Scripture Daily

Context No. 890 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 2:1-5: in context

1When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was at home. 2Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. 3Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. 4When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. 5Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Jesus is back in Capernaum, at home, and the crowd packs the house so tightly there is no room even at the door. Four men arrive carrying a paralyzed friend on a mat and cannot get through. So they climb up, tear open the roof over where Jesus is, and lower the man down in front of him. Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

Two things jump out. First, the faith Jesus responds to is the friends' faith. He sees their faith, the four who dug through a roof, and on account of it speaks forgiveness to the man on the mat. The paralytic contributes nothing here but his need; it is the stubborn, roof-wrecking love of his friends that carries him into Jesus' presence. Some people get to Jesus because others refuse to give up on them. Second, Jesus addresses what looks like the wrong problem first. The man was brought for his legs, and Jesus speaks to his sins. He goes underneath the obvious need to the deeper one, treating the paralysis as real but not as the deepest thing wrong. He will heal the body in a moment, to show he has authority to forgive, but he starts where the man's truest trouble lies. The visible need was the door; the invisible need was the room.

Whom am I willing to carry to Christ when they cannot get there themselves, and do I let him name the deeper need under the obvious one?

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