Mark 2:6-12 6Now there were some scribes sitting there and questioning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak so? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins except only God?” 8And immediately Jesus, knowing in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10But 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, rise, pick up your bed, and go away to your house.” 12And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, “We have never seen thus!”
The second scene begins in verse 6 and makes a surprising shift to the conflict between Jesus and the scribes who were present and witnessed what Jesus said to the paralytic. It is curious why scribes were there in the small house, or perhaps at least nearby outside. They may have been curious and intrigued with Jesus’ teaching like everyone else, but they represent the growing opposition to him. Questioning in their hearts refers to the scribes’ inner thoughts. Only God can know the inner thoughts of a person. Mark as the narrator clues in the readers what Jesus already knew. That Jesus knew their thoughts adds further proof of his identity as the divine Son of God. This knowledge was more than reading body language but the ability to know the thoughts and motivations of the scribes. It must have surprised them when Jesus spoke what they were thinking.
Jesus offers the scribes a test. His question in verse 9 has the obvious answer that neither one can be done by humans. Only God can forgive and only God can heal. They were in the presence of God, and yet they were questioning the whole situation. The obvious conflict was over how Jesus could pronounce forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins. The deeper conflict is over the person of Jesus. This story marks a significant turning point in Mark’s Gospel as the opposition against Jesus grows. The attacks begin to increase, from unspoken criticism in verses 6, 8, to criticism of disciples in verse 16, to criticism of Jesus in verses 18, 24.
The scribes were the doctors of law who studied Scripture. They interpret Jesus’ action as blasphemy. They were shocked because only God could forgive sins. Blasphemy was punishable by stoning to death (Leviticus 24:16). This was the most serious charge against Jesus and the one that finally led to his crucifixion. The Jews of Jesus’ day often connected sin and suffering. They believed that if a person was suffering in any way, it was because of sin. The Rabbis taught, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.” Jesus did not wait for the response of the scribes but gave his own answer by healing the paralytic. He worked on the earthly, human level by healing the man, but he also worked on the divine level by forgiving him. Forgiveness itself is one of the greatest healing miracles possible. That a person’s sins are forgiven cannot be proven, but it is obvious to all when an obvious physical miracle occurs. The healing proved the forgiveness.
People’s preconceived ideas often stand in the way of faith. The religious leaders were the real paralytics in this story. They became paralyzed spiritually because of their doubt in Jesus. As religious leaders, they should have been like the friends and brining needy people to Jesus. Instead of love, there was indifference; and instead of faith, there was criticism. We may have more in common with them than we think. We think we can control our attitudes and actions and can avoid mistakes and wrongdoing. We think we can control our lives without God and are masters of our own universe. We have God all figured out. Humanism creeps into our spirituality and soon we replace God with self. We do not like to ask for forgiveness or healing. We think it better (and easier) to pray for others than to admit we need it ourselves. We need to take sin seriously, and when we do, it will make us uncomfortable. That’s a necessary part of forgiveness.
By sending the man on his way, Jesus showed his identification with God. This is the first time Mark records Jesus using his favorite self-identification as the Son of Man. There has been much discussion about the meaning of this phrase which reflects back to Daniel 7:13. The basic meaning emphasizes Jesus’ identification with humanity, but there is only one person who can be called THE Son of Man. This story shows the unique authority of Jesus, that he can heal both physically and spiritually. Accepting and recognizing the identify of Jesus brings glory to God and life transformation.
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