Faith: Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

Jason Azzarello

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Financial Report:

There are always two ways to respond. Thank you for responding so supportively.

Prayer Time

9:30am on the Patio

Women’s Book Club

First meeting September 29 Registration is free — Receive weekly email — Reading “In His Image” Jen Wilkins — Purchase Book on Amazon

Missions Update: Lucas and Katy Matthews

I led two summer missions to San Diego - one week each in May and June. We taught our students how to share their faith, walk in the Spirit, grow in their faith through the Word and Prayer, and more. Each day we had a combination of training/development and time sharing our faith on the beach in San Diego. 11 people indicated decisions to trust Christ as our students shared the gospel on the beach with vacationers. 6 of those 11 were from other countries like South Korea, Canada, Ireland, and Argentina. The church can be praying for those people - that they would grow in their faith and get connected to other Christians and a church.As a team we just had a couple days of staff planning. We’re gearing up for Fall launch at Sac State and ARC. We are also hoping to get movements started at Sierra College, William Jessup, and Yuba College. If anyone from the church is interested in getting involved, we’d love help finding student leaders on those campuses. We’ll be visiting Sierra College in the next couple weeks to hopefully find some students so I can pass on that info once we solidify our schedule. The church can be praying that God would lead us to the right students who want to see their campus impacted by the gospel!Personally, Katy is recovering from a foot injury that happened about a year ago. She’s been in physical therapy for the past year and is doing a lot better but isn’t quite at 100%. You can be praying for her health, especially as I go back to campus and won’t be able to help out as much with Ellie during the day. Ellie is 15 months old and walking. She is a joy and a handful! Here’s a recent picture of us as well.

September Sermon Series DNA

Beginning September 9

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Beginning September 9 or sooner in your Gospel Fellowship

Introduction: Epic Stories in the Bible

We’ve talked about Courage from David and Goliath, Redemption from the story of the Exodus. Today we’re going to look at a theme that was a part of the last two weeks, but is made a bigger emphasis of in our story today.

Mark 2:1–12 ESV

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was 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 in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 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’? But 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, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

What the Problem is; our contemporary cultural context: Here is what we face

We live in a society that knows and by in large, likes Jesus

The majority do not reject the existence of Jesus

The majority have an appreciation and respect for the way Jesus treated other people

The majority liked Jesus teaching

But not everyone likes the idea of Jesus being one with Authority

Why? Because something inside of humans rejects the very concept of authority

We would prefer a linear equality where no one is above anyone else

And in some cases, it works fairly well… in others a total disaster

Kids do you struggle to listen and submit to parents, and teachers, and the teenagers that work at the public pool and are like, “No diving, flipping, running...”

Grownups you know who you are, you roll your eyes at the email the supervisor sent or something...

So what we have the tendency to do is take our idea of authority and lay it over the top of the Bible and read this story about Jesus having authority and almost twitch...

What the Bible says; the original readers’ cultural context: Here’s what we must do

This is not a new problem. All of humanity has always struggled with the concept of the authority of the God of the Bible

Since we’re not going through the book of Mark in sequence I want to make a few comments about the section we’re delving in to.

Mark (who most scholars believe) is retelling the story of Jesus as told by the Apostle Peter. Mark is an action-packed, explosive account of the life of Jesus told primarily through his works.

The broader context of is that Jesus is peeling away the authority of the Jewish religious leaders through five interactions beginning with the one we’re looking at today. This points back to and connects with many of the OT prophesies found in the major prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah that God would remove Israel’s shepherds and become the Shepherd himself. And that the Chief Shepherd would then reassign those duties to trusted under-shepherds who would serve the people of God.

So we’re going to zoom in and look at this first interaction with those religious leaders, but we’re not going to focus solely on the meaning of that conflict. Instead, I want us to zoom in even further to see this story within a story.

The ministry of Jesus launched in the city of Capernaum where he taught in the Jewish Synagogue, the people were amazed at the authority behind his teaching. During that gathering there was a demon-possessed man in the crowd. After hearing Jesus teach, the demon inside this guy couldn’t resist exposing Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus tells him to keep his mouth shut, then he casts the demon out of the man and everyone is freaking out.

Jesus quickly gets out of there, heals Peter’s mother-in-law at her house, and then the entire hospital and insane asylum shows up at Peter’s door. Jesus heals many of them, casts out demons, goes to bed and wakes up the next morning goes up in isolation to pray and after a few hours the disciples come up to the mountain are like, “Jesus, everyone is looking for you. You’re a rock star!”

Jesus resists the crowds and says, “Let’s go to a different city, so I can preach. That’s why I came.” So they go all throughout Galilee preaching, and healing people, and casting out more demons and then the scene in Galilee looks virtually the same as it did in Capernaum. People just want a show.

So Jesus goes back to Capernaum.

He’s at home for a couple of days and word got out

The mob shows up at the door of his or maybe Peter’s house

So he preaches the Word to them

While he’s preaching… they hear people on the roof and then they hear the roof getting chipped into and then breaking open… the four friends begin lowering their paralyzed friend into the house...

House Construction

If you’re a visual learner like myself, I am just mesmerized by this picture. Typical Palestinian homes were simple. There was a larger room and maybe another small room or two. But they made use out of the roof of their homes. Think of it like a patio. So there were staircases that led from the ground to the roof. The roof were fairly basic as well. They had beams that ran across the front to back covered by palm branches and then a mixture of mud and clay served as a bond/tile.

So this place is jam-packed with three types of people. There are the learners, (who were amazed at the authority of Jesus and want to hear the word) the thrill-seekers, (who are really only there because they want to see the magic show) and critics (who heard Jesus the last time and feel threatened by his authoritative teaching and that he can back it up with some incredible miracles).

These four guys somehow convince their crippled friend that if they could go and see this new healer that they believed he would be healed of being paralyzed. What is interesting about this story is that a paralytic has friends. He not only has friends; he has four absolutely devoted friends. They love this guy. It’s possible he was not born paralyzed, had he been born paralyzed he may not have had any friends.

In Jewish custom being born with a deformity of almost any kind placed you outside of the community which made it nearly impossible to build relationships outside of your own family.

So they rushed their friend to presumably Simon Peter’s home, but when they arrived it was impossible for them to get him to Jesus.

So their plan B was to somehow lift up their friend (have you ever tried to carry 150 lbs of 'dead' weight?) to the roof, but imagine this, they start tearing the roof apart!

From what we can tell, this house didn't belong to any of these guys. Who gave these the permission to do this then? For these guys, this was a now or never situation. "We can worry about fixing the roof later. We can worry about paying the owner back later. Right now, Jesus the healer is within our midst and we don't know that we'll have this opportunity ever again, money is not an issue. Convenience is not an issue. It doesn't matter what people think of us, or how uncomfortable this is, or how bad this looks, we are not leaving until Jesus heals our friend."

Just imagine...

Imagine being in the middle of a worship gathering and hearing rustling on the roof, small distraction, but then the roof starts coming off. The sun is busting in the room, debris is falling all over everyone, people are screaming, the guys with CCW’s are rustling in their ankle and pant pockets, the service is completely done. We’re not recovering from this one.

But Mark’s choice of words here are incredibly revealing. After all of this, the thing that Jesus sees is their faith. We know whose faith (the friends) but what does it mean that he saw their "faith"?

Bible Teachers or the Small Group?

Let’s pull over for a moment

Just after Mark tells us that Jesus saw their faith, he says, “Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that?”

Do you see what he’s doing?

He’s contrasting the “Band of Brothers” small group and the Bible teachers

Which group knows the Scriptures better?

Which group looks like they have it all together?

Which group has more authority?

But, according to Jesus, which group has faith?

The broski’s - how did Jesus know that THEY had faith, but the scribes didn’t?

The behavior of the community group revealed what they believed

The scribes were more knowledgable in the scriptures

The scribes knew how to behave themselves in church

The scribes knew how to discern whether someone was a false prophet or not

But their intellect did them NO GOOD, because they lacked authentic faith

It’s easy to miss the weight of the truth that Mark is making in writing the story. It’s an epic story, and it reveals the incredible faith of this community of brothers, but if we don’t allow Jesus to tell us why His authority is different from anyone else’s authority we just become spectators in the crowd who enjoy the show, but leave unchanged.

What Prevents Us; current listeners’ inward heart context: Why We Can’t Do It

So what happened when Jesus saw their faith? Did he do what they had hoped he would do?

Mark 2:5 ESV

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Because, let’s face it - we don’t live in this moment in history where we’re having to decide whether Jesus was Messiah or not

Mark And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

But we do live at a moment in history where we must know why Jesus deserves our lives fully surrendered to HIM and what faith looks like for us

I’m going to have to go with no.

Why is Jesus Authority Different and worthy of fully surrendered lives?

At this point in Jewish history, there was a continual battle for Authority. Rome ruled over Israel, but allowed the Jewish people to keep their own political/religious structure

As I mentioned in the beginning, the Jewish Religious Rulers were abusing their own authority:

Matthew 23:4 ESV

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

Mark 10:42 ESV

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

Jesus uses the phrase “Gentiles lord it over them” this is gentler than the Greek, it refers to total domination.

So what you have is Jewish leaders that are abusing YHWH’s people and the Gentiles dominating YHWH’s people… and then you have Jesus. Here’s how He’s different:

Mark 10:43–44 ESV

But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

Mark 10:43–45 ESV

But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:43-45

Because Jesus Has the Ability to Forgive Sins and He Does

The reason the scribes freaked out when Jesus said this is because, they were right, only God can forgive sins

This language is a hyperlink to the book of Leviticus

As odd as having a sacrificial system is to us, most if not all ancient religious cultures had this practice

YHWH demanded a sacrificial lamb / ram / dove to atone or cover the sins of the people

You and I have needs. What made you decide to come to church this morning may have been need. Maybe you’re discouraged or tired, or financially spent, or emotionally exhausted. You may be here this morning because you want help for your great need right now, but the reality is this, whatever your need is, you have an ultimate need that is greater.

So when Jesus tells him this, he is looking compassionately and tenderly this man in the eyes as the sacrificial lamb who would forgive this man of his sin, by being beaten, mocked, whipped, and hung for his sin

Jesus says “Your sins are forgiven” because

Because Jesus Has the Authority to Forgive Sins and He Does

Mark 2:8–11 ESV

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’? But 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, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

There are two phrases Jesus uses that hyperlink back to places in Scripture that the scribes would have understood

First is the statement “That you may know”

This doesn’t sound all that important of a phrase, unless you were here last Sunday

Do you remember what Moses wrote down as the reason why YHWH was going to harden the King’s heart, let the Israelites go, and then have the Egyptians follow them?

Ex 7:

Exodus 7:5 ESV

The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

So that the Egyptians shall know that I AM THE LORD (Supreme Ruler)

YHWH uses this about 100 times in all of Scripture about 20% of those uses are in the book of Exodus with a high concentration for the Exodus itself

YHWH was teaching His people that HE was the supreme authority over all things

The Second statement is “Son of Man”

To us it would make more sense for Jesus to have said, “Son of God” but that’s just because we don’t know the hyperlink

Son of Man was Jesus’ favorite phrase when speaking about himself

The prophets Daniel and Ezekiel use this title the most

But listen to this and you’ll know why the scribes are ready to kill Jesus

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

What does this mean? Jesus is making the claim that HE’S THIS Son of Man

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

The one whom YHWH has given dominion and glory and a kingdom so that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve HIM

If this is true, it means that Jesus had the literal authority to an everlasting kingdom

How Jesus Fulfills the Biblical Theme and solves the heart issues: How did Jesus do it?

Zoom in really closely to this paralyzed man

Jesus, dominion, kingdom, all people serving him in all nations and languages says, “My little child, you don’t have to wonder any more if YHWH sees and knows you, I have complete and total authority over all things, I see you and I know you… I invite you now into my Kingdom

Do you see yourself in that man? You should?

You couldn’t get to Jesus were it not for the means He used to bring you to himself

If it weren’t for the Holy Spirit drawing you in, breaking down the hard parts of your heart so you could receive the love and forgiveness of Jesus, you’d still be laying on that cot, paralyzed.

Jesus HAS the authority to forgive sins and He uses it to forgive YOU

Aren’t you weary of hearing about all of these people in powerful positions that have authority to help people and instead are taking advantage of them?

Jesus isn’t like those people, He has the ability to forgive sin and the authority to forgive sins and HE DOES

He doesn’t make this paralyzed man feel bad about it either

He doesn’t even make demands of this man once he’s healed

And this is why we don’t have to try and lay legalistic demands upon people once they hear the Gospel call

How through faith in Jesus you should live now

So what do we do with this truth about the authority of Jesus?

Here is what the crowd did:

Mark 2:12 ESV

And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

The fear of God is always a byproduct of Gospel truth - repent

Celebrational worship is always a byproduct of Gospel truth - worship

Faith-filled evangelism is a byproduct of Gospel truth - share

Communion

Who needs to come and be healed by Jesus? Jesus heals from the inside out. Ultimate healing will come.

Who needs to come and surrender their life to Christ? He’s calling, the Spirit is hacking the hardened parts of your heart so you can receive the grace, forgiveness, and love of Jesus.

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