Scripture Daily

Context No. 29 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 2:6-11: in context

6But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and 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 tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”

Early in Mark's Gospel, Jesus is teaching in a crowded house in Capernaum. Four men carry a paralyzed friend to him, cannot get through the crowd, and dig through the roof to lower him down. Jesus looks at the man and says his sins are forgiven. That is the moment this passage picks up, with the scribes sitting there thinking it over.

Their objection is a serious one, and correct as far as it goes. Only God can forgive sins. A sin is an offense against God, so no one but the offended party can release it. What Jesus says next puts the argument in the open. Which is easier, he asks, to say your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and walk? Words of forgiveness cost nothing to speak, since no one can check them. Telling a paralyzed man to walk can be checked immediately, in front of everyone. So he heals the man, and offers the visible thing as evidence for the invisible one.

He does not argue the scribes out of their theology. He accepts it and then acts as if the conclusion they will not draw is true. When I want to be believed about something no one can verify, what verifiable thing am I willing to put beside it?

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