Mark 2

Mr 2:1-12.

HEALING OF A

PARALYTIC.

Mt 9:1-8;

Lu 5:17-26).

This incident, as remarked on

Mt 9:1,

appears to follow next in order of time after the cure of the leper

(Mr 1:40-45).

1. And again he entered into Capernaum--"His own city"

(Mt 9:1).

and it was noised that he was in the house--no doubt of Simon Peter

(Mr 1:29).

2. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there

was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door--This

is one of Mark's graphic touches. No doubt in this case, as the scene

occurred at his informant's own door, these details are the vivid

recollections of that honored disciple.

and he preached the word unto them--that is, indoors; but in the

hearing, doubtless, of the multitude that pressed around. Had He gone

forth, as He naturally would, the paralytic's faith would have had no

such opportunity to display itself. Luke

(Lu 5:17)

furnishes an additional and very important incident in the scene--as

follows: "And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching,

that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were

come out of every town," or village, "of Galilee, and Judea, and

Jerusalem." This was the highest testimony yet borne to our Lord's

growing influence, and the necessity increasingly felt by the

ecclesiastics throughout the country of coming to some definite

judgment regarding Him. "And the power of the Lord was [present] to

heal them"--or, "was [efficacious] to heal them," that is, the sick

that were brought before Him. So that the miracle that is now to be

described was among the most glorious and worthy to be recorded of many

then performed; and what made it so was doubtless the faith which was

manifested in connection with it, and the proclamation of the

forgiveness of the patient's sins that immediately preceded it.

3. And they come unto him--that is, towards the house where He was.

bringing one sick of the palsy--"lying on a bed"

(Mt 9:2).

which was borne of four--a graphic particular of Mark only.

4. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press--or, as

in Luke

(Lu 5:19),

"when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because

of the multitude," they "went upon the housetop"--the flat or

terrace-roof, universal in Eastern houses.

they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up,

they let down the bed--or portable couch

wherein the sick of the palsy lay--Luke

(Lu 5:19)

says, they "let him down through the tilling with his couch into the

midst before Jesus." Their whole object was to bring the patient

into the presence of Jesus; and this not being possible in the

ordinary way, because of the multitude that surrounded Him, they took

the very unusual method here described of accomplishing their object,

and succeeded. Several explanations have been given of the way in which

this was done; but unless we knew the precise plan of the house, and

the part of it from which Jesus taught--which may have been a

quadrangle or open court, within the buildings of which Peter's house

was one, or a gallery covered by a veranda--it is impossible to

determine precisely how the thing was done. One thing, however, is

clear, that we have both the accounts from an eye-witness.

5. When Jesus saw their faith--It is remarkable that all the three

narratives call it "their faith" which Jesus saw. That the patient

himself had faith, we know from the proclamation of his forgiveness,

which Jesus made before all; and we should have been apt to conclude

that his four friends bore him to Jesus merely out of benevolent

compliance with the urgent entreaties of the poor sufferer. But here we

learn, not only that his bearers had the same faith with himself, but

that Jesus marked it as a faith which was not to be defeated--a faith

victorious over all difficulties. This was the faith for which He was

ever on the watch, and which He never saw without marking, and, in those

who needed anything from Him, richly rewarding.

he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son--"be of good cheer"

(Mt 9:2).

thy sins be forgiven thee--By the word "be," our translators perhaps

meant "are," as in Luke

(Lu 5:20).

For it is not a command to his sins to depart, but an authoritative

proclamation of the man's pardoned state as a believer. And yet, as the

Pharisees understood our Lord to be dispensing pardon by this

saying, and Jesus not only acknowledges that they were right, but

founds His whole argument upon the correctness of it, we must regard

the saying as a royal proclamation of the man's forgiveness by Him to

whom it belonged to dispense it; nor could such a style of address be

justified on any lower supposition. (See on

Lu 7:41,

&c.).

6. But there were certain of the scribes--"and the Pharisees"

(Lu 5:21)

sitting there--those Jewish ecclesiastics who, as Luke told us

(Lu 5:17),

"were come out of every village of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem,"

to make their observations upon this wonderful Person, in anything but

a teachable spirit, though as yet their venomous and murderous feeling

had not showed itself.

and reasoning in their hearts.

7. Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but

God only?--In this second question they expressed a great truth. (See

Isa 43:25;

Mic 7:18;

Ex 34:6, 7,

&c.). Nor was their first question altogether unnatural, though in our

Lord's sole case it was unfounded. That a man, to all appearances like

one of themselves, should claim authority and power to forgive sins,

they could not, on the first blush of it, but regard as in the last

degree startling; nor were they entitled even to weigh such a claim, as

worthy of a hearing, save on supposition of resistless evidence

afforded by Him in support of the claim. Accordingly, our Lord deals

with them as men entitled to such evidence, and supplies it; at the

same time chiding them for rashness, in drawing harsh conclusions

regarding Himself.

8. Why reason ye these things in your hearts--or, as in Matthew,

(Mt 9:4)

"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"

9. Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be

forgiven thee--or "are forgiven thee";

or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk?--"Is it easier to

command away disease than to bid away sin? If, then, I do the one which

you can see, know thus that I have done the other, which you cannot

see."

10. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to

forgive sins--that forgiving power dwells in the Person of this Man,

and is exercised by Him while on this earth and going out and in with

you.

(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--This taking up the portable couch, and walking home with

it, was designed to prove the completeness of the cure.

12. And immediately he arose, took up the bed--"Sweet saying!" says

BENGEL: "The bed had borne the man: now the man bore the bed."

and went forth before them all--proclaiming by that act to the

multitude, whose wondering eyes would follow him as he pressed through

them, that He who could work such a glorious miracle of healing, must

indeed "have power on earth to forgive sins."

We never saw it on this fashion--"never saw it thus," or, as we say,

"never saw the like." In Luke

(Lu 5:26)

it is, "We have seen strange [unexpected] things to-day"--referring

both to the miracles wrought and the forgiveness of sins pronounced by

Human Lips. In Matthew

(Mt 9:8)

it is, "They marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power

unto men." At forgiving power they wondered not, but that a man, to all

appearance like one of themselves, should possess it!

Mr 2:13-17.

LEVI'S

(OR

MATTHEW'S)

CALL AND

FEAST.

Mt 9:9-13;

Lu 5:27-32).

See on

Mt 9:9-13.

Mr 2:18-22.

DISCOURSE ON

FASTING.

Mt 9:14-17;

Lu 5:33-39).

See on

Lu 5:33-39.

Mr 2:23-28.

PLUCKING

CORN-EARS ON THE

SABBATH

DAY.

Mt 12:1-8;

Lu 6:1-5).

See on

Mt 12:1-8.