Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 7
July 9, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus' most critical interest in respect to the responses of men to Him was, and is, what they "decide in their hearts" because of their exposure to Him.
Introduction: Because of my failure to turn the recorder on last week, I have decided to go over the highlights of last week's study and then move into the record of Jesus' deliberate healing of the paralytic. That way anyone who is studying with us by way of the internet can go over the Study Notes and pick up the details that we covered last week.
- I. Mark's Eleventh "Immediately".
- A. We have seen that Mark does not use the term translated "immediately" to indicate a "close temporal connection that is seen as following on the heels of"; he uses it to highlight the next most crucial "thought" that his readers are drawn to consider.
- B. In this case, "the next most crucial thought" follows hard on the heels of Mark's description of the scribal conclusion that Jesus is a blasphemer because only God can forgive sins.
- II. The Next Most Crucial Thought(s).
- A. First, Mark wants us to realize that Jesus was fully aware of the scribes' "reasonings".
- 1. He tells us "immediately" that Jesus "knew", as an accomplished fact, that the scribes were "reasoning".
- a. He says that Jesus "knew": the verb indicates a kind of "knowing" that arises from direct interaction and not from "omniscience" or "logical deduction" (the root of this verb is used in Matthew 7:23 when Jesus rejected the wicked with His claim that He never "knew" them).
- b. The use of this verb strongly indicates that we are to consider what was going on with Jesus so that He had direct interaction with the thoughts of the scribes.
- 2. Then he tells us "how" it was that Jesus had this "direct interaction".
- a. The translation "aware in His spirit" (NASB) tends to make us think that this "awareness" arose within Jesus' "spirit".
- b. But, it is far more likely that Mark meant that "Jesus' Spirit" imparted to Him this "direct interaction" (as though the "Spirit" ushered Jesus into the realm where the inner conversation was taking place).
- c. But, then, the question arises as to which of the "spirits" of Jesus was putting Him into contact with that conversation.
- 1) In the concept of Jesus as a human being, there is the fact of Jesus in possession of a "human spirit" that provided the elements required for Jesus' body to act.
- 2) But, in Mark's presentation of Jesus, he recorded the fact of the descent of the Spirit From Heaven upon Jesus and then follows it up immediately with the statement that this "Spirit" drove Him into the wilderness for a confrontation with Satan.
- 3) Since Jesus is being presented by Mark as "the Father-pleasing Son" Who is driven by The Spirit From the Father, it makes more sense that it was this "Spirit" Who ushered him into the realm of the conversations going on the hearts of the scribes.
- a) This would provide the kind of "knowing" attributed to Him since a "human spirit" would not be able to provide that kind of "knowing".
- b) And this would continue the theme of Jesus' "Father-pleasing" attitudes and actions (a concept described by John in John 5:19-29).
- B. Second, Mark presents Jesus' two-question challenge to the scribes.
- 1. First question: Why are you drawing these particular conclusions in your hearts?
- a. The "particular conclusions" have already been described.
- 1) Initial issue: why is He speaking thus?
- 2) Next issue: He is blaspheming.
- 3) Third issue: who can forgive sins except One, the God?
- b. This "particular conclusion" is arising out of their "hearts".
- 1) The heart is "core-central" to the values of the persons doing the "reasoning".
- 2) As such, there has to be some level of "reasoning" going on in terms of what the speech of Jesus means to "me", when "my" goal is to possess, or retain, one of the chief seats in the synagogue (12:38-39).
- a) With this "heart-value" in view, I cannot possibly align myself with this Jesus because that will get me "demoted" not "promoted".
- b) But if I am going to go against Him, I have to have a legitimate-sounding "reason": "He is blaspheming; only the One God can do what He has just done".
- c. Jesus' challenge is to them to seek to move them to listen to their own inner conversation and judge it for what it is: the promotion of the goal of self-glory at the expense of the facts of "Truth".
- 2. Second question: Which is easier...?
- a. Is it "easier" to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are being forgiven you", or...
- b. Is it "easier" to say (to him), "Arise and take up your pallet and start walking"?
- c. The questions focus around "easier".
- 1) In terms of "ease", the question is "easier" in what way?
- a) The question is: Why say anything at all, unless the goal is to compel thought in a given direction and have legitimate conclusions drawn through "acceptance"?
- b) With "acceptance" in mind, would it be easier to say "Your sins are being forgiven you" or to say "Arise and take up your pallet and start walking"?
- 2) Clearly, in light of Jesus' established history of being able to heal any/every disease or physical problem, the latter is the right answer.
- 3) Just as clearly, in light of current Jewish theology and motivation, it would be far more problematic to "say" the former.
- 3. Thus, the challenge of Jesus is to "put the priorities of the heart in the correct order of importance" and to "realize that the facts contradict your theology as it applies to Me".
- II. Jesus' Deliberate Healing of the Paralytic.
- A. As a fundamental aspect of the theology of the Gospel, the paralytic did not "need" to be healed for his own sake.
- 1. Jesus' promise to the woman at the well that if she drank of the water that He could give to her she would "never thirst again" (John 4:14) and His follow-up promise to the disciples in John 6:35 that anyone who "ate" His bread would "never hunger again" have to mean that He was going to do something real for those who drank His water and ate His bread that would make "eternal life" a present and on-going experience.
- 2. If, as Jesus said, the paralytic's "sins were being forgiven" as an on-going fact, then the man was experiencing the Joy of the Promise of Life through fellowship with the Father (1 John 1:7) in a way that made his physical condition irrelevant to his experience of that Joy.
- B. But, as a fundamental aspect of Jesus' purpose in this world, the paralytic did "need" to be healed for the sake of those whose major "problem" with the experience of the Joy of that Life was their lack of faith in Jesus as their redeemer.
- 1. Jesus' words that "as the Son of the Man" He had "authority" to forgive sins on the earth were crucial for two reasons.
- a. First, because the "Son of Man" thesis is straight out of Daniel 7:13-14 where a "Son of Man" is presented to the Ancient of Days to receive an eternal kingdom, Jesus is putting a strong focus upon His message that the Kingdom of God is "at hand" (Mark 1:15).
- b. And, second, because the imminence of the Kingdom puts strong pressure upon the most fundamental issue of "Kingdom" (the presence of people to constitute that Kingdom) in light of the universal disqualification of the sons of men, the "forgiveness of sins" has become paramount.
- 2. That Jesus, as the Coming King, was the One Who decides who will participate in His Kingdom makes the issue of "relational healing through forgiveness" between the King and His subjects most crucial.
- a. It is one thing to be "forgiven" by "God" in a generic and almost elusive sense; it is altogether a different thing to be "forgiven" by the King of God's Kingdom Whose personal rule over a relational kingdom means everyone in it will have a very personal stake in the outworking of that kingdom.
- b. This, according to Jesus, was something they needed to "know".
- 1) Thus, He confronted the scribes for their decision that He was blaspheming on two levels.
- a) He used their decision against them (who are you to presume to know the inner workings of "forgiveness" when your entire argument fails?).
- b) He presented the only kind of "proof" that He had available to them to challenge their unbelief (John 15:24).
- 2) Thus, He healed the paralytic on the basis of His claim to have "authority".
- C. The outcome: absolute, jaw-dropping, amazement unto a recognition of the "glory" of God.
