Jesus: who is this who can forgive sins?

Mark 2:1-12

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “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?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

So said the religious leaders when Jesus said the paralysed man’s sins were forgiven.

The religious guys recognised straightaway who Jesus was claiming to be, or to be equal to.

They were right that only God can forgive sins- because he is the only one without sin. So, they are thinking- how can this guy who is clearly a man claim to do that?

When people claim that Jesus was only a great teacher and leader, I wonder how they reconcile this verse and event.

This well-known story of the love of friends for their disabled friends shows us God’s incredible heart of love for us. Jesus, being God standing among them, was first concerned with eternity, he wanted to make an eternal difference for the poor man by forgiving his sins. Jesus declares his authority over sin.

I’m fascinated by the fact that it was the friends’ faith Jesus responded to. Their faith that Jesus had authority to heal is very encouraging to me because it was visible to many and involved risk. As a result, Jesus revealed his true identity to those who were there. Incredible! Their faith took risks as well- the wrath of the homeowner, the anger of people underneath being covered in dirt falling in, and of course possibly dropping their friend.

There are challenges to authority all around us. But there can be no challenge to Jesus’ authority.

Written by Claire Moore