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Continuing our Gospel of Mark Sermon series, Reverend Daniel preaches on the account of Jesus healing a paralytic and the revelation of his authority both to heal and to forgive sin. May the Lord speak to you today.

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The scripture passage this morning is taken from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, verse 1 to 12. And when he returned to Kapanam after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no room, no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning their hearts. But then you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them. So they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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Thank you, Chris, for reading the scripture for us. Once again, good morning, church. We are continuing our sermon series on the gospel of Mark. Today we will be looking at Mark chapter 2. And perhaps for some of us it's a familiar story of how Jesus heals a paralytic. But today we want to look at the healing of the paralytic and its relation to the authority that Jesus has on earth to forgive sins. Let us pray. Father, we pray that this morning as we open our ears to hear you, Lord, may you speak to our hearts afresh, Lord. Something that you are calling us to. A deeper level of perhaps experiencing the depths of your grace and of your forgiveness of our sins. So draw us deeper, we pray. In the name of Jesus. Amen. In Mark chapter 2, verse 1, which is the beginning of the reading earlier, Jesus had returned to Kapanon after some days. But that was not the first time he was there. In fact, earlier on in Mark chapter 1, verse 21 to 34, we read that it was in Kapanon that Jesus entered a synagogue on a Sabbath day and was found teaching. So those present in the synagogue were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. And there Jesus delivered a man with an unclean spirit that further revealed his authority over the unclean spirits. This led to those present responding in Mark chapter 1, verse 27. What is this? A new teaching with authority. So at the end of Mark chapter 1, in verse 32 to 33, we read that that evening at sundown, they brought to him to Jesus all who were sick and oppressed or oppressed by demons, and the whole city was gathered together at the door. So we see in our text today that Jesus continues to draw the attention of the crowds. We read in Mark chapter 2, verse 1 to 2 when he returned to Ceban after some days, it was reported that he was at home, and once again many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. There are a few times in the Gospel of Mark where the message that Jesus preached to the crowds or to the people is summarized by the phrase the word, by which he means actually the gospel, the gospel of God. We see this in Mark chapter 2, verse 2, in our reading today, and he was preaching the word to them. And again in Mark chapter 4, verse 33, with many parables, Jesus spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. So the word is another uh translation, another meaning of the message that Jesus was proclaiming, the gospel announcement, which was shared with us by Pastor Wei last week about the focus of Mark's gospel is really the proclamation of the gospel of God, or in this case, the word that was being preached. So in Mark 1:14 to 15, now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Excuse me. So this is the message that Jesus came to proclaim. The word, the gospel, the kingdom of God is at hand. So the people are called to repent and believe in the gospel. So this continues again in Mark 2, verse 1 to 12. The context was Jesus was preaching the gospel, the message of the kingdom to the people that have gathered around him. While he was doing so, we read in Mark chapter 2, verse 3 to 4 that they, referring to the four men, came, bringing to him a paralytic. And when they could not get near him, because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let him down the bed on which the paralytic lay. Just a picture to show us during the time of Jesus, roofs of Palestinian homes were accessible by an outside stone staircase. So this picture shows just the front view of how the roof may look like. So they were typically a flat surface, and the roof is supported by beams resting on the exterior walls of the house. The beams were cross-hatched by smaller poles and sticks which were covered with thatch, which in turn was covered with a surface of mud. So the gospel uh passage in Mark 2 tells us the four men somehow, in their desperateness to reach Jesus, to bring their friend, this paralytic to Jesus, they somehow found a way to remove the roof and make an opening through it, letting the bed down in which the paralytic lay down to reach Jesus. So the key or the turning point comes in Mark chapter 2, verse 5. And when Jesus saw their faith, they said, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. It's noteworthy that this is the first time, the first mention in the gospel of Mark of the word faith. It's the first time that the word faith is being mentioned. Uh, and is linked crucially to the forgiveness of sins. So the word faith is used as is being linked to the forgiveness of sins with the act of faith. The act of faith of the four friends that came and brought uh the paralytic to Jesus. So faith is linked crucially to the forgiveness of sins, but also with our response to act in faith. So Mark doesn't tell us anything about the four friends, it just said they brought him and let him down through the roof. We do not know anything about their beliefs or their faith in Jesus, except Mark tells us they acted in faith. Their action kind of proved their faith. Just as we have learned last week when Pastor Wei shared Mark, it's a very fast-paced gospel. Immediately this happened, immediately that happened. So we we sort of get the impression that they were acting, they were doing something, and their doing was a response to faith in somehow in the person of Jesus. Even though they perhaps do not fully understand who this Jesus is, but they know this Jesus must have something that can reach out or touch the paralytic. So they acted in faith, they and this involves circumventing the crowd, removing the roof to ensure that the paralytic is brought right in front of Jesus for healing. As one commentator puts it, faith is first and foremost not just knowledge about Jesus, but active trust that Jesus is sufficient for one's deepest and most heartfelt needs. It is a faith or trust in Jesus that reaches out to him for the meeting of our needs. In this case, likely the paralytic was seeking healing from Jesus, but he needed help from the friends. Perhaps he was drawn by all the healing, miracles, stories that he had heard earlier in Kapanon in Mark chapter 1, where Jesus delivered the evil spirit in the synagogue, when he healed many who were sick that were at the door. So when Jesus returned again to Kapanon, perhaps he was drawn, maybe Jesus will heal me. I just need to reach out and put myself in front of him and get his attention. So there was a desperation, there was an acting in faith. So uh this challenges a lot about our notion of faith that we need to kind of completely understand something fully in order to commit ourselves to it. Right? Um, in in uh at least in the Gospel of Mark, it tells us that faith uh doesn't always uh involve full knowledge or understanding, but faith certainly involves uh uh our acting based on our faith in what Jesus can do and to heal us, to restore us. But we may ask a further question: what is the link between forgiveness of sins and the paralytics condition? Why did Jesus, you know, uh heal this man who needs healing, just heal him? Why correlate uh the paralytic's condition and the forgiveness of sins? We see here that Jesus being uh fully God and fully man, uh, he perhaps had a foreknowledge of this paralytic person. He knew that this paralytic needed forgiveness. And there is a correlation between his needing forgiveness and his physical condition of paralysis. And one commentator, one commentator said perhaps there's nothing more distinctive of a person than his or her sins and the need of forgiveness. Something deep within a person, uh perhaps within us today, deep within us, we just needed forgiveness. We just need to hear the word that uh of forgiveness by God in our hearts. But it's something that we don't say. But Jesus kind of revealed the true intent and or the deeper need within this paralytic. So perhaps also it may be appropriate, least the paralytic thing that is because of the faith of his friends that became a substitute for his own response to Jesus. So when Jesus said, Your sins are forgiven, he is going deeper, he's digging deeper. Like what uh some of us say, you know, when God does the healing and restoration in our lives, he doesn't just go towards the surface, he goes deep and deeper. And some of us say it's like the peeling of onion. You know, when God deals with us, he doesn't just deal with the superficial area. Of course, the physical need is real, but it's beyond the physical need. But Jesus looks beyond that and sees that actually deeper than this physical need for healing is his need for forgiveness of his sins. So on hearing Jesus pronouncing the forgiveness of sins, actually the whole story, the whole narrative then abruptly shifts from the paralytic to the scribes. So we read for the next six verses to the end. Actually, the focus is really not just on the paralytic, like even as we read the passage, we always think, yeah, Jesus here, the paralytic, but actually Jesus has a message for the scribes. Because in verse 6 to 12, he kind of addresses them, right? Because they were kind of pretty unhappy that he's doing such things. So verse 6, Mark chapter 6, sorry, Mark chapter 2, verse 6 says, Now some of the scribes were sitting there and they they were questioning in their hearts. It's quite strange because Mark is Peter's account of the gospel. You know, how would Peter know that they were questioning in their hearts? Perhaps he had a front row view and you know he had a sense of uh reading the situation and he came to that conclusion that they were unhappy. They were questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And then begins the conversation between Jesus and the scribes. Immediately, and immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk. Verse 10 is key, but that you may know, you scribes and everyone in the audience may know that the Son of Man, Jesus, has authority on earth to forgive sins. And as he relates to the scribes, then he kind of uh then turns to the paralytic to say, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he arose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them, so that everyone that was present were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. So the healing of the paralytic authenticates, as we'll see later, Jesus' authority to forgive sins. It's almost as if it runs parallel. As Jesus heals the paralytic, Jesus is also forgiving his sin. The Jews commonly believe that sin was the cause of illness. Like many of us here today, perhaps we believe that somehow when we are suffering, we are sick, maybe because something I did wrong against God. Yeah, so if we are all Christians here, but let's say you are of another faith, perhaps, or even you're you are Christian, maybe I should come to the church to pray and see, Lord, maybe I did something wrong. Right? Uh very common in Asia that we think that when bad things happen to us, it's because of uh something that we do. Uh we say uh retribution, or that something I do perhaps that cause this retribution and so on. So this this is conventional wisdom, uh, or or rather, this is what we've been taught as we grow up. So so similarly, similarly, the Jews thought that, yeah, there must be something wrong. Otherwise, I won't be suffering illness, right? But all of us know that that could be a reason, it could be that God is dealing with us an issue, uh dealing uh with us a deeper issue, and sometimes that manifests in terms of our physical elements. But all of us also know, should know that that is doesn't mean that all illnesses or all sickness comes because of certain sins in our lives. But illness and sickness come, comes because we are living in a fallen world, because uh world is subjected to earthquakes, famines, and our health is not spared because we are still living in a fallen world. But we pray and trust God for full and final restoration at the last judgment. But in the meantime, we we you know we continue to wrestle with issues in our lives, right? So as just quoting two examples in Job uh chapter 4, verse 7. Job chapter 4, verse 7, he said, it says, remember who that was innocent ever perished, or where were the upright cut off? Right? So Job believes in this conventional wisdom that you know somehow, you know, when I'm walking right with God, bad things shouldn't happen to me. But we know it's not the case in life. In again in John chapter 9, verse 2, one of his disciples asked Jesus, the rabbi, who sinned? The man that was born blind, who sinned? Is it this man or his parents that he was born blind? Again, their understanding is linked that's linked to that sickness is linked to uh perhaps a sin that was being done. But since forgiveness of sins was exclusively God's prerogative, Jewish healers seldom, if ever, pronounce forgiveness of sins in their healing. So we read in the text that uh the scribes were complaining, who can forgive sins but God alone? Right? So, forgiveness of sins, no, it's not something any religious leader can do. We can make sacrifices, we can try to amend our ways, but the authority to forgive sin is never something that a man takes on. So, apart from the act of absolution on the Day of Atonement, in where sin is dealt with once a year through sacrifice, not even the chief priest in the time of Jesus could forgive sins or give promise of such, whether individually or corporately. So they are right. Only God can forgive sins. And there are various passages in the Old Testament that points to the Lord as in the one who forgives sin. We think about Exodus 34, verse 6 to 7. We won't read the whole passage, but it says, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Even though he by no means will clear the guilty, but he is also the one that forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. Again, Psalm 103, verse 3 speaks of God who forgives all your iniquity and heals all your diseases. I I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will remember, I will not remember your sins. So the scribes had nothing to say to the man's physical or spiritual condition. They neither could heal him or nor could they forgive their sins. But Jesus had something to say to both the paralyptic's physical condition and spiritual condition. Because he healed him of his paralysis, he forgave the sin of the paralytic. So what has caused, what do you think caused such a strong reaction from the scribes? I believe the whole issue has to do with the source of authority to forgive sins. In the first century, before the advent of universal education and literacy, there was a great demand for scribes throughout the ancient world, especially in Judaism, where the written code of the law or the Torah regulated Jewish life. Commoners often deferred to scribes when they walked through the streets. The first seats in the synagogue were reserved for scribes, and people rose to their feet when they entered a room. So they are people who are highly esteemed at the time of Jesus. So scribal knowledge of the law of the Torah were often regarded as special enlightenment knowledge they received. And therefore, what they interpret is actually authoritative. So with the growth of the synagogue in the time of Jesus, scribes became the teachers of the law of the Torah. Their reputation was honored by the title of rabbi, meaning my great one. They were experts in the law of Moses, they had authority to hear legal disputes and make decrees that are binding on all Jews. However, the whole scribal system in Jesus' day was based on the fact that God had spoken in the past. So the scribes could only base their authority in what God had handed down in the past. They could seek to explain them clearly, but they had no authority to decide for themselves. But in Mark chapter 1, Jesus thought differently. In Mark chapter 1, verse 22, he astonished those in the synagogue because he taught as one who had authority, not derived from tradition, but his own authority as he spoke. The word authority is key because in Mark chapter 2, the word authority again appeared a second time. Jesus again demonstrated that he had authority, not only in his teaching, but this time the authority to forgive sins. And this is a challenge to the scribes of the day. Because as I mentioned earlier, who can forgive sins except God alone? If this Jesus claimed to forgive sins, then he must be God. Or he must claim to be of a certain status that he's actually God. Who has the audacity to forgive sins? And moreover, if you are pious Jew of the day, where can you get forgiveness of sins? Where can you have your sins forgiven? You can only have your sins forgiven in Jerusalem, in the temple, uh, where you go there across the Day of Atonement once a year to offer sacrifices. But that is the place. You want forgiveness of sins, go to Jerusalem, offer sacrifices, get the priest to mediate and and accept that sacrifices before God, shed some blood, and then yeah, your sins will be forgiven. But here Jesus radically departs from that understanding. And he actually showed that he had the power and authority to forgive sins, not in God's temple in Jerusalem, but in a house at Kapanon. So it kind of shifts the weight of authority that this Jesus must be God. Because only God can forgive sin. And what more? He just does it then, there in Kapanon, in a house. Is it the right place for forgiveness of sins to take place? The Jews of the time will say, they will retort, they say no, it's not according to the law, it is blasphemy. That's why they say it's a blasphemy. You know, how can you forgive the sin? Just like that on the spot in the house of Cap in Capanem. So as I said earlier, Jesus' authority to forgive sins would be demonstrated concretized by his healing of the paralytic. The authority to heal for Jesus and the authority to forgive are the same authority that comes from Jesus. But that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin. So, what did Jesus do after he said that? That you may know. He said, Get up, take up your mat and go home. So it runs together parallel. Jesus shows his authority to forgive sin and demonstrates, concretize that authority by healing the paralytic. And at once he rose and he went back. So everyone were caught as they were caught earlier in Mark chapter 1 in the synagogue. They were all astonished again. Who is this Jesus who not only has since we have a greater authority than the scribes, the learned scholars of the day, but now he has the authority to say, Oh, I forgive your sin. I mean, what is going on? You know what is happening in this place? What is Jesus doing? So, in fact, the lesson is not just the healing of the paralytic, but a deeper lesson is actually the message is for the scribes. Because they may not have a physical condition, they may be high-esteemed, learned scholars, rabbis called the great ones, yet they have a spiritual need. And what is the need of the scribes? They need to have their sins forgiven. In fact, if we look deeper into it, they are no less dependent. The scribes, even though they may be the scholars and of the day, they may get the respect in the marketplace, but actually they also need forgiveness of their sins. They are no less dependent on Jesus, highly esteemed as they are, then is the paralytic for the work of God in their lives. However, their learning and status as experts in the law make them oblivious to their need for forgiveness. So some of us here today, perhaps you've been Christians many years, you've been Anglican, uh coming every service and always uh hearing the confessing of sins and hearing the absolution. I'm also saying to myself, I mean, as an ordained minister, I've said it how many times? You know, about 17 years, I'm ordained about 17 years, perhaps I said it numerous, how many thousand times? The absolution of sins, you know, and and those of us who have been in this church long enough, for decades, 30, 40 years, we have heard it time and time again. But the irony of our human nature is it is this sometimes we need reminders, and we too are in need of the forgiveness of our sins. We too need to hear the authoritative words of Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. So indirectly, Jesus wants the scribes to know and experience the authority by which Jesus forgives sins. In Mark 2, verse 10, the key verse, but you may know, you may know, the scribes may know. All who are present in the house will know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins. So, what has all this got to do with us today? So in Mark chapter 2, I believe Jesus is drawing us into something deeper. Our need for forgiveness and his authority to forgive our sins. Our need for forgiveness and Jesus' authority to forgive our sins. No man today can understand you better than Jesus, and no man has authority, not definitely not a pastor ordained, or even the archbishop has the authority to forgive sin, right? If we we say that then we may end up on a different spectrum. We may end up being uh joining a Roman Catholic Church. We don't say that, right? You know, we we are just mediating God's presence, intermediaries. Uh so we are not we don't have the power to forgive sins, even though we we do absorb sins, but we don't have the authority, it is a derived authority from Christ. So, like the scribes, Jesus wants us to see our need to be healed spiritually, to be forgiven of our sins. Though the physical infirmity experienced by the paralytic is visible to all, there is a deeper need, the need for forgiveness of his sins. I had mentioned earlier that in the first occurrence of the word faith in Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 2, verse 5, there's a vital link between the forgiveness of sins with the act of faith. Right? In fact, the four friends of the paralyzed acted in faith first. They did not wait for Jesus to pronounce the forgiveness of sins, but they actively reached out. Somehow they know they must get their friend to Jesus. So they were desperate. Does the scene in Mark chapter 2 look desperate to you? It does look, right? I mean, if you bring your friend there, you can't be bothered, you'll say, ah, let's wait, let's cue. Maybe when Jesus prayed for more people, maybe from dawn, maybe about dusk, we will come back and choke our seat. You know, they didn't do that, they were desperate enough to get this paralytic to the position that he can receive the healing. So they climb up the roof, they somehow found a way to open up the roof. And can you imagine what a sight it was for those present in the crowd? You know, suddenly you look up, the roof is gone, and a human being is being uh kind of uh let in from the rooftop. I mean, can you imagine? Everyone's attention will go to the paralytic and the four fans and what they were doing, right? So it was actually a teaching moment for the people. But the whole point is they are acting in faith is out of a sense of desperation, a strong desire to reach Jesus because they know somehow if they reach Jesus the man will be healed, the paralytic will receive his healing. So Jesus commended them for their faith, and then of course, as I said earlier, pointed them to a deeper need in the paralytic to have his sins forgiven. So Jesus is looking today for an active faith in us that reaches out to him for the meeting of our deepest needs, the forgiveness of our sins. So, in a nutshell, what are sins? Sins are actually oftentimes the intents of our hearts, the things that go on in our minds that we don't want to share with everyone. I believe those of us who are married couples or have very good friends, sometimes things that come to your mind you won't dare or immediately share with your spouse or a good friend. Because you think if I share that, uh I'm not sure how my spouse will react. Maybe if I say the wrong thing or if they take it in the in the wrong spirit, then I'm in trouble, you know, because perhaps the marital relationship needs to reach a level of trust that we are able to share. But we hesitate. I do sometimes, because I when I want to share things with Danny, I'll say, uh, is she ready to receive it? Uh maybe we need to find the right time, the right atmosphere to talk about certain things. Right? So we hesitate. Or in a cell group, connect group, shatter setting, do you share everything, all your sins with them? In our culture? Probably not, right? Because we want to maintain a sense of respectability and honor and do things in the right place. So we often hesitate. We often look at the right time or the right opportunity. But things are brewing in our hearts, and sin always starts in a thought, in our intents, like how David and Bathsheba don't have time to look at the story, but actually, you know, he it begins in his intent, right? He was supposed to be out in war, but he was, you know, he was he was not there, and then he saw, and then things built up in his mind, and then what happened that is that as a king, he has all authority, and then he actualized it, he concretized what is what's going on in his mind about having uh a sexual relationship with Bashiva. So it begins with the intent that if the intent is fed in our hearts and minds, oftentimes it will be actualized in our deeds, in our actions. So, of course, we can say many things about what sins are, but I find this aspect of sin is something very real because we all have things that bother us, or we all have sins that entrap us, or you know, maybe certain uh evil thoughts towards others, or just certain sinful inclination or habit that we know is not right, you know, but we don't know where to go, how to share. We share with our wife also, must wait for the right time, you know, or maybe I should just shut up and not share. Share with a good friend, can I trust the person? You know, or so we are always watching that. Yet none of us would naturally, as I said, want to share our secret sins before others, oftentimes because we fear being judged or criticized. Yet, interestingly, Psalm 90, if you have time, you just spend some time reading the whole Psalms. The Psalm of Moses, uh, in which Moses was talking about the whole idea of the timelessness of God. God is from everlasting to everlasting, uh, his resting place, right? His shelter, his everlasting to everlasting, Moses said, You are God. And then uh I find Psalm 90 verse 4 quite key. In God's timeless knowledge, from everlasting to everlasting, in which a thousand years are but as a day that went past, he has set our iniquities before him, our secret sins in the light of his presence. Wow. Psalm 90 verse 8 says God has in his timeless, eternal knowledge, he knows everything, he knows our sins. It is as not that our sins are good and it's light, but our sins are set in the light of his presence. Psalm 90 verse 8 tells us. So, in other words, there's nothing hidden before God's eyes, everything is laid bare before him in whom we must give account on the last day. So if you struggle with certain issues or sin in your life, the one person that we should turn to for forgiveness of our sins is God, because there's nothing that is laid bare before him. There's nothing hidden before him, sorry. Everything is laid bare before him. He has set our secret sins, things that we don't want others to know, things we only do in the toilet or we uh not that it's the right thing, but things that we are ashamed of, we don't want to talk about. God has set it in the light of his presence. So it's only God who can fully understand us. It's only God whom we must turn to and press in. Reach out to him for the forgiveness of our sins. Because God knows us fully. So we are coming before God. Each time you come before the Lord in prayer. Perhaps a good way to begin is to meditate on Psalm 90, uh, especially verse 8, or to come before Him, before a God who knows us fully. He knows us better than our spouse does, He knows us better than our best friend. Because He created us in His image. He knows our quirkiness, He knows what our propensity, He knows where we are prone to sin. You know, sometimes we think that no one understands us, sometimes we think that our spouse misunderstands us. We think our good friends don't misinterpret our good intentions, but God knows us fully, He knows us truly. He created us and form us, fashioning us while we were still in the womb. So, do we have the faith, like the friends of the paralytic, to act actively in reaching out to such a God for the forgiveness of sins? And I believe that we can all find solace in knowing that we are coming before a God who has set our secret sins in the light of his presence. I mean he could just destroy us then, but he wants us to come before him, he wants us to learn to relate to Jesus as a friend. Press in, wrestle, seek his intervention over the sins in your life. Because only Jesus has the authority to forgive our sins. And it's only him that truly knows us fully and knows us truly. So who else can we turn to?

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each picture, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.