Through the first half of the book, Mark repeatedly asks a question in various ways. That question is, “Who is this man?” The question is finally answered in Mark 8:29. Jesus is the Christ. Now in this section, the question begins to be built up and posed through various conflicts.
What is the pattern of conflict? A careless reading of this Gospel might lead some to think that Mark just threw these accounts together, but this (of course) is not in keeping with our understanding of his inspiration. A careful study shows diligent craftsmanship. There are five conflicts in Galilee. After the temptation of Jesus, and His baptism, we see the spectacular beginning of His ministry in Galilee. Jesus avoids the applause of thoughtless followers, but He comes now to deal with clear hostility and opposition. The first conflict occurs when He forgives the sins of the paralytic (2:1-12). The second had to do with His association with disreputable types (2:13-17). The third was a dispute over fasting (2:18-22). The fourth was a sabbath controversy (2:23-28), as was the fifth (3:1-6).
Then there were five more — the five controversies in Galilee are balanced by five controversies in Jerusalem in the latter half of the book (11:27-12:37). Far from being the original flower child, Jesus Christ brought controversy with Him everywhere He went.
First we deal with the crowds again. Jesus returned again to Capernaum, and the word got out immediately that He was back (v. 1). A huge crowd assembled right away (v. 2), and Jesus taught them. But it had not been forgotten that Jesus could heal the sick, and so four men brought a paralyzed friend by carrying him on a pallet (v. 3). They couldn’t get near because of the crowd, and so they went up on the roof, made a hole, and lowered the man down to Jesus (v. 4).
Jesus saw their faith (v. 5), but He responds by saying and doing something unexpected. He declares that the young man’s sins are forgiven (v. 5). There is no indication that this is what was being sought. So then, enter the scribes. We have already learned from Mark that Jesus taught with authority, and not like the scribes. But certain scribes were there, doing what they thought they did best (v. 6) — following the dialectic of the heart! These men could put two and two together: only God can forgive sins, and Jesus just declared the man’s sins forgiven. The only conclusion they thought possible was that Jesus was blaspheming (v. 7). The true conclusion was unthinkable for our astute reasoners.
But before Jesus healed the man, He presented to the scribes what He was about to do in the form of an argument. He did this because He knew in His spirit how they were carping their hearts (v. 8). Jesus argues, characteristically, by posing questions to His questioners. Which is easier to say: your sins are forgiven, or your paralysis is gone (v. 9)? Clearly it is easier to claim to be able to forgive sins than to raise the paralyzed. So then Jesus does the harder thing, thus inviting the dour dialecticians to follow along with the argument.
The scribes had already provided one of the premises — only God can forgive sins. But Jesus now presses them, by showing them that the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13) has power on earth to forgive sins. The conclusion is inescapable, which is that the Son of Man is the Son of God. The argument is clinched when Jesus commands the young man to take up his pallet and go home (v. 11). This he immediately does, leaving them all amazed and glorifying God (v. 12). They had never seen anything like it.
Good applications are many, and we should follow them in turn. First, there is a close connection in Scripture between healing and salvation. The fact that our charismatic brothers have made too much of this truth does not make it untrue, and it does not mean that we have not made too little of it. This does not mean that sickness is outside the goodness of God. Consider the wonderful blessing this paralytic received. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Ps. 119:71).
Another application is this: follow the Lord, and you will always follow the argument. Follow the argument alone, and you can’t follow the argument. And of course, like this man, we are paralyzed in our sin until the moment that Jesus speaks the words of salvation (John 17:2).