Jesus saw their faith

Mark 2:1-12
¶ And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

As Jesus was in Galilee, and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and healing in the region, he traveled to Capernaum, a city on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus arrived, he resided at a house and due to the rumors and news of the miracles by Jesus, a large crowd soon assembled and there Jesus preached to the assembled crowd of curious peoples.

In the crowd came four people bringing a man who was sick of the palsy, meaning he was in state of paralysis, or where his muscles were so weakened or stiffened up that he could not move. Mark’s Gospel, says they brought him in his bed, obviously to see Jesus in hope that he might be healed.

The Scripture shows they did some thing amazing, since the crowd was so big and surrounded the house, they could not go through the door, they instead decided to lower him through the roof to get him to Jesus. They, somehow, hoisted the man with his bed up on the roof and proceeded to break up the roof so they could lower the man with palsy down into the house where Jesus was teaching.

When Jesus saw this amazing spectacle and saw their great faith, he then said to the man with palsy “Son your sins are forgiven of you.”

The Scriptures of Mark show that in the crowd nearby watching this were those of the religious class of Israel, the scribes of the Pharisees, who were shocked by the words of the Jesus and thought to themselves, “Why does this man speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?”

Jesus the Christ of God, perceived in his spirit that they reasoned within themselves these thoughts, and Jesus said to the scribes, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, your sins be forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins…”

Then Jesus turned to man with palsy and said, “I say to you, Arise, and take up your bed, and go your way to your own house.”

Immediately after Jesus spoke the words, The man arose and walked out with his bed before the crowd, much to the wonder and celebration of all present who glorified God, except for the Pharisees who thought they had just witnessed blasphemy.

Jesus had just healed a man of paralysis and did so in the name of “the Son of man,” meaning the holy One, whom was mentioned in the book of the prophet Daniel.

Daniel 7:13-14
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

In this story illustrated in the Gospel of Mark, we have two stories of faith, one positive and one negative.

The four people who brought the man with palsy had a great faith in Jesus so much so that when they saw the situation was dire, not being able to bring him near from the crowd, they improvised and showed great faith by their work to bring up the man to the roof top and forcibly break up the roof lowering down the sick man. They knew Jesus could heal him if only they could get to him.

They had faith in Jesus.

Jesus saw their faith.

Jesus rewarded the four for their awesome display of faith, so that Jesus healed their friend.

The other side of faith is disbelief, and the scribes and Pharisees were an example of disbelief, who witnessed what everyone else saw and glorified God, but the scribes saw it differently and they were blinded to what they saw and instead had thoughts to accuse Jesus of Blasphemy and sorcery. The Jewish religious class members witnessed a man who claimed to forgive men their sins and this was contrary to their belief that only God could forgive sins. They could not see that Jesus, a man of many miracles, was of God, or the Son of God. Instead, they saw only their own teachings and held firmly to the written Old Testament law and the new religious teachings of the oral law, men’s interpretations of the Rabbis which corrupted by adding to and diminishing from the written law of God.

Jesus rewarded the faithful, for their faith. They were justified by their faith.

Do you have faith in Jesus today?

Will God reward you for your faith?

Or do you have unbelief in Jesus much like the Pharisees who were engrossed with the law, and you are today engrossed in this worldly life and its cares, and you are failing to see what Jesus can do for your life?

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Jesus said to the disciples of John the Baptist:

Matthew 11:5-6
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

To those who have witnessed Jesus in person after he was raised from the dead the book of John’s Gospel records:

John 20:29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Do you know Jesus?

Do you know the Christ?

Do You have the faith?

Do you know why Jesus came?

Did you know he died for your sins?

Do you know he Lives!

Heavenly Father hallowed be your name. Thank you for sending Jesus who was sent to save men from their sins and heal the lame and the brokenhearted. We thank you for graciously sending Jesus the Christ to die on the cross in sacrificing his life that we might be healed not only in our bodies but in our hearts and that whosoever should believe in him would have the gift of eternal life just as Jesus was raised from the dead to life everlasting! We thank you Lord!

Praises be continually to your holy name!