Mark opens this scene with a crowd breaking down the doors to get a view of Jesus. Jesus is at home, preaching to the crowds, and four men come along carrying a paralytic on a bed. Unable to draw close to Jesus because of the crowds, the four men come up with a humorously absurd plan. They’ll drag their paralyzed friend on top of a roof, cut a hole in the it and then lower the man down in front of Jesus in order to be healed.
Mark’s humor is not our humor. However, if we envision four men dragging a paralyzed man up the side of a building, it doesn’t take much imagination to speculate on the yelling, near falls, and commotion this would have caused. Then there’s Jesus giving a sermon in the midst of this commotion, even as the four men break through the roof and lower their friend down to be with Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus saw in this activity their faith, and its from their posture of faith that Jesus heals. This healing occurs because of faith, not to produce it in others.
Jesus’ initial response to their actions is to forgive the man of his sins. This probably wasn’t what the men had in mind when they began executing their plan. However, this statement sparks the conflict that propels the narrative along. It is in response to this forgiveness that the scribes, the religious experts begin to scoff. “Who does Jesus think he is? Who has the ability to forgive sins except for God alone”
It’s clear that the religious elite are having trouble making sense of Jesus’ claim. Feeling out the room, Jesus tells the scribes that he’s going to do something to make it known that he has the power to forgive sins; he’s going to tell the man to stand up, take his mat and walk. Jesus then refers to himself as the Son of Man, a reference to the powerful character described in Daniel who is given power and authority over “all peoples, nations, and languages.” Jesus mimics this language from Daniel, wanting to show his own authority over sin and disease. The man is healed, picks up his bed and goes on his way. Others see this and are amazed at what’s happened.
While reading this healing, I can’t help but think about Jesus baptism in the first chapter of Mark and the similarities. Mark tells us that the heavens are ripped open and the spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove and a voice comes from the heavens saying that Jesus is God’s son. The four men rip open the roof and lower a paralyzed man to Jesus. At the heart of both of these stories is a question of identity. Jesus hears God’s voice claiming him as the Son of God. In Mark 2, Jesus refers to himself with another messianic title, the Son of Man. These two stories are woven together with identity and titles of Jesus lordship, and caught up in all of this are the scribes.
In a sense the scribes are just as paralyzed. When they hear Jesus make his statement about forgiving sin, they are paralyzed in their faith, unable to see that Jesus is the one to whom their scriptures point. The paralyzed man has a faith that is free and active, and the scribes have a faith that is a limp as the paralytics legs. It appears that Jesus’ activity is already sparking various reactions. Some will dramatically climb to a roof in hopes of lowering a paralyzed friend into Jesus’ presence. Others will scoff at Jesus’ claim to forgive sins, revealing the rigidity and frailness of their faith. We’re left with the story urging us to make our own sense out of it.
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