Authority to Forgive - Part 2

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Now I invite you to take your Bible and turn with me again to Mark 2. I wanted to finish tonight in the few minutes that we have what we began to look at, a passage in Mark 2 that is about Jesus' authority to forgive. You know I was thinking about it as we were singing that song, "Altogether Lovely Altogether Wonderful," that's how we talk about Jesus Christ and apart from the occasional curse word which, Christ's name used in a curse, which usually it's not even that they mean something bad about His name, it's more just the taking of it in vain. It's possible that many in this room have never heard anyone say anything negative about Jesus Christ. That's because most people in North Texas, in the U.S. or for that matter in the entire world, none of them would have anything negative to say. Even those that reject His claims still often speak of Him as good, a good man, a holy prophet, a great teacher. It can kind of leave you with the impression that if Jesus were to come back today, to North Texas to the U.S. or to our world, that the response to Him today would be different than the first century.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The sanitized Jesus, this sanitized version of Jesus that makes Him popular with many people today bears very little resemblance to the real biblical Jesus. But just like in the first century when the real Jesus with His convicting message of sin and repentance is truly proclaimed, most people even in our world want nothing to do with it or with Him.

In the first century that's clearly who He was. So, you only had two choices, either you accept His claims, believe His message, and repent and believe or you turn away from Him. Now people's rejection of Jesus is a whole lot more subtle because He's not around to clarify their statements about Him. They simply redefine Jesus in the terms that appeal to them. People hear about the real Jesus of the Bible, and you'll hear them say something like this, "Well, my Jesus would never do that." Or "That's not my Jesus."

When you think about it that's really no different than the response of the first century. Many found Him in the first century to be appealing and attractive in many respects: His gift of teaching, His way with words, His gracious persona, His care for people, His miracles, all of those things were intriguing and inviting. But it became equally clear early in Jesus' ministry that there were things about Him that even the average ordinary person could not stand. And certainly, that's true of those who were religious.

In Mark chapter 1, Mark records nothing but enthusiasm for Christ and His ministry. But when we come to chapter 2, opposition begins, and it comes from a most unlikely place—the opposition comes from the religious leaders of Israel. And so, Mark begins to describe their hostility against Christ in a lengthy section that runs all the way from chapter 2 verse 1 down through chapter 3 verse 6. In this section there are five short narratives in which we see the leaders become antagonistic and hostile and eventually even murderous in their response to Jesus. These are the issues that you see on the screen that prompted their opposition to Christ: His claim to forgive sins in this context; His companionship with sinners; His unwillingness to keep their traditions; and His violation of their Sabbath expectations and regulations. But as we noted last time the real issue with the religious leaders of Israel were not theological, they were very practical. The reason the religious leaders were opposed to Jesus was all about losing their power and influence and you begin to see that in Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 12. Let me read it for you again as we look at the last part of it tonight. Mark 2 verse 1,

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home." And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Last time as we began to look at this passage in the first 5 verses we talked about the healing of a paralyzed sinner. A man with four very committed friends, apparently all of them had confidence in Jesus and in His ability to heal this paralyzed man. Based on the description of him we discovered last time probably he was a quadriplegic, completely unable to control his body and his friends bring him to Christ and they take the desperate measure to remove part of that first century roof which wouldn't be nearly as difficult as our roofs today. And they probably did it because the last time a crowd gathered around Jesus as we saw in Mark's gospel, the next morning He was gone. And He was gone for some period of time and so they could not let that happen to their friend and so they take a dramatic step to make sure that Jesus does not get away this time. And these five desperate men present Jesus with an opportunity. But when the man is let down in front of Christ there is an unexpected outcome because Jesus doesn't say, "Son, you're healed." He says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

That brings us to the second point and where we begin tonight in verse 6, verses 6 through 12, the lesson of a sovereign Savior. Verse 6 says that there was a response from the religious leaders, "Some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?'" Some of the scribes. Now why are these guys here? These were not merely local officials. They were part of a fact-finding mission like that that was sent out to investigate John the Baptist. You remember in John chapter 1 it says, "This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem" to sort of investigate, "Who are you?" What are you doing? The same thing happens here because Luke puts it this way in his account. Luke 5:17 says, "One day Jesus was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem." So here is this committee, if you will, of religious leaders sent out to investigate Jesus.

Now this is the first mention of these leaders in Mark's gospel. So just briefly let me remind you of who they are. The scribes arose from the time of Ezra, and it was basically their responsibility to make copies of the law, this was before the printing press, of course. And so, they had to make handwritten copies, they were authorized and trained to do this. They also interpreted the law of God, the Scriptures. And they taught the law of God to the people. These are the scribes.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, arose from a group in the time of the second century BC. A group called the "Hasidim." The word literally means comes from the Aramaic word meaning "separated ones." They, in the time of the Greeks, opposed the infiltration of Greek culture into the Jewish faith. They were the purists; they were the conservatives; they were the most conservative of Israel's leaders. To be a Pharisee in first century Judaism meant that you had reached the very highest pinnacle of devotion to God. You remember Paul said, "I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, I was at the top of the top." Josephus tells us that there were only about 6,000 of these around at the time of Christ.

The word "Pharisee" if you were called a Pharisee, it defined your relationship to the law or to the Scriptures. It meant that you viewed the Scriptures as crucial and as sufficient. It meant that you interpreted them literally. It meant that you saw yourself as its defender and preserver and it meant that you were committed to its study. So, they began well, but they degenerated into legalism and what we now call Phariseeism. Because of this commitment by the way, the Pharisees were primarily scribes. Since they were committed to the Scripture, they spent their time in the Scripture. To be a scribe was an occupation. To be a Pharisee was to hold a certain theological position. There's one other insight into the influence of those men, did you notice verse 2? Verse 2 says that the people were so packed into the house that there was only standing room in this house. But notice verse 6 says, these guys were sitting there—shows the high position of respect and honor that they both demanded from the people and that the people gave them.

Now at this point they're sitting there verse 6 says, reasoning in their hearts. They're merely there to observe and to report back to their superiors and so they don't say anything out loud, they don't confront Jesus for what He has just said. Instead, they file it away in their little report they're going to make when they get back to their superiors. But notice their line of reasoning. If we were to reduce it to its syllogism it would be something like this: major premise, God alone can forgive sins; minor premise, Jesus is not God; conclusion, Jesus' claim to forgive is blasphemy of the true God.

By the way, this was no minor accusation. Blasphemy according to Leviticus 14:64 was a capital offense. In fact, it was the charge of blasphemy that finally caused Jesus to be condemned. In Mark 14:64 you can read about that. Now look at their reasoning, ironically their major premise is right. God alone can forgive sins. Exodus 34 in God's great self-revelation, you remember, to Moses, He passes by in front of Moses, and He proclaims His name, and He says in that declaration, "I am the One who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin." The problem wasn't the major premise; the problem was the minor premise. And Jesus sets out to prove that to them.

That brings us to verses 8 through 11 and Jesus' unique authority, Jesus' unique authority. Look at verse 8, "Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, 'Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?'"

By the way, this was this was a display of the divine attribute of omniscience. Remember Jesus didn't give up all of His attributes. He gave up what? The independent exercise of them and when the spirit allowed Him, He was able to use them and here apparently, He uses the divine power of all-knowing and He knows what these men are reasoning in their hearts. And so, He responds to them in verse 9, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'?" Jesus asks them a question, "Is it easier to say, 'I forgive your sins,' or it is easier to say, 'I heal your paralysis'?" You tell me, which is easier to say? Obviously, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven you, why? Because there's no objective way to know if that's true. I could say to you, "I forgive your sins; your sins are forgiven you." It's easy to say and you have no way objectively to disprove that reality. And so, it's a whole lot easier to say I forgive your sins.

Jesus now sets out to prove that He can forgive sins. How is He going to prove that to them? Verse 10, obviously it's easier to say your sins are forgiven, "But so that you may know that the Son of Man" actually has that authority, actually can say that and it means something, it be true, it be real, it be genuine forgiveness. "That the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." You see, to prove that He really has the power and authority to forgive sins, something that's easy to say, but not easy to do, Jesus will do what is hard to say because it can be objectively verified. He will heal this paralyzed man. So, verse 11 says, He turns and says to the paralytic, "I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."

Jesus gives this man three separate commands and each of them is there for a purpose: they prove a genuine healing. First of all, "get up." Well, "get up" is absolutely impossible for a paralyzed man. That's the one thing he can't do. "Get up. Pick up your pallet." "Pick up your pallet" requires him not only to lift his own weight, but the additional weight of the mattress. "Go home" will show that his healing is both instantaneous and absolutely complete. By the way, the implication here in this verse 11 is that this man lived in Capernaum. These men knew him. That's why there was no discussion about whether or not he was paralyzed. Everybody knew him and knew he was paralyzed, and Jesus says, "Go to your home."

The amazing results come in verse 12. "He got up and picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone." He isn't partially healed. He isn't sort of carried away by the power of suggestion and able to muster enough strength just to stand for a moment as you see on television, and everyone claps, and he gets off stage and he collapses. He got up, able to carry the full weight of his own body for the first time in a long time. And then he picked up the additional weight of the pallet, unwieldy working his way through a crowd that his four healthy friends couldn't get through, and he went home to tell his family. The result,: "They were all amazed and were glorifying God saying, "We have never seen anything like this." By the way, that's the reaction of the people, as we'll see in the future passage that was not the reaction of the religious leaders.

What a story! Understand this happened. This isn't a fairy tale. There was a real person named Jesus Christ. Some of us have visited the country where He lived and worked. We've been to Capernaum, the village where this happened. And here's a real man who really was paralyzed, who couldn't move his body. And Jesus forgives his sins and then to prove that He could forgive his sins, tells him to stand up and in a moment's time, he stands up, picks up his bed and walks home.

There are, in this story, three powerful conclusions that I think Jesus forces us to make from this incident. First of all, Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. Don't miss the main point of the story. Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. Notice Jesus doesn't say that He can pronounce forgiveness. I can pronounce forgiveness. Jesus says He has the authority to actually forgive. And His authority was to forgive sins, not just in this man's case, not just in one guy's situation but notice what He says, that "the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins." What? On the earth. It's comprehensive, there is nowhere that Jesus' power to forgive doesn't extend. He has the authority to forgive sins on the earth. By the way, that's not said to limit Jesus' authority. It's not said as if it were "Well, yes, He can forgive on earth, but He can't forgive in heaven." Instead, it is said to underline the vast scope of His authority. It covers all the earth; it covers every human being. Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins.

This is the message of the New Testament. Ephesians 4 verse 32 says, "God in Christ has forgiven you." Colossians puts it this way in Colossians 3:13, "Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive others."

This is what this paralyzed man needed most. That's why Jesus started there. Think about it for a moment. If Jesus had only healed him, the benefit would have only been temporary. Regardless of how miraculous the healing has ever been, it has always been only momentary, only for the life span of that person because the process of decay begins immediately again. Not one person who has ever been miraculously healed in all the Bible still survives. They're all gone because the body, even if one problem is healed the body continues to decay and eventually the effects of the fall and death itself catch up with us all. But this man experienced a miracle that was far greater; a miracle that lasts not only for a lifetime, but for eternity. Listen folks, forget about diamonds, forgiveness is forever. And every time those who lived in Capernaum saw this man the rest of his life, they were reminded of two things about Jesus. He had the power to heal a paralyzed man and He had the authority to forgive sins over the entire earth.

If you've been forgiven, even as you were reminded tonight of those testimonies, rejoice that Jesus has the authority to forgive your sins. He can speak a word as He did with this man and every terrible act you have ever committed, every thought you have ever allowed into your brain and allowed to fester and grow into a monster inside of your mind, every action you have taken, every sinful word you have spoken, Jesus in the word of a moment can wipe it all away just as He did with this man. No matter what you've done, Jesus has the authority in a manner of a moment of time to pronounce you once and forever forgiven. Jesus has the authority to forgive sins.

There's a second powerful lesson in this passage and that's that Jesus exercises the right to forgive based solely on His own sovereign decision. Jesus determines to grant this man forgiveness. He makes a unilateral decision and a unilateral pronouncement. He said to this man who came to Him, not for forgiveness but for what? For healing. He says to this man, "Your sins are forgiven." I forgive your sins. So, a humble, paralyzed sinner He forgives. But there are religious leaders sitting there who leave this room hardened, antagonistic, hostile. And they also leave by the sovereign purpose of God, unforgiven. But they are very much responsible, why? Because they've seen the power of God. Christ has proved His power to forgive. He's proved who He is. And they refuse to see it because they're blinded by their greed for power. Even as Caiphus would later say if we give in to this guy, we will lose our place and our nation. As Pilate said or as it's said of Pilate, he knew that they turned Jesus over to him because of envy. They were so eaten up with their sin that they would not see. Jesus is a sovereign savior who reaches out to this man who came for healing and says you are forgiven. He responded to their faith with that great pronouncement. It's the same way today.

There's a third powerful lesson, the most important, I think, of all. Early in Mark's gospel and it's that Jesus is none other than God Himself. You see Jesus does nothing to deny their major premise and that is that God alone can forgive sins. Instead, He sets out to disprove their minor premise that He is not God. You see in a sense this incidence supports the old saying that you have to choose: Jesus is either God, mad, or bad or as Josh McDowell has put it more recently, Jesus is either liar, lunatic, or Lord. Those are your only three choices. As C. S. Lewis says, "Let us hear none of this stuff about Christ being a good man, a good teacher, He didn't leave that open to us, Jesus claimed to be God and by that claim, He can only fall into one of these categories: Either He was a fraud, and knew that He was not God, He was a lunatic who thought He was God and was not, or He is in fact every thing He claimed to be." And this passage drives this point home.

There are several lines of evidence in this text of the deity of Jesus Christ. First of all, there's the title He chooses. For the very first time in Mark's gospel, He uses this title of Himself, "Son of Man." The Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on the earth. This occurs fourteen times in Mark's gospel. According to John's gospel, Jesus started using this expression of Himself early on in His ministry. It was His favorite title for Himself. Why did Jesus choose this phrase to refer to Himself? "Son of Man." Well as most commentators mention, Jesus intentionally chose it because it at the same time both revealed who He was to those who had the faith to see it and at the same time concealed it to those who would not. Because you had the prophets in the Old Testament calling themselves the son of man and they weren't God. But that isn't what Jesus was claiming.

Jesus intentionally chose this title because of the passage to which it pointed. Its origin, if you look and we won't take time to turn there but if you look in Mark 8:38, Mark 13:26, Mark 14:62, you will see that this title points back to an Old Testament passage. I do want you to turn to that passage. Turn back to Daniel, Daniel's prophecy chapter 7, Daniel 7 verse 13, "I kept looking in the night visions," Daniel said,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to this One, this Son of Man was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

Here is a Messianic prophecy and the Jews of Jesus' time understood this to be a Messianic prophecy and so when Jesus ultimately makes it clear that when He says He's the Son of Man, He's not speaking like one of the Old Testament prophets who claimed to be human, who claimed to be humble, who claimed to be a servant of God, He's speaking of this passage. When that became clear it turned everything for the religious leaders. In fact, look over at Mark 14. Mark 14 verse 61, this is at the trial before the high priest, Jesus "kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him," Mark 14:61, "and saying to Him, 'Are You the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am.'" And notice what He does, He quotes Daniel chapter 7, the passage we just read, a passage describing the Messiah and He relates it to Himself and He said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." And notice the response of the religious leaders; they tear their clothes, verse 63, "[T]he high priest said, 'What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy.'" He's deserving of death. Why? Because this title was Jesus' claim to be the divine Messiah. So here early in His ministry it was there for those who would see it.

Jesus is also clearly God in this passage because of the attribute He uses: divine omniscience. John Chrysostom, early in the history of the church writes this, "The scribes asserted that only God could forgive sins, yet Jesus not only forgave sins but showed that He also had another power that belongs to God alone, the power to disclose the secrets of the heart." They had all of the evidence they needed that day of who He was, but of course the greatest evidence was the authority He claims—the authority to forgive sins. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Obviously, the answer is no one. There have been many prophets who have healed, but there has never been a prophet who has forgiven sins. That's because it is a right that belongs to God alone. Only the offended party can forgive so when it comes to your sin and mine only God can forgive it because it's against Him. As David said even of his sin against Bathsheba and against her husband, in the end he said, "Against You, You only, have I sinned." Only God can forgive. The fact that Christ had authority to forgive our sins against God on earth can only mean one thing: He is God. As the prophet said He would be called Immanu'el, Immanuel which means "God with us" or "God among us." That day in that little room in that little house in Capernaum God was among them forgiving sin and demonstrating who He was. If only they had had eyes to see. For those of us who do nothing could be sweeter to our ears than Jesus' wonderful statement, "the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins." Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank You for this amazing story from the life of our Lord. We thank You for the clarity of His message. Lord help us to see and believe, help our confidence, our faith to be strengthened. Lord, we need forgiveness, everyone of us in this room is aware because of the work of Your Spirit and Your word and conscience that we are sinners and that our sin deserves eternal hell, your wrath. And yet Father, we thank You that You sent Your Son and because He is Your Son, because He is forever eternally equal with You, He has authority on earth to forgive sins. Father thank You that for all of us who have run to Him we can be assured of forgiveness. May we rejoice in that, may we love Him more deeply, may we serve Him more faithfully. O God stir up our hearts in true devotion to Jesus Christ. Don't let us go through this season where we celebrate Immanu'el, God among us and not be more committed to Him as a result. And Father I pray for the persons here tonight, those who have played around the edges of Christianity, who have claimed to know Your Son but who still even as we heard earlier in the baptism testimonies are in slavery to their sin. O God may this be the night when they find that Jesus has authority to forgive sins. We pray it in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen.