 – Healing and Forgiveness
by Adam Bream

In our Mark series, we are looking at the ways and words and wonders of Jesus as described by a man named John Mark. Mark was a first century / first generation follower of Jesus and a friend of Jesus’ very close friend, Peter.
If you’ve missed it so far, over the last 8 weeks, we’ve discovered so much about Jesus:
· That he was God’s Son, who came to call and repurpose the most unlikely people for God’s Kingdom;
· that he regarded and gave value to all He met and had the authority to heal various illnesses and levels of suffering.
· And He did so repeatedly! We could sit in chapter 1 for weeks…but we’re not, so let's step into chapter 2. Let's read…

Mark 2:1-12
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 inking 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!”

When I was considering these astonishing verses, I had an image come to mind. It was of a precious stone that belongs to one of my children. Inside, the crystals sparkle, and it’s mesmerizing when you allow the light to shine through it. But what’s just as fascinating to me is how it reconnects so seamlessly. Hold it together, and it looks like one solid piece. It conjoins so perfectly, as the two halves intricately entwine.
Friends, these verses are a little like that. There’s such beauty within, but it comes from exploring, understanding, and accepting that the ministry of Jesus brings two great principles together perfectly.
· Our healing and our forgiveness.
· In Christ, those things meet seamlessly. Faultlessly.
Big portions of Mark chapter 1 helped us to consider the power of Christ to bring physical healing to those who encounter Him. If you haven’t taken in the teaching we did on that, the videos are available on the Everyday Church Spotify and YouTube platforms, and I’d recommend you listen to them.
What I want to zoom in on today(...), is Christ’s authority / ability to forgive. We’ll hopefully discover that it’s as amazing as His willingness and capability to bring about physical healing. It’s just as powerful and just as necessary.
· Even so early on in this account of Jesus’ life and ministry, he’s healed people from fevers, leprosy, and in chapter 1:34, it simply says: Jesus healed many who had various diseases. Here, paralysis is reversed.
We might be in awe of a physical healing. In my lifetime, there have been many occasions when I’ve seen and heard, firsthand, the effects of someone being physically healed by Jesus. It is incredible.
But today I want to suggest that we also need to be in awe of the fact that God Himself might choose to forgive sin. It’s just awesome to consider.
· If you’re exploring Christianity, I want you to know that it’s in Jesus’ nature to want to heal and forgive. And it’s in His power to be able to. And it delights the Father when we trust in His Son for both.
It’s a doctrine / principle that we all need to contend with, ongoingly. It’s a well of grace that we’ll never plumb the depths of.
So…what does Mark 2:1-12 reveal to us about forgiveness? Well, I reckon 6 things…
Firstly, forgiveness… is primarily about God’s glory
Romans 3:23 makes the earth-shattering statement:

Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

All through the Biblical narrative – and indeed, all through the story of my life and yours, there’s a repetition: humans choosing to do / say / think things that aren’t pure or pleasing to a Holy God. And humans not choosing to do / say / think things that bring Him GLORY.
This doesn't necessarily mean every person has committed major crimes, that require imprisonment; rather, it refers to a general state of imperfection and deviation from God's ideal. Regardless of ethnic or cultural background, there is a shared human experience of falling short of / not being obedient to God’s perfect standard.
· We’ve all done it, we’ll all do it. When the Bible says ‘all’, it means all. Everyone.
Your struggles with temptation and choices of sin might well look different to mine. BUT the antidote to the disease is universal. In steps God with the glorious remedy.
Mark 2 gives us a case study on this: So, when the faithful few bring their friend to the healer, Jesus offers him the pathway to healing for the issue that afflicts him most. And it’s not the visible thing affecting his legs or spine, but the internal thing affecting his heart and mind.
We can look at these verses in Mark 2, and focus on how big the crowds were, OR by the faith of some good friends, OR how difficult the disabled man’s situation must have been.
I think these 12 verses are more about the fact that God highlights sin in one man’s life, to make much of the fact that He’s got a desire and a plan to do something about it, first and foremost. God wants glory reinstated over this man’s heart.
Because… forgiveness… is a personal thing: between us and God.
God’s desire to do something about our sin, comes with a personal encounter and therefore requires a personal response.
On this occasion, Jesus addresses this man as ‘son’ – that’s incredibly personal language! And he says, ‘your sins are forgiven’. I know it sounds obvious, but that means the man specifically.
He doesn’t address all the crowd in this interaction, but the individual.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to forgive sins generally, but specifically and individually. In forgiveness, we’re not primarily given an equation or a concept: we’re given a person. A glorious Saviour to encounter the mercy of.
To know personally; to draw near to personally.
And He didn’t come down from Heaven to offer me forgiveness for someone else’s sin. He came for me, for my sin.
King David prays this in Psalm 51:

Psalm 51:1-4
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out MY transgressions. Wash away all MY iniquity and cleanse me from MY sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against YOU, you only, have I sinned…

· Yes, the SELFISH things I say and do / OR SELFLESS things I don’t say and DON’T do, affect and hurt the people around me.
· My impatience, or greed, or lack of empathy, or lust or anger… can disturb the peace in someone else’s heart and life.
BUT ultimately they are AGAINST the God of Creation, and go against His goodness for my life. It’s MY sin that I need to acknowledge and repent of - and He’s MY Saviour that offers me forgiveness.
When we come close to the heart of Jesus, as this man did in Mark 2, we find that in His very nature, Jesus is compelled by our need for restoration. He loves to forgive and he loves to heal. It’s within the very core of his character and purposes.
Pastor and Author Dane Ortlund says this:

^{Dane Ortlund}
‘Here we enter into one of the most profound mysteries of who God in Christ is. Not only are holiness and sinfulness mutually exclusive; but Christ, being perfectly holy, knows and feels the horror and weight of sin more deeply than any of us sinful ones could.’

· Friends, Jesus knows how great the forgiveness will be; long before we consider our need for it.
If Christ is glorious and holy, surely he must withdraw from sin? Recoil from it? He must want to keep his distance from it? Well - seems not. He doesn’t banish the sinner or make a public spectacle; but welcomes him in, & repositions him as one who can walk in righteousness.
Calls him ‘Son’, in fact! // Reinstates him as ‘one who is forgiven.’ If your life is hidden in Christ – if you’ve surrendered // accepted that He is your Saviour – you are forgiven! That is the most amazing / reassuring / empowering truth.
The one who says in chapter 1: come FOLLOW me; is the one who says in chapter 2: be FORGIVEN by me. If you haven’t yet come to Him, forgiveness could be yours today. If you’d just turn to Jesus and acknowledge you have sin in your past/present that you need to be forgiven for.
· Moving on…Mark 2 reminds us that forgiveness… is a priority: it’s important to God.
Something that is important to God must surely remain important to us? Right? Is forgiveness important to you? FORGIVEN people, ought to be FORGIVING people, right???
Mark was the first Gospel written. But the details of this encounter also appear in Matthew 9 and Luke 5. It’s such a fundamental moment that 2 other Gospel writers feel the need to repeat it later on in their retelling.
To highlight how personal this is between us and God, and how much of a priority displaying forgiveness was to Jesus, some commentators have highlighted that this moment of forgiveness happens in Jesus’ own home.
Imagine how tired Jesus might have potentially been, after much travel and activity, dealing with all kinds of different people. Casting out impure Spirits, healing sicknesses, and gathering his new group of followers. Ministry can be tiring!
And yet he seizes a moment. Check out verse 1 again:

Mark 2:1.
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…

I’ve read this passage countless times. I’ve never once considered that perhaps the house that this act of healing and forgiveness takes place in might have actually been Jesus’ very own home!? I love that detail.
Jesus loves to forgive people. It’s not His day job. It’s not a hobby, He’s practising. It shines at the centre of who He is and why He came. Out and about and at home.
· If you are hidden in Christ, your sins evoke the deepest parts of His heart; His compassion and desire to forgive.
It’s often said that who you are in the privacy of your own home is who you REALLY are. Well…in His most familiar, relaxed environment, Jesus is forgiving people of their unrighteousness.
I believe that this week, as you consider this invitation from your Saviour, you can / will experience the peace and the power of His forgiveness - in your home too.
· Our hearts, our homes, our Church community need to be vessels for forgiveness to be extended and experienced.
Next up, I think that Mark 2 shows us that forgiveness… is provocative: it divides people. So far in our journey through Mark’s Gospel, we’ve seen Jesus displaying some incredible signs and wonders. So far, people have only been amazed. Wow, what is this? A new teaching – a new authority.
But - in Mark chapter 2, He’s now ruffling some feathers. We see the first instance of opposition to Jesus’ claims and actions. “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Mark 2:6
‘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?”

Those who were awaiting a Saviour with most anticipation (ie, the teachers of the law – the ones who knew about the prophecies and the promises of a Messiah the most!) were those who rejected Him quickest.
I don’t think it was that they had an issue with the notion of sin and the need for forgiveness. After all, theirs was a culture rooted in habits and rhythms of sacrifice to atone for their sinfulness.
The issue was that this ‘fellow’ was speaking in terms that only God could rightfully use.
In the city and time that I live in, I think it’s different. We might not feel the need for a Saviour, because we don’t feel we need ‘saving’ from unholy lifestyle choices. Perhaps awareness of the consequences has diminished.
But friend, consider Jesus Christ for a moment. Place Him next to your life for a moment.
When we look at Jesus, when we consider that perhaps there is one who lived a perfect life, and who changed the course of history with a power and love, unlike any other, does your heart not yearn for something whole /complete /wonderful to take hold of your life?
· When we pause and take in His depth of character: the love and humility and gentleness, does it not also bring a reminder of how inconsistent we are in those ways? Surely there is more to this life than repeated imperfection.
We only start to know the depths of sin when we start to see the beauty and holiness of God.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Minister of Westminster Chapel for 30 years, once wrote:

^{Martyn Lloyd-Jones}
'You will never make yourself feel that you are a sinner, because there is a mechanism in you as a result of sin, that will always be defending you against every accusation. There is only one way to know that we are sinners, and that is to have some dim, glimmering conception of God.'

These teachers of the Law speak one truth and one falsehood. Yes, only God can forgive sins alone. That was true. But Jesus was not blaspheming, as they supposed. That’s not true. Because He is God. Not just some ‘fellow’ as they concluded.
· And the greatest crossroads we’ll ever come to in life is in deciding whether we’re sinners in need of a Saviour; and whether Jesus is indeed the all-sufficient Saviour we need the forgiveness and redemption of.
Friend, get this: forgiveness is possible with Jesus. Because by His authority and in His Holy name…forgiveness is always a power-filled thing.
The teachers of the Law were correct in that crowded exchange: only God can forgive sins.
Only one who displayed God’s absolute perfection has the authority to dispense God’s absolute pardon.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 1:7
In (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his (Jesus) grace.

Peter teaches the crowds in Acts Ch. 2, that if they hand their sin over to Jesus, Jesus will take it from them and GIVE them His Holy Spirit In RETURN. One who will help them, comfort them, counsel them. That sounds like an amazing offer?!
Yes - I will always need to grapple with temptation and sin. BUT by His Spirit living in me, I have one who helps me in making the choice about whether I CHOOSE to sin or not. One who’s there willing to connect me to a forgiveness when I DO trespass.
Peter says later in Acts Ch. 3 that this exchange will lead to our sins being ‘blotted out’.
· Have you ever seen it, when someone makes a mistake in writing something, and so then they cross out so harshly over the incorrect word that the MOST prominent thing on the page is now this massive black scribble!? It’s like the incorrect word is now forever the most visible thing on the page, regardless of anything good written around it.
· That’s not the forgiveness of Jesus.
· He does not get flustered or frustrated when we come to Him for fresh forgiveness. Instead, He welcomes us with open arms, desiring to HEAL and RESTORE us.
· Don’t confuse the way that others might forgive YOU with the way Jesus forgives YOU.
He doesn’t hold it over us, or vindictively get us to make up for it somehow, further down the line. By Jesus, the removal of the sinful markings are complete.
In exchange for my ‘Unholy’ mistakes, I get to receive the ‘Holy’ of Jesus on the pages of my life?! There’s actual, real-life power in the forgiveness of Jesus to justify us. And to demonstrate that comprehensive result, which might seem difficult to measure or imagine, Jesus says, in verse 9:

Mark 2:9-11
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.”

· Holy tenderness - God’s mercy - is an incredible thing to have placed upon your imperfections.
In many cultures and hearts today, forgiveness is seen as a weakness. Not so in the life of Jesus. The most emotionally healthy human to have ever lived; the one with so much he could seek revenge for, is the one who promotes forgiveness most powerfully / radically.
Jesus alone holds the divine authority to forgive sins; not merely as a prophet or good life teacher; but as the Son of God — whose word restores the broken, whose mercy breaks the chains of guilt, and whose sacrifice seals forgiveness for eternity.
In a world so ravaged by conflict and disharmony, isn’t it just so refreshing to know that there is a God in Heaven, willing to prioritise forgiveness?
Which leads me to the final and brief point…this moment of forgiveness in Mark 2…
Forgiveness.. is a preview. …The formerly unforgiven (and formerly paralysed man) - who walks out of that living room carrying his mat - gives us a glimpse of what will be achieved for all through the death and and resurrection of Jesus Christ at the end of Mark’s account.
· Upon that cross – when the pardon for all sin and unrighteousness was secured.
· Through the sacrifice of HIS perfect life on OUR behalf.
And when hanging, nailed to a cross, at the extreme end of suffering, Jesus cried out: Father, forgive them! (Luke 23:34). And your Father in Heaven heard that prayer – and therefore He DOES extend the forgiveness to you and me, as a result.
With the cross of Christ, we have the most tangible / powerful / shocking display of forgiveness in history. There’s no greater demonstration.
Like the rock analogy that I referenced at the start, it’s where our healing and forgiveness meet perfectly.
And so – this exchange, in Mark 2:1-12, between one man and His Saviour, gives us a foretaste of what is to be offered to all thereafter, at the end of all 4 Gospels.
· These 12 verses provide a snapshot of the WHOLE of the Good News on offer, to the WHOLE of humankind.
There will come a day when we no longer need to come to Him for forgiveness or healing. Because either Jesus will have returned or we’ll have gone to be with Him eternally; and we’ll be whole and we’ll no longer sin. He’ll have wiped away EVERY tear.
But until the glory of Heaven, we keep approaching Him. In boldness / in humility / in need. We’ll never find anything else like this.
I wonder – What do you need to seek His forgiveness for today? Or who might you need to imitate His forgiveness to today?
Here's the full video on YouTube