Initiating Controversy
In Mark 2:1-12, Mark presents the story of the palsy afflicted man who was healed. The story itself is a great story of persistence in the face of difficulty.
Christ had returned to Capernaum, and the word spread that He was in a particular house. So many people showed up that there wasn't room in the house or even near the house where people could hear what He was saying. The power of the Holy Spirit can do that with any Spirit filled individual who is choosing to live their life in tune with God, and willing to give the glory to God for all that is done. This shouldn't be unusual today. That it is rarely seen outside of the mission field today is a sad commentary on where our church leaders and other Christians are in their walk with God, combined with what we are choosing to care about. Politics is not the point of the church. Saving souls is the point of the church.
At this town, there was a man who had palsy who needed to be healed. It isn't stated whether he rounded up some buddies to take him to see Christ or whether the buddies knew that he needed to be healed so they went and got him. But when they got to where Jesus was teaching, there was such a crowd that they couldn't get near to Christ. So they took to the roof and removed some more easily removed roofing materials than we have today and lowered their friend down through the roof to be healed by Jesus. If we know of someone who needs healed and know of someone who has the gift of healing through the Holy Spirit, do we bring them together today, or is it too much bother?
There were some scribes in the audience and Christ, through the Holy Spirit, elected to poke the bear. Jesus saw the faith of the people who brought the man to him, and the faith of the man himself. He could have easily healed the man and went on about His business. But the Holy Spirit prompted Him to take a different course. So Christ declared that the man's sins were forgiven Him.
This was one of the earliest blasphemies in the eyes of Jewish officialdom that Christ committed, and He did it completely intentionally. He perceived what they were thinking and immediately challenged their false religion, asking why their hearts were not in tune with what God wanted to do. Then, speaking to the audience that was gathered, Christ asked them if it was easier to say a person's sins were forgiven or to tell a person who had to be carried around on a stretcher to rise up and walk? Clearly, the answer to this in the people's mind was to say your sins were forgiven, since there was no outward signs of this and anyone could just say that, regardless of their authority to actually forgive anyone's sins.
In Luke's account (Luke 5:17-26) the scribes and Pharisees are said to have taken offense at what Christ said and verbally confronted Him about his ability to forgive sin since they felt that was to be reserved for God alone. So they were already verbally sparring with Christ. Arguing with God is never a good plan and we should all take note of that.
Jesus then forced the issue to the scribes, saying that they needed to understand that He had the authority to forgive sins while on the earth. He then told the sick man to get up, take up his bed, and go home. The man immediately got up, took his bed, and headed home. Can't you just see the packed group of people parting like the Red Sea before Moses as the man walked away!
The multitude glorified God saying "That was so cool and unexpected! Not only did the man get healed, but the religious leaders got put in their place!" Well, maybe they didn't say the last part, but I'll bet a few of them thought it. Hopefully, the men who brought him said they'd be back to fix the roof the next day, because I'll bet they were too excited to do it then. The scribes who were there were certainly astounded at what had happened.
This is the effect of the power of God. This generation needs to know that Christ came and died for their sins. They need to know that there is a God who is alive and well that is Holy and that they have no ability to stand before in their own righteousness. They need to hear The Gospel Message and they need to accept God's plan of salvation.
Just like in the Early Church, moves of God make that easier. I'm not going to kid anyone that it would be a bit harder today. Everyone who didn't know the people involved would just claim it was special effects or something. And you know what - there will always be scribes and Pharisees around who will try to spread doubt and to destroy the messenger.
But you can be certain that the people of Capernaum who knew the man involved had no doubts about what happened. Save people who you know. When God does something in your life, make sure those who know you know what God did - both Christians and non-Christians. Save one person at a time, or ten, or one hundred, and pretty soon God's church will start to grow again (Rom 3:23,6:23; 1 John 5:11-12; Mt 3:1-2; Heb 3:15; Rev 3:20; Rom 10:9-11).
On a deeper level, we also need to address another important aspect of this story. Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, intentionally stirred up trouble. He didn't do it by lies, or slander, or anything bad. He just told the truth. He had the power to forgive sin on earth. I'm pretty sure He was aware when He elected to say it that it would stir up trouble. If Jesus didn't know, not realizing who all was standing in the crowd, God knew of the potential for it and the Holy Spirit knew of the potential for it and they still told Him to say what He did. And then they let Him know that the pot was boiling.
The church today needs to start speaking the truth to religious leaders who have been led astray. False religions are false. Period. There is no grey. Warped doctrine and theology is warped. You can't make it straight, and you can't somehow join it to Christianity and call the joined product good or refer to it as Christianity. It might have some points that look appealing, since Satan always tries to make the wrong path look good, but it is still the wrong path. You can't pretend otherwise. If you call other writings divinely inspired when what they teach runs counter to what the Bible declares to be true, then they need to be burned. There is no grey.
What God has called sin in the church has no place. Yes, we need to love everyone, and condemning and castigating sinners does no good. But we do need to call sin out for what it is. We need to erase it from our midst. If you accept Christ as Savior, you need to continually work to make yourself like Him, and there was no sin in Him. None. We need to purge it from our pastors and priests. We need to purge it from ourselves. Jesus' wrath is really only seen in the gospels when directed at the religious people of His day and at what they allowed to go on in the temple grounds. But after the rapture of those found to be true to Christ and sanctified by His blood, God's wrath is going to poured out on everyone left behind. There will be no escaping it.
There are a lot of social issues that we should take a stand on. But we do need to be sure the stand we take is the correct. My comments on abortion, for example, aren't well received by many, but I think they are biblical. There's a reason I've posted them separately on my Hot Topics pages. But the church does need to stand up against the world in doctrine and practice, in a loving way but a firm way. We aren't to love the world, but we are to love the people. More on that in the next section. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in what you are to do and say, and then do it and say it, regardless of whose feathers you ruffle.
Who We're Called To Reach
In the next section of Mark 2:13-17 we see the calling of Levi into the mix of followers. He was a tax collector so wasn't a favored person in the eyes of the people. He didn't provide food like the others had. He took money from the people for Rome. He was worse than an IRS agent. He was one of their own, collecting taxes for the occupying force. I think of how the collaborators in France were treated after World War II to give me some idea of just how much Levi wouldn't have been liked.
As the day progressed, having taught the people for hours, Christ ended went to Levi's house to eat. Many publicans and sinners joined them and the disciples, because they too wanted to hear what Christ was teaching. When the scribes and Pharisees saw who was accompanying Christ, they took Christ's disciples to task because Christ was eating with people with whom He shouldn't have been associating. When Jesus heard this, He told them that it was His job to reach out to those who needed to be saved. He came to call the sinners to repentance, and not to worry about the righteous. And that was a telling point, since it was the righteous who were raising a stink.
We need to be sure that we are never in a similar position, trying to shut down the work that God is doing because He is doing that work with a group of people we don't feel deserve God's attention or that we just don't like. We also need to trust God to keep things in order and to keep His people safe while doing so. I'd imagine it would be awkward in this day and age if the President showed up at your church on Sunday to attend service. People would be put off by the security, regardless of how they felt about the politician. The same would be true of the head of a drug syndicate or mafia decided to attend your church and came with a bunch of bodyguards.
But Christ called us to reach everyone for God. God wants to save and change the lives of everyone. No exceptions. Whether great and on the side of good, hopefully, or great and on the side of evil, or somewhere in between, people need salvation. And of course, after being saved, they need to get right with God. That might seriously hamper some criminal organizations if the bosses truly turned to God and started to dismantle their organizations and give all their ill gotten wealth back to those they had taken it from, free the captives, dismantle their organizations. But how awesome would that be for the kingdom of God? The changes in the political arena would be large if all the politicians were saved and started following God's direction. True repentance requires change.
On Traditions and Law
The last section of the 2nd chapter (Mark 2:18-28) deals with both tradition and law. People had been used to doing things a particular way. The Pharisees and John's disciples were used to fasting periodically. But the disciples of Christ didn't do so, and they wanted to know why.
Christ answered saying, in essence, that at this point in time, while He was with them, they had no particular reason to do so. At the start of His ministry, it was a time of celebration. What was being done new could not be mixed with what was done in the past, or the new would be lost. He, as the bridegroom, was doing all the work and the teaching. He was full of the Holy Spirit.
There would come a time that His disciples would fast. Later in the Gospels, after they had been unsuccessful in banishing an evil spirit, He would tell them that some things that He did required prayer and fasting (Mark 9:17-29). Even for Him, in His earthly limited form as man, and certainly for them, this was a fact. Christ spent much time in prayer. Nobody knows how much He fasted, but He started His ministry when in the desert with a time of fasting. As busy as they were and as much as they moved around, I suspect Jesus did skip many meals. They might not have fasted at a particular period or consistently like the Pharisees did, but they were probably leading a fasted lifestyle most of their ministry.
Tied with this concept, the Pharisees took Christ to task when they saw the disciples picking corn on the sabbath day. That was considered work, and was forbidden for a law abiding Jew. Jesus replies with the example of David eating the shewbread which was reserved for the priests. This is a good concept that the church needs to master. When people question why we are doing things, replying with scripture is important whenever possible. But Christ makes another good statement that we should consider today. He said that God made the sabbath as a time of rest for man. Man wasn't created for the sabbath. He was Lord seven days a week and not just six.
They probably didn't like to hear this, but it is relevant to our lives. There were, and may still be in some parts of the country, blue laws that effectively shut down work on Sunday or at least curtail its hours or what types of work can be done or products which can be sold. Giving people rest is good. Giving those who wish to worship the time to do so is good. But we also need to understand that there are many people who long hours over sometimes six days a week and need Sunday to get shopping done.
There are many professions that have to be running 24x7 in our society today. Whether or not this is a good thing is something I'm not going to judge. If I have an accident on a Sunday, I am thankful there are medical professionals who can help me. Would it be better if God just fixed everything? Absolutely. But if the damage is severe enough, I might not have the ability to ask Him.
All I can say is this. If you are a business person, and someone needs Saturday or Sunday off, depending on their religion or practice, you should figure out a way to make that happen most of the time. But if you're an employee and have gotten that done for you, go to church! Don't sleep in and enjoy a Sunday off. If you are a Christian, try to get your business done on a day other than Sunday so that it will be easier for business to make accommodations. Nothing is going to change until much more of the country returns to Christianity. Of that I'm sure.