Mark 2:1-12
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12 is a story of a healing and pronouncement concerning a paralytic and of Jesus as the forgiver of sin. One could also have the title focus on the faith of the friends. In this story, we learn that Jesus heals, he knows the inner hearts of people, and he forgives sin. Clearly, this passage acts as a transition. It is the last of a group of healing narratives and the beginning of several confrontation accounts, but on a deeper and more fundamental level to Mark’s overarching intent, it tangibly shows the reader that Jesus is the divine Son of Man. This text is the first of five "controversy stories" (the others being 2:13-17; 2:18-22; 2:23-28; and 3:1-6), and it contains a conflict story (vv. 6-10) within the framework of a healing story (vv. 1-5, 11-12), a literary device of narrative intertwining found elsewhere in Mark's gospel (e.g., 3:1-6; 3:19-35; 5:21-43, etc.).
This story of the four men who took their paralytic friend to Jesus had some powerful images for me. One was that the paralytic man had to receive the help that his friends offered. It can be quite hard for some to people to receive help. To accept help, we admit that we need it, and at some level, desire it. It admits to some weakness. Who wants to admit to that? Further, this man had friends who loved him enough to bring him to Jesus. I wonder if we care enough for our family and friends to do the same. I hope so and pray so. Jesus has concern for the soul and body. The paralytic needed wholeness in his body. He also had sin for which he needed forgiveness. Jesus wanted to bring healing to both areas of his life. The debate between Jesus and the scribes shows the dramatic claims the New Testament makes of Jesus. What the scribe said was right. Only God can forgive sin. For the writers of the New Testament, such a statement is exactly true, and suggests to us who Jesus is. Of course, in the end, Jesus told the man to rise, pick up his mat, and walk. This paralytic lived on his mat. It was a sign of his weakness. People could, with greater ease, pull him or carry him because of it. However, when Jesus told him to pick it up and walk, the sign of his weakness became a sign of divine healing.
Jesus returned to Capernaum (from an original Semitic name, Kefar Nahum, "Village of Nahum") after some days. Capernaum was an ancient and important farming, fishing, and trading center on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, about five kilometers from the sea's entrance into the Jordan River. Identified with modern Tell Hum, archaeological research at the city shows evidence of habitation by the third millennium B.C. By the time of Jesus, Capernaum covered an area of 15 acres, and had a population not in excess of one thousand people, a significant, although not large, village in the region. Despite Jesus' regular appellation as "Jesus of Nazareth" (e.g., Luke 4:34), the references to Capernaum in Matthew and Mark suggest that Capernaum played a significant role in the early stages of Jesus' public ministry in Galilee, with perhaps the house of Simon Peter and Andrew serving as a borrowed base of operations (1:29). Capernaum was the site of Jesus' first healing (an exorcism in the synagogue, Mark 1:21-28), as well as the setting for his important discourse on the Bread of Life (John 6:22-59). People reported that he was at home. Jesus emphasizes his own property-less lifestyle (e.g., "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head," Matthew 8:20, paralleled in Luke 9:58). Jesus also offered frequent warnings against the capacity of possessions to enslave (e.g., Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:15, 33; 14:33). Therefore, the statement that Jesus was “at home” (v. 1) in Capernaum is not clear. Matthew also reports that Jesus "made his home" at Capernaum (4:13; 9:1), but apart from those passages, we have no other reports in the gospels of Jesus as a householder, and the expression used here occurs nowhere else in the gospels referring to Jesus. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door. The description of the press of people about the door of the house where Jesus was staying may be a deliberate echo of a similar scene in Genesis 19 and, slightly less closely, Judges 19:22, where the men of Sodom and Gibeah surround a house for vicious purposes. The press of people here, of course, is for just the opposite reason (to benefit from, rather than abuse, the guest), and the outcome is a similar inversion of the deadly encounters in Sodom and Gibeah: Instead of taking life, we see the enhancing of life. The literary tradition out of which the gospel of Mark grew would have known this literary pattern well, so the parallel is by no means far-fetched. Further, Mark reports that Jesus' fame has made it difficult for him to find any peace in the city. Nevertheless, the people locate him even in retreat. Mark's urgent pace and minimalist style draw the reader's attention to the constant pressure on Jesus and to the sense of the swarm of the people who find in Jesus an authority and power that is lacking in their other religious leaders (1:22, 27). Jesus was speaking the word (4:33) to them. The expression may be a shortened form of the fuller expression "the word of God" (as found, e.g., at Matthew 15:6), or, by abbreviation in form, it may have acquired a richer meaning. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man. The New Testament knows well of the affliction the man suffers, even if the affliction is not especially common. The cause of paralysis in the New Testament, as now, could be a variety of conditions. Scholars have proposed polio and hysteria (as well as malingering). Outside of this story, it appears in the story of the centurion's servant (Matthew 8:6), in the list of afflictions suffered by those at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5:3), and as one of the afflictions cured by the apostles (Acts 8:7; 9:33). We then learn that four people carried him. The four friends heard the whisper of God in the suffering of their friend, which is why they took the drastic action they did. God whispered in the souls of those four friends and spoke to their hearts. God inspired them to seek out Jesus, using whatever means necessary, and to trust him to heal their paralyzed friend. 4 They could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd. Jesus draws a diverse flock around him throughout the gospel story. Sometimes, the crowd is large. The man who needs to get to Jesus cannot get to Jesus because of the crowd. We could ponder the reason this crowd does not part the way for him so that he can reach Jesus. Yet, we today might ponder as well. The risen Lord can still gather a diverse crowd. Is there a sense in which the crowd that gathers around Jesus may place a limit on those who follow Jesus? Among the strong reasons people give for not following Jesus is the church. They do not think they can get to Jesus, they cannot hear what he is saying, and they cannot see the beauty of the way of life to which Jesus bids us. Therefore, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. Access to the roof would have been by an outside stairway. Breaking through the beams covered with mud thatch would have been a rather disconcerting experience for Jesus and those inside the house, who would have had chunks of roof and dust falling on their heads. Yet, nevertheless, the significance of this description goes much farther than helping the modern reader visualize how first century builders constructed and deconstructed houses. The critical issue is that the men have such a desire to see Jesus that they take off the roof of a house. Their passion for Jesus is no doubt an attribute that Mark would find worthy in any follower of Jesus. When the foursome dug through the roof, Jesus looked up at their dusty faces and 5Jesus saw their faith. Through it all, Jesus saw their faith shine through. As elsewhere in healing stories in Mark (e.g., 5:34, 36; 9:23-34; 10:52) – faith has little or nothing to do with explicitly religious or theological matters but consists almost entirely of an attitude of assertive trust in Jesus' ability to heal. That trust can be the trust of the afflicted individual (e.g., a leper in Mark 1:40-42, a woman suffering from hemorrhages in 5:34), or, as here (and in the case of Jairus' daughter, 5:21-24, 36, and the centurion's servant, Matthew 8:5-13), the trust of those who cared for the one in need. The latter principle of vicarious faith forms the theological basis of intercessory prayer, an idea deeply rooted in Israelite religion (see, for example, Genesis 18:16-33; 20:7; Job 1:5; and especially Exodus 32:7-14, where Moses, Israel's mediator par excellence, saves the Israelites from God's wrath). This passage is unique among all the reports of Jesus' healing ministry because Mark does not tell us of the faith of the paralytic. Typically, Jesus responds, "Your faith has saved you." The emphasis on the personal faith of the one who receives healing is usually crucial to the cure. However, in this story, it is not the faith of the individual that Mark notes. Rather, Mark highlights the faith of the friends who bring the paralytic to Jesus. Mark lifts up the faith of the community on behalf of an individual to the attention of the reader.
Tragically, most of us are moving too fast and making too much noise to hear the gentle voice of God. We will hear the whisper only when we are willing to feel the pain of our neighbors. When we become vulnerable enough to share their troubles and feel their hurts, and then take actions that show we love our neighbors every bit as much as we love ourselves. Our love is not just a warm and wonderful feeling but reveals itself in concrete actions if it is going to reflect our Christian faith. For if "a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food," observes the letter of James, "and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:15-17). Jesus is among the humble, miserable, afflicted, oppressed, desperate, and those brought down to nothing at all. The nature of God is to exalt the humble, feed the hungry, enlighten the blind, comfort the miserable and afflicted, justify sinners, give life to the dead, and save those desperate and damned.[1] Something else may be afoot in the world than that which we have imagined, a presence more than we have conceived:
And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of settling suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.[2]
Thus, the key is to listen for the whisper, and then act. To get up, get moving, get lifting, get carrying, get climbing and get digging ... whenever you hear the gentle voice of God calling you to do some work on behalf of others. Sure, some barriers may separate you from Jesus, and from people around you. However, like the fearless foursome of Capernaum, you can break through them. When you place the needs of the world in front of Jesus, amazing things can happen. God can inspire the healing of the paralyzed. God can inspire the feeding of the hungry. God can inspire the freeing of the oppressed. God can inspire people to help the poor. Peace can break out, people can learn justice, and hope can replace even the most desolate forms of despair. It all starts with hearing the voice of God and acting.
5Then Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son” an affectionate and familiar form of address used nowhere else by Jesus. The affectionate usage appears also in I Peter 5:13 (where Peter describes Mark "my son"), but nowhere else in the New Testament. In that time, people commonly used the term to describe the relationship of a teacher to a disciple, but writers in the New Testament did not deploy this usage. Its use here is conspicuous. Jesus continues talking with the man he addressed as son, saying to him, “your sins are forgiven.” This declaration comes surprisingly and suddenly. It would be tempting to draw the conclusion, consistent with considerable theology in the Hebrew Bible (II Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 41:4), that the paralysis of the young man was punishment for some unrecorded sin(s). A strong and widely held view of the ancient world considered a close relationship existed between misfortune and misbehavior. This view shaped much of Israel's belief about God. Yet, the writings of the Old Testament are diverse enough to challenge that theological view. The connection between infirmity and sin needs some attention. In John's gospel, the disciples ask Jesus if the blindness of a man was due to the blind man's sin or his parents'. Jesus is quick to dismiss the cause and effect of that assertion (John 9:1-11 and Luke 13:1-5). It would be wrong to think that Jesus, in this report, contradicts himself. The paralytic is not any more a sinner than anyone else is. The logic of this story suggests that sin and infirmity have nothing to do with each other. The healing is an afterthought. It is more important to receive forgiveness than to receive healing. Furthermore, by separating the forgiveness of sin from the healing miracle and giving priority to the former, Mark makes clear that Jesus is no mere miracle worker -- he is nothing short of divine. Wisdom teachings (Job, Ecclesiastes), as well as later prophetic traditions (such as II Isaiah's "Suffering Servant," 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) strongly argued that appearances could be deceiving, and that there was no necessarily strict causal relationship between sin and suffering. Jesus affirmed this view in his healing of a blind man (John 9:1-3). Forgiveness of sins and salvation suggests that those who accept the message are no longer outcasts. They share in the salvation of the rule of God. The presence of salvation relates to the removal of the barrier that separates from God. While some scholars doubt such an affirmation was part of his historic ministry, one can have no doubt that the rule of God and participation in its salvation includes remission of sins and overcoming of that which separates us from God.[3] Clearly, however, the pronouncing the remission of sins originated with Jesus, and he imparted that authority to all his disciples.[4] We should note the ambivalence that surrounds the coming of Jesus helps us understand the rejection he encountered and the offense contemporaries took of his person. Mark will say that a main point of contention was his claim to forgive sins as an expression of the presence of the salvation of divine rule. Such a statement implied that with him and by him, the future of the rule of God is already present.[5] As such, one can understand the pronouncing of forgiveness may well be a summary of the saving effect of the message of Jesus. However, that is true only if we consider the presupposition as well for this in the proclamation of Jesus of the rule of God and see the pronouncement of the forgiveness of sin in its original context.[6] We learn early in Mark that when it comes to the sinner, God does not stand still, open wide the arms of God, and invites us to come. Rather, God stands and waits in the manner of the father of the lost son. More precisely, God does not so much wait as moves forth to seek, as the shepherd sought the lost sheep and as the woman sought the lost coin. God has gone infinitely further in becoming one of us in the divine search for sinners.[7]
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? Thus, the story marks one of the first hostile encounters with the religious authorities who will be his primary opponents throughout his life and ministry. That opposition has an intimate relation to sin, healing, forgiveness and Jesus' identity and mission. Mark again juxtaposes Jesus and his authority with the authority of the scribes. Yet, Mark has raised the stakes in the comparison. The opposition does not raise the question of the power of Jesus to teal. Rather, they question his claim to forgive sins. Both Jesus and the scribes would agree that only God could forgive sins. The controversy concerns the self-proclaimed right Jesus to act in God's stead in bestowing forgiveness. It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The scribal antagonists raise the more crucial issue. The sin of blasphemy was a capital offense to the orthodox Jew of the day. This charge became central to the prosecution's case against Jesus at his trial (14:64). It involved the deliberate dishonoring of God's name (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 24:16), and was a capital offense (Leviticus 24:10-16; Matthew 26:65-66). The dishonor in this case (as in Jesus' eschatological pronouncements in Matthew 26:64 and parallels) is the equality between Jesus and God implied in Jesus' declaration of forgiveness, a prerogative traditionally reserved exclusively to God (Exodus 34:6-7; Isaiah 43:25). The charge of blasphemy occurs in the context of the ambivalence that accompanied the ministry of Jesus, in this context, of claiming the right to forgive sin.[8] Of course to Mark, Jesus is not guilty of hubris. He leaves the reader to make the logical leap to Jesus' identity: He is God's Messiah, the Christ, and the Anointed One.
This difference between Jews and Christians has been difficult. Yet are you ready for a little humor? The great Jewish mystic and philosopher, Martin Buber, told a group of Christian priests: "What is the difference between Jews and Christians? We all await the Messiah. You believe He has already come and gone, while we do not. I therefore propose that we await Him together. Moreover, when he appears, we can ask Him: 'Were you here before?' And I hope that at that moment I will be close enough to whisper in his ear, 'For the love of heaven, don't answer.'"
8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? The form of this statement from Jesus is provocative and perplexing. On the one hand, since no one can forgive sins but God, the first part of the question is moot. Yet, on the other hand, the sense of the passage suggests that the scribes might answer "forgiveness of sins" because it is unverifiable, unlike a healing miracle. However, from Mark's perspective, the forgiveness of sins is far more significant. The fact that Jesus healed the man means that releasing someone from spiritual captivity is far more difficult. The miraculous healing, as all Jesus' miracles did, pointed beyond itself to a deeper significance, namely, the identity of Jesus and the spiritual purpose of his mission. 10 However, so that you may know that the Son of Man (first time Mark uses this title) has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Scholars have debated the significance of this title for decades. It comes from an Aramaic root that simply means "man." Hence, some scholars advance that Jesus claims that humans have the authority to forgive sins. This explanation does not fit with the passage. Others have noted that the Aramaic is a kind of "papal we," and Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins for himself alone. This is closer to Mark's meaning. However, the title as used in this passage has the force of later Christian teaching that Jesus is the bearer of God's power on earth. This identification of Jesus as the chosen one of God drives this story and the entire gospel of Mark. In the controversy, names of persons, statements about time and place, and vivid details during events, have disappeared. Everything concentrates on the question of forgiveness. The primitive Christian community may have stimulated this issue by its life and experience. Scholars identify several possible uses of the term. 1) Jesus was speaking of humanity in general; 2) it refers to the messianic community; 3) he could refer to himself as the Messianic Representative of Israel; 4) he could refer to himself in a general sense, `a certain man,’ and 5) it could be the theology of the early community. This term quite possibly originates from Daniel chapter 7 and found expression in several Jewish apocalyptic texts of the intertestamental period. Mark uses the term 14 times, always coming from the mouth of Jesus himself. Though most occurrences have to do with future events, in chapter 2, Jesus proclaims himself as the Son of Man who, in the present time, can forgive sins and rule over the Sabbath. Though there exists much scholarly debate, Mark uses the term to show that Jesus is the divine Messiah, but in a way that must include suffering and death before a final triumph. Finally, Jesus said[9] to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 He stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them. This time, the healed and forgiven man is silent, but the people gathered at the home were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” Mark throughout his gospel refrains from explicit pronouncements concerning the identity of Jesus. Scholars have agreed Mark shaped his gospel around the theme of the "messianic secret." However, while the identity of Jesus does not receive explicit statement in pronouncements, his identity is clear in the way Mark presents the power of Jesus. To the first reader/hearer of the gospel, the identity of Jesus is no secret!
Considering that this story is like John 5:1-9, there may be a common oral tradition. Acts 3:1-10 repeats the story.
John 5:1-9
1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids-- blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.
Acts 3:1-10
[1] (Luther, Lectures on Galatians [1535] [on Gal. 3:19], Luther's Works, 26:314.)
[2] Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey."
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 332.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 366, note 812 as well.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 336.
[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 82-3.
[7] (Soren Kierkegaard, Either-Or.)
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 336, 337.
[9] The Jesus Seminar says that given the three sources for this saying, the statement about getting up, picking up the mat, and walking, may be close to something Jesus said.
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