What does Mark Chapter 2 Mean?

The second chapter of Mark includes four stories of Jesus declaring His authority. To
this point, He has revealed His authority over demons (Mark 1:23–26, 32), physical
disease (Mark 1:29–34, 40–42), and traditional teachers who timidly interpret Scripture
according to the teachings of past rabbis (Mark 1:21–22). In this chapter, Jesus shows
He has authority over sin, public opinion, manmade tradition, and the Sabbath.

In the first story (Mark 2:1–11), Jesus publicly forgives a man's sins. This same event is
also described in Luke 5:17–26 and Matthew 9:2–8. A paralyzed man is lowered
through the roof of the house where Jesus is teaching. Instead of healing him
immediately, Jesus declares that his and his friends' faith has resulted in God forgiving
his sins. The scribes—
biblical scholars in the Pharisee sect—are horrified. They accuse Jesus of blasphemy,
their first such charge in the gospel of Mark. In order to validate His assertion that He
does have authority to forgive sins, Jesus heals the paralyzed man as well.
When Jesus saw their faith: Jesus looked up at the four men struggling with crude
ropes tied to each corner of the stretcher with a paralytic on it. He looked at them
and saw their faith. Their faith could be seen. Their bold, determined action to bring
their friend to Jesus proved they had real faith.
b. Son, your sins are forgiven you: We can imagine how the friends on the roof felt.
They went to a lot of trouble to see their friend healed of his paralysis, and now the
teacher only wants to forgive his sins. We might imagine them shouting, “No, he’s
paralyzed! We wanted him to walk, not to be forgiven!”
i. Yet, Jesus knew what the man’s real need was and what his greatest need was. What
good was it if the man had two whole legs and walked right into hell with them.
Whenever there is a problem, almost always, sin is the real problem. Jesus got right to
the problem.
ii. Jesus did not mean that the paralyzed man was especially sinful or that his paralysis
was directly caused by sin. Instead, He addressed the man’s greatest need and the
common root of all pain and suffering – man’s sinful condition.
iii. “Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs. It meets the greatest
need; it costs the greatest price; and it brings the greatest blessing and the most lasting
results.” (Wiersbe)
c. Who can forgive sins but God alone? The scribes used the right kind of logic. They
correctly believed that only God could forgive sins, and they are even correct for
examining this new teacher. Their error was in refusing to see who Jesus is: God the
Son, who has the authority to forgive sins.
i. “The words suggest a gradual intensification of the fault-finding mood: first a general
sense of surprise, then a feeling of impropriety, then a final advance to the thought:
why, this is blasphemy!” (Bruce)
ii. “Again and again during the life of Christ the same dilemma was to re-appear. If he
were not divine, then he was indeed a blasphemer; there could be no third way out.”
(Cole)

We are to have a compassionate faith

Number one, we are to have a compassionate faith. The word compassion is not
used here, but it is seen. At some point these men had a conversation. They heard
about Jesus being in town. They had heard about what Jesus could do. Perhaps, one of
these men and maybe all four had been healed by Jesus in the previous days or weeks
leading up to this. But somewhere in the town these men began to care about this
paralyzed man. They started having sympathy, empathy, and eventually it moved to
compassion. Whenever true compassion is born, action will follow.
During the time of Jesus the sick, injured, or the elderly were often left to fend for
themselves unless they had family or friends to take care of them. Their acts of care are
acts of compassion. To help someone who is unable to help themselves is compassion.
Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on
compassion…” (CSB). Compassion is a choice. You choose to love and you choose to
care.
But when you take compassion and faith and put them together then you have a
powerful force that is ready and willingly to do anything for the glory of God. When
Jesus saw the compassion and love of these men, Jesus was “seeing their faith” in
action.
We are to have a persistent faith
Number two, we are to have a persistent faith. Somewhere out in the town four men
were having a conversation about Jesus.
 This was not going to stop them. You know why? Because they had a persistent
faith. They were convinced Jesus could do something and they were going to get
this man to Jesus one way or another.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:12 that “from the time John the Baptist began preaching until
now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing…” (NLT). That does not
mean you are going to force Jesus on others or you are going to be mean and arrogant
with the gospel. What it means is you are going to find that when you get involved in
bringing people to Jesus you are going to be swimming upstream, walking into the wind,
climbing up hill, and the forces of darkness are going to try to put as many obstacles
and road blocks in your way. You will have to be persistent, determined, and forcefully
advance the gospel through the sin, the darkness, the rebellion, and the selfishness of
this world.

When Jesus saw the persistence of these men, He was “seeing their faith” in action.
We are to have a creative faith
Number three, we are to have a creative faith. A faith that truly believes that Christ is
the only way will be inventive! Faith will find a way.
Let’s look at this again in verse 4. Mark tells us, “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus
because of the crowd, so” they quit… so they gave up and went home… so they just
decided to pray about it… so they sat outside waiting and hoping they would get to see
Jesus… no, no, no! Mark tells us they got creative! Inventive! Resourceful! Innovative!
Mark says, “They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a
hole through the roof above his head.” We are not told whose idea it was, but faith
understands that there is more than one way to tie a shoe. If we can’t get to Jesus
through the front door, then we are going to go through the roof.
Sometimes you will have to do something a little creative and a little drastic to get
people to Jesus. Sometimes doing ministry as normal doesn’t reach people. Faith will
drive you out of the box of comfort.
But let me be clear. This is not being creative for creative sake. If these four men had
arrived at the house where Jesus was at and could have walked through the front door,
then they would have walked through the front door. They had to be creative because
the normal way of getting this man to Jesus wasn’t going too happened.
When Jesus saw the creativity of their faith, Jesus was “seeing their faith” in action.
We are to have a courageous faith
Number four, we are to have a courageous faith. We must have a courageous faith if
we plan on reaching people for Christ. Mark tells us in verse 4 these men “dug a hole
through the roof.” They dug a hole big enough to lower a man through. They did not
ask for permission, they just started digging.
I can imagine that the four men on the roof thought about the owner being mad and
maybe someone getting upset with them for digging through the roof… but they did it
anyway. Whenever God lays someone on your heart to share Christ with them whether
it’s a family member, a friend, a neighbor or a perfect stranger around the world it will
always take courage.
One more thing. These men knew the difference between the value of a roof and the
value of a person. They understood that fixing a roof is a lot easier than fixing a person.
The men could repair the roof, but only Jesus could repair the man. You do your part
and Jesus will do His.
When Jesus saw the courage of their faith, Jesus was “seeing their faith” in action.
We are to have a sacrificial faith
Number five, we are to have a sacrificial faith. Somebody would have to pay for the
roof or fix it, and that would take time, labor, and expense. A faith that brings Christ’s
power to the world is always willing to pay the price. I’m assuming these men who tore
the roof up were willing to pay for the damages and have them repaired. To them the
value of the paralyzed man was much more than the value of the roof.
Faith in Jesus leads to sacrifice. As a person of faith you are willing to pay the financial
sacrifice to spread the gospel, you are willing to sacrifice time to advance the gospel,
and you are willing to give up this and that for the sake of God’s kingdom and to see
people come to Jesus.
When Jesus saw the sacrifices their faith was willing to make, Jesus was “seeing their
faith” in action.
We are to have a unified faith
Number six, we are to have a unified faith. Look closely at verse 5. Mark tells us
Jesus saw “their faith.” Jesus didn’t say He saw the man’s faith, but the men’s faith.
When Jesus saw “their faith” He saw the faith of all five men. They all had faith and
specifically Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” You
don’t become a son of God and have your sins forgiven based on someone’s else’s
faith. They all had faith.
We are not told about the level of faith they had, but we are told Jesus could see “their
faith.”

Conclusion

 Can your faith be seen? Is it a real faith? Does it

produce action? Compassion? Courage? Sacrifice? Is
it persistent?
 Are you joining your faith with others? Are you a part
of a team that is moving the gospel forward?
By calling someone the public would have labelled a crook to be His disciple, Jesus
shows love has precedence over popular opinion (Mark 2:13–17). Thus far, Jesus has
only commissioned Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples (Mark 1:16–20).
While walking by the sea, He finds the tax collector Levi, also called Matthew, and
invites him, as well. This incident is also captured in Matthew 9:9–13 and Luke 5:27–32.
Tax collectors were considered disgraceful in the eyes of Jews. Not only did they work
for the Roman occupiers, they often cheated their countrymen. But Jesus not only calls
Levi to be His disciple, He eats at Levi's house with other tax collectors and "sinners."
The scribes, who would never share a meal with such people for fear of becoming
unclean, question Jesus' motives. Jesus responds with the famous, "Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17).

In a third argument with the scribes, this time about fasting, Jesus shows He has
authority over manmade traditions (Mark 2:18–22). A parallel account of this event is
found in both Matthew 9:14–17 and Luke 5:33–39. The Old Testament, presumably,
dictates only one fast: Yom Kippur. Significant events in Jewish history led the nation to
voluntarily enact five more. In addition, national hardship or personal inclination induced
people to fast as they felt led. The Pharisees had taken this loose suggestion and made
an art form of it. Both they and John the Baptist's disciples fasted regularly, in contrast
to Jesus and His disciples, who did not. When questioned about it, Jesus explains that
fasting for mourning is inappropriate while He is there; His presence is a time for
celebration. He is bringing a new paradigm of worshiping God which is inconsistent with
some of the old, manmade ceremonies.

To this day, although Christians agree Jesus has authority over the Sabbath, they differ
in opinions over what that means for us. While walking through a field on the Sabbath,
Jesus' disciples pick heads of grain and eat them (Mark 2:23–28). The same story is
told in Matthew 12:1–8 and Luke 6:1–5. The Pharisees accuse them of breaking the
Sabbath law, as expressed in both Leviticus 25:1–7, which prohibited working in fields,
and their own extended, thirty-nine-part addition. Instead of quibbling about the minutiae
of the law, Jesus merely asserts that the ceremonial law must submit to He who wrote
it. He also teaches that the point of ceremonial law is to bring people closer to God, not
create an unbearable hardship.

While the people readily accept Jesus' healing and teaching, the Pharisees and their
scribes filter everything Jesus does through their ideas about the Law. Jesus, however,
shows that His identity gives Him a different perspective than their hide-bound writings
and rules could even fathom. His priority is to love God and others, and He has the
authority to do so.

The slow revealing of Jesus' agenda results in increasing antagonism from the
Pharisees. It begins with amazement (Mark 1:27), transitions to evil thoughts (Mark 2:6–
7; Matthew 9:3–4), and escalates to subtle attacks on the disciples (Mark 2:16, 24), and
a stake-out (Mark 3:1–2). Before long, it will reach the apex in an active attempt to
destroy Jesus (Mark 3:6).