Sermon on Mark 2:1–12: Jesus heals a paralysed man and forgives his sins
A sermon by James de Costobadie, Senior Pastor at Latimer Church, on the healing of the paralysed man in Mark 2:1–12.
Summary
James de Costobadie preaches on Mark 2:1–12, the account of a paralysed man lowered through a roof by his friends to reach Jesus. The central argument is that Jesus' first response — forgiving the man's sins rather than healing his legs — reveals something about humanity's greatest need: not physical healing or material comfort, but reconciliation with God. De Costobadie contends that sin cuts people off from God, that this will be exposed at a future day of judgment, and that Jesus, as the Son of Man prophesied in Daniel, has authority to bring that verdict forward into the present and declare forgiveness now. The sermon closes with a direct appeal to non-Christians to respond to what Jesus is offering, and an encouragement to investigate the Christian faith through an upcoming life course.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening: "We Have Never Seen Anything Like This"
James de Costobadie: "We have never seen anything like this." That was the verdict of the crowd on this day when they met Jesus and when they saw what Jesus did. We have never seen anything like this. And I must say that was the experience of my own life. I didn't come from a Christian background, and when I began to read the accounts of Jesus' life when I was perhaps 18 or 19, I said the same. I've never seen anything like this before. I've never come across anyone like this before. And I hope this morning each one of us here feels the same thing as we come to this passage. It's an amazing passage and an amazing real-life incident.
The Scene: A Packed House in Capernaum
The scene on the day in question was back in Jesus's hometown. We're told that he had arrived back in Capernaum. Clearly people had heard of the things that he'd been doing, of the things that he'd been saying. There was a packed crowd there that day, as we're told that he preached the word to them. And the word — if you've been here the last week or two, we know from chapter one — is the word of the good news of the gospel, that God's king has come into this world to mend the broken pieces of this world, as we're about to see, particularly to mend our relationship with God.
People loved to hear Jesus teach because he taught the truth and you can build your life on the truth. That's why people liked to hear him. And on this day in question, there were so many people there — we're told in verse two — that there was no room left even outside the door. Every seat is taken, people are spilling out outside, and there is absolutely no room for anyone.
And there is this man, a paralysed man, his legs don't work, who is trying to get to Jesus. We can imagine the disappointment for him as he arrives there that day and he can't get anywhere near. His friends are trying to find a way through. There is no way through. His legs don't work, but he does have one thing going for him, which is these good friends. It's rather beautiful as we read about them. Reading between the lines, they must have gone and picked him up earlier in the morning. They've obviously heard about Jesus, heard some of the things he's doing, hoping that Jesus can do something for their friend. They pick him up — all the effort involved — and they transport him there. And they're not perturbed by the fact they can't get in. They take him up onto the roof. Presumably there were some stairs leading up outside. The roof would have been a flat roof, and they take him up there to find a way through the roof to get him into this room.
We can imagine — perhaps a bit like today — that everyone's seated, it's absolutely rammed, Jesus is teaching, and then they hear some scratching up in the roof, like there are rats up there or whatever. Then a few bits of straw and mud start falling down, and then streaks of sunlight come through, and eventually this man on a stretcher is lowered down right before everyone. At some point Jesus stops speaking, and there the man is, in front of Jesus and in front of the crowd, right on the floor. There's silence. And then Jesus says these remarkable words in verse 5: "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Your sins are forgiven. Now I don't know what the man thought, but presumably he'd come there for a very different reason that day. My sins? What are you talking about? My legs — that's why I'm here, Jesus. I've heard of what you have done. Why does Jesus pick on his sins?
Lesson One: Our Greatest Need
Jesus wanted to teach the man a crucial lesson, and this morning Jesus would want to teach us the same lesson. In fact, two lessons come out of this passage. The first is our greatest need.
I don't know what you think your greatest need is in life. We often think that the physical is what is needed most. If only we had a bit more money in the bank, that would really help. If only we were able to put down a mortgage for a house, that would help. If only we were able to pay off the mortgage, that would definitely help. Or maybe if we could afford a holiday, or perhaps more importantly, better health — if only that could be sorted out, then all would be well.
But to this man here, who had such an obvious need when he's right in front of Jesus laid out on the stretcher, Jesus makes clear even to him that something else is more important than the obvious thing. He wants the man to realise that his sins being forgiven is more important than his legs being healed. Let's think about why that is.
Our sins are the things that we do and think and say which cut us off from almighty God. Some of them are obvious. I always think it's obvious when you look at a small child and how they go about things. Small children — I don't know if you've had small children or you've seen small children — but small children are pretty much all the same. They see someone else with a digger. They think, hang on a second, I want a digger. In fact, I want that digger. In fact, I want your digger. Give me that now. And they take it for themselves.
As you grow up in life, you realise there are certain social conventions and this is not the general way to go about things. So perhaps we cover ourselves a bit more. We do want to present ourselves well in life. But underneath, we all do things that we ourselves would be embarrassed by if they were brought to light. That might happen to you occasionally — you say something, it slips out in an unguarded moment, and someone says, "Oh, do you really think that?" And you go, "No, no, of course I don't." But all of us say or do or think things that we wished we hadn't, or wish that other people couldn't see — our internet history, maybe, or how we treat people behind closed doors. Suddenly that face we present to others is not always the same as what happens at home, or the way that we think about people whether we're in the car or elsewhere.
The truth is that we can only survive socially because some aspects of our life are kept hidden from other people. And worst of all, most scandalously of all, the way that we treat God. You say, "God? What do I do wrong against God? I don't even bother him." That's the problem. We go through life — and all of us are the same naturally in this regard — not thinking about God. He is the giver. God is so generous. Everything that we enjoy in life comes from him. Our family, our friends, our food, our fun, whatever it is — the different aspects of life — they come from him. If you have a job, the fact that you're able to get a job, that you have the skills to be able to do something, comes from him. He's blessed you with those skills and those opportunities. And the fact that we roar on in life without even thinking about him says enough in itself. That is ingratitude.
And then we compound it, because when life is really difficult and we're not able to sort out the five percent of life we can't control, then we come to him and ask him to do so. And then we get angry at him if he doesn't. In other words, we want everything from him — we just don't want him. And if someone treated us in that way, how would you feel? Ninety percent of the time they ignore you, walk straight past you. Ten percent of the time, when they're desperate or they want something, they come and ask for help. Well, that's called being used. We think it's rude. And how much more rude is it when we do that to God, the God who is so generous and gives us every good thing that we enjoy?
The trouble is, when we stack up all of these things — what we say, what we think, what we do, and the way that we treat God — we may be able to hide them from other people, but we cannot hide them from God. For God, with his x-ray eyes, looks through us. He sees everything that we are, everything that we do. We may be able to hide it from other people; we cannot hide it from God. He is not a fool.
And one day when we stand before him, this will all be brought out into the open. We have a conscience. We know that we are accountable for what we do. And one day, the Bible assures us, every one of us will have to stand before God. As it describes it, the books will be opened — that is, the book of our life will be opened. What we actually said and thought and did will be brought into the light. Not just what we hoped we would have lived, or the way we would have liked other people to have seen that we lived, but everything brought into the light.
And I think for some of us, or most of us — certainly it was the way I was — we just sort of generally think, if that ever crosses our mind, "Oh, it'll probably be all right. I mean, most of the rest of life is all right. I'll probably be able to get through it. I've got through life so far. I'm sure it'll be all right on that day." And we have no idea that actually it won't be.
It takes me back to when I was looking for a job after I finished at college. I started applying for jobs, and I applied for so many that I couldn't remember what I'd applied for — it got a bit tricky. Eventually I got called in for an interview with a firm. So I turned up at this place, a massive office block. I'm greeted in the foyer by a lady dressed in a rather powerful shade of bright pink. She says, "Are you James?" I said, "Yes." She says, "Well, follow me." She takes me up in the elevator to a high level. There are three parts to the interview. The first is an actual face-to-face interview, and it's tricky having an interview when you can't remember the job you've applied for — and that became apparent very quickly. The second part was a role play with a role description, so you're given five minutes to read through it, and that's also tricky when you can't understand the roles being described. So that didn't go very well. And then the third thing — I was taken into a room, just me, and given a quiz, a multi-choice test. We all know how you do multi-choice, don't you? Just go A, C, B, A, C, B, all the way down.
I began to think, this is so awful, I just need to get out of here. I need some oxygen. So I looked around, there was no one else around. I thought, excellent. Stood up, walked out of the room, down the corridor, knew where the elevator was, took the floor down, went outside, and never went near the building again. I was out. I was alive. It was all right.
The reason it was so embarrassing was because I thought I could just bluff it and it would all be all right. Bluffed school and got through that. Thought this would be all right as well. The trouble is, if we treat meeting God like that, it won't just be embarrassing — it will be disastrous. We will be totally exposed for the life that we have led. There is no way of being able to talk around what we have done. To meet God in our sins, he will say, "You have no place here — no place here with a life like that." We will be exposed for the people that we are, and God is not joking about it.
Here is our greatest need: to have our sins forgiven. And I wonder if you can see that in your own life. I think it's so hard because we're just consumed with life as it is — what's coming up this week, next month, maybe we'll get as far as our retirement. But Jesus says we need to look further ahead, to the day of our death, because on that day only one question will matter: have our sins been forgiven?
Maybe I can put it a different way. Imagine this man in the story — this paralysed man — being interviewed about his experience a hundred years later. Imagine this when he's in heaven. He's asked, "How did you feel that morning when you woke up?" He says, "Well, I was tremendously excited. I'd heard about Jesus, the possibility of being healed. I was hoping he'd be able to do the same thing for me." "What was the journey like to get there?" "Well, it was very difficult, it was very painful, bumping up and down, but I was so full of anticipation it didn't matter too much to me." "What about when you were lowered down in front of everyone — that must have been quite a moment?" "No, that was terrifying. I was rolling around, I thought I was going to fall off the stretcher. It was dreadful." "And then, what about when Jesus said, 'Your sins are forgiven'? That must have been a great moment for you?" "No, I was devastated. All these years I'd hoped that someone would be able to help me with my legs, and my hopes had come to nothing."
And then one last question: "Now we're a hundred years later — do you feel the same way now as you did then?" And at this the man breaks into a smile from ear to ear and he says, "I now realise what Jesus was doing. If Jesus had only healed my legs, I would have been fine for forty years and then I would have suffered in all eternity for my sins. But the fact that Jesus forgave my sins and got me into heaven — and now that I have a whole new body to enjoy with him for eternity — I now understand why he knew best."
For Jesus does not want to help us just in this life, the next forty years. He wants to help us in eternity, get us right for eternity with God. Can we see that our greatest need is to have our sins forgiven?
Lesson Two: Our Only Saviour
Our greatest need — that's lesson number one. And then lesson number two: our only saviour.
In this world, people look in a lot of places to try and meet their needs. They try this, they try that, they try the other. If they ever think about meeting God, some people try being good enough — doing a few more good things, trying to be a better person. But we all know this doesn't actually work. It doesn't change the past. And actually, we can't change ourselves. It's a terrifying thing when you realise we can't change ourselves — we are what we are.
Well, wonderfully, what we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus here offers to do for us. He declares in verse 5: "Son, your sins are forgiven." Forgiven. At a stroke, Jesus is able to wipe out everything that this man had done that was wrong. It's as if the books were opened, as I said, everything's there — a record, a list of everything he's done wrong from top to bottom — and Jesus takes it, screws it up, and throws it in the incinerator. Gone, gone, gone, forever, and can never be resurrected. Imagine that, because that is what Jesus came to do.
Jesus' Authority Challenged
Now he's immediately challenged on his authority to do this, and you may have picked this up in verses six and seven. Just have a look down if you've got a Bible or you've got it on your device in front of you. "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?'"
These people — teachers of the law — are religious people. They know a thing or two, and they're not wrong in everything that they know. They know that our sins are primarily against God. It's God who sets the rules for this world, so that when we do things that are wrong in this world, they're against God — our misdemeanours are against God first of all. And therefore they know that only God can forgive sins. And they understand that when Jesus says "your sins are forgiven," he is therefore declaring himself to be God. They understand that, and they're correct in that.
Where they are not understanding rightly — where they are mistaken — is their assertion that he is blaspheming. They assume that the person in front of them could not be God. And so Jesus sets out to show them why they are mistaken.
Verse eight: "Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts." Possibly he didn't need to be God to see that — I think they had it written all over their faces. But anyway, he sees their hearts, and he says to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"
Now, imagine in front of everyone, in front of a crowd — which is easier to say? The thing which is invisible, which no one can prove anyway — "Your sins are forgiven" — or to say, "Get up, take your mat and walk now"? Well, in front of a crowd, you'd rather do the first than the second. You look pretty foolish doing the second if you can't pull it off.
And so Jesus says that in order that they can see that he is able to do the harder thing, he does the harder thing. "Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?" And he says, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins" — he tells the man — "Get up, take your mat and go home." So to show he can forgive sins, he does the harder thing right in front of them. To show he can heal the man's sin, he heals the man's legs. Get up, take your mat and go home. And the man hops up, picks up his mat, and walks out in full view of them all.
And that's why they say, "We have never seen anything like this." It is absolutely astonishing.
The Son of Man and the Authority to Forgive
But maybe the most surprising part of it is not actually the fact that he can heal the man. For Jesus, healings are easy. We saw that if you were here the last week or two — Jesus was able to empty a hospital just with the click of a finger. He could heal anyone. The most surprising part of this comes in verse 10. I want us to just look at this for a moment: "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins."
The Son of Man was a figure, a prophecy given in the Old Testament, where God the Father would invest his authority in another person — this Son of Man — who would be the judge of the world. That's what that reading from Daniel was about. Jesus says here, "You remember the Son of Man from the Old Testament — I am that person. I am the judge who is able to forgive sins."
But not only that — look at the timing of it. Verse 10: "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." Usually we would think of the judgment day as being ahead, a day in the future — which it will be. It will happen one day in the future. What Jesus is saying to this paralysed man is that he can forgive the man's sins now. That the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. That is, as the judge, he is able to pull the judgment day from the future into the present. Jesus is able to say to him, "I have the authority to forgive you right here and right now, so that you may know now where you stand before God."
There are a lot of people who, when they think about the future, think, "I hope it will all be all right." They hope against hope that it will all be okay. Jesus says, "I don't want you to hope against hope. I want you not just to hope so, but to know so — to know where you stand with God." The judge is offering forgiveness in the present.
We're at that time of the year at the moment with exams. Well done to the uni students who are here this morning — one week to go. We know the drill with exams: you spend all year thinking about other things and then finally the judgment day is upon you. But suppose before you walk into an exam, the examiner gets in touch and presents you with a formal certificate which declares that you have passed with an A+, grade point average 9.0. Well, this is what Jesus does, spiritually speaking, for this man. He gives him a perfect standing with God — A+. And it's what he offers to do for us as well.
A Personal Encounter with Mortality
Jesus came into this world to sort out our greatest need and to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. My first brush with death for myself came when I was fourteen. I had a good friend at school by the name of Angus Thompson, and we'd gone through the first year of high school together. Then at the beginning of second year, he didn't return to school. A couple of weeks in, we were told that he wasn't well, and I assumed he had flu or something. Then a few weeks after that, we were told he was having chemotherapy, which sort of meant nothing to us then. About three or four months later, he came to school and he had a massive lump in his neck. And then he died about six weeks later.
It put into my head then: I wonder what happens after death. I think that's a thought that a lot of people think from time to time, but we tend to brush it off because there's nothing that we can do about it anyway. Well, we're right — there isn't. But here is the person who can get us right for that day. The judge is offering to give us the verdict now — a positive verdict.
And if the judge is happy with the verdict, why would we not be as well? He's offering to forgive us our sins. And the rest of the Gospel of Mark explains how Jesus was able to make this offer — that in his life on earth, Jesus never did anything wrong. He lived a perfect life, the pure life that you and I are never able to live. He did live it. None of his friends could find anything wrong with him. We all know that when you share a house with someone, you know pretty quickly some of their faults and failings. But Jesus' disciples couldn't see anything wrong with him. And at his trial, even his enemies couldn't find anything wrong with him. Three times at his trial, the judge declared, "He is innocent."
And that's why when he went to his death, he was able to take our sins onto himself — able to lift them off us and put them onto himself as he hung on the cross — and by the same token give to us his A+ life. So that's what he does for this man: he lifts his sins onto himself and gives him a perfect standing with God. What you and I cannot do, Jesus offers to do for us.
Closing Appeal
If you're a Christian who's here this morning, I hope that you read these words with a joy that is greater than you've ever had as a Christian. We should grow in our joy as we understand more of what Jesus has done for us. It should bring us a joy and a freedom and a delight as we look forward one day to meeting God. My own mother is 94, sort of coming to the end. She says, "James, don't worry about me — my best days are ahead." You can only say that if you know what the future holds. And the person who follows Jesus can know, and should be looking forward to it, even while we enjoy the good things he gives to us in this life.
But maybe this morning I can finish by speaking to those who don't yet know Jesus as your Saviour and your Lord. Let me ask you: what are you trusting in for this great day ahead? We have a day that is approaching. We cannot alter the time of it, we cannot postpone it, we cannot evade it. The day of judgment is heading towards us. It is coming one year at a time. We are spending life twenty-four hours every day that we cannot get back. We are getting closer to this day. So let me ask you: what are you trusting in for this day when you will meet God? On that day we cannot stand behind someone else. We can't stand behind a Christian friend, or say, "Oh, I knew someone that went to Latimer" — that won't help. It will be us before God.
And so I want to ask you this morning: what would stop you from saying yes to the gift that Jesus is offering? A few weeks' time there'll be plenty of gifts going around. And when someone gives you a gift at Christmas time, there are only two things you can do with it. One is to take it, unwrap it, say thank you very much, take the bow off it, and appropriate it for yourself. The other is to leave it under the tree. And when it comes to the gift of forgiveness which Jesus offers, there are only two things we can do: one is to say yes — "Yes please, I want that, I want you" — or the other is to say no and to walk in the other direction.
So which approach will you take, and what would stop you from saying yes? Well, maybe today's the day when you should say yes, because you've thought about this for a while and actually — why am I putting this off anymore? When you know a good thing in life, you want to take it. Maybe you can do the ABC. A for admit: yes, I can admit I'm a sinner who needs forgiveness. B for believe: yes, I believe that Jesus died for me. C for come: yes, I want to come and say yes please. And you could do that by yourself today.
For those who are perhaps not quite at that stage — and it may be that this is all very new to you — I want to encourage you not to put this off for another day. The trouble with putting it off is, if you put it off today, you'll put it off next year. If you wait until you're less busy next year, it'll be the following year, and there'll be ten years after that. We'll never do anything about it.
We heard earlier about the life course, and I want to encourage you — if you're here today and you're not a Christian — why don't you at least give yourself an opportunity to look into it? The great thing about the life course is there's no pressure on you to make any decision. It's simply a case of finding out more. There are five evenings, you get given dinner — that's a good thing. It's free, secondly. Thirdly, you may even enjoy being there. And if you don't, well, no one else needs to know — you just don't come back. So it's about giving yourself an opportunity, giving yourself a chance, so that you don't shut the door on Jesus without at least investigating. I really encourage you to sign up and at least give it a go.
The people who were here on this day, when they saw this man, said, "We have never seen anything like this." And those who come to know Jesus will always be able to say the same. I've never heard anyone else who can offer us this. Never seen anyone else who is like Jesus — Jesus, the Son of Man, who has the authority to forgive you your sins right here and right now.
Closing Prayer
Dear God in heaven, we thank you that you saw our need and you more than met it by giving Jesus. Help us to see his life and his death. Help us to understand what it is he has done and what it is he is offering to us. And I pray for anyone here who doesn't yet follow him — that you would fan into flame the gift of faith, give them the gift of faith, that you would help them not to turn away from him but to have the courage to turn towards him and to accept what he's offering to them. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.