Mark 2:5-7 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Jesus reacts immediately to the faith that he sees in the men. It is powerful to note that it was not the paralytic’s faith that provokes the heart of Jesus; it is the faith of the four men who lowered him. This is a powerful lesson in faith. Your faith can release someone else’s miracle! These men have broken through the ceiling and lowered the man into the presence of Jesus by faith, and that faith birthed a miracle.
There is a second part to this story as well. Jesus not only performed a miracle of healing in this passage he provoked a controversy that changed the way people looked at man’s role in ministering the power and purpose of God. Jesus does not address the man’s infirmities he addresses the man’s sins! With the same authority that he speaks as he casts out demons, Jesus speaks to the man and declares that his sins are forgiven. In the culture of the day Jesus could not do anything in that moment that would have been any more controversial! With this one sentence he makes himself equal to God in regard to forgiving sin!
Jesus establishes a significant principle very early in his ministry. He uses the miraculous gifts of power as a tool to create opportunity to address difficult issues that He is seeking to confront within the religious culture. He consistently equates the presence of power as God’s endorsement upon his message. The teachers of the law are immediately provoked by the words of Jesus, before he has even performed a miracle. Here they are, gathered in his home and yet they are not there to learn but to judge and criticize. Their hearts are hardened and now they are sitting in his presence with a critical spirit poisoning their minds.
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