Jesus Asks a Question: “Which is easier to say, Be forgiven or Be healed?”
Jesus Asks a Question: “Which is easier to say, Be forgiven or Be healed?”
The Grand Inquisitor. Messiah Jesus was a Master of asking questions: some were open-ended, others were very pointed; some were out of curiosity, others were challenging; some seemed rhetorical, others seemed painfully obvious; some were to reveal Himself, others were to guide the other into self-understanding; some were intentionally provocative, others were to kick-start a conversation; some questions were asked to explore a topic to deepen understanding and stretch toward the truth; some were leading questions that He designed to suggest a particular answer, and others were questions in response to questions asked of Him; some were hypotheticals to stimulate the imagination, other questions were used by Him as stepping stones to think logically from one point to the next. Jesus used questions to dignify the listener, letting that person know that He is taking that person seriously and listening carefully. Many of His questions were acts of friendship and used to pursue a more profound intimacy with someone. Jesus asked very few yes-no questions, and since time was usually irrelevant for Him when He was with people, He rarely asked a “when” question. Several biblical scholars have studied the gospels with Christ’s questions in mind, and they have literally counted a total of 307 questions in His various conversations and teachings. It seems that a worthy spiritual exercise when considering the many questions of Jesus is that we ask ourselves… should I take His questions personally, as if He was asking us that question right now?
The Question. “Which easier to say, Be forgiven, or Be healed?” (Mark 2:9).
Context. “And Jesus having returned to Capernaum, after some days it was rumored about that He was in the house where He usually stayed. And so many people gathered together there that there was no longer room for any others, not even around the door. And Jesus was teaching and discussing Scripture. There were Pharisees and scribes sitting by and listening carefully.” (read Mark 2:1-12 for the whole story; also refer to Matthew 9:1-8, and Luke 5:17-26).
Capernaum. This flourishing city on the Sea of Galilee was Jesus’ adopted hometown. Because of its thriving businesses, especially in fishing and many different trades, it was densely populated and wealthy. Several major highways intersected in Capernaum, which brought people from as far away as Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Roman military presence was strong in Capernaum, since a Roman garrison was there to keep the peace in that region. Capernaum was an interesting place for Jesus to select as His ministry headquarters, because the town was a cultural melting pot loaded with Greek, Roman, and international influences. Jesus was well known in Capernaum and that region at that time, because He had just been touring the Galilee area, preaching, healing, and casting out demons. It was no surprise that wherever Jesus went, there was a large crowd surrounding Him. Capernaum was a cosmopolitan city, the opposite of a primitive village stuck out in the sticks somewhere.
Preaching. Whenever Jesus was with other people, he preached. The Gospels evidently use the terms preaching and teaching interchangeably, since the parallel passage in Luke 5 has Him teaching here. Jesus loved to expound God’s word wherever He was… in the synagogue, on a hilltop, on a plain, in a boat, and in a home. Remember that the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament, was Jesus’ Scripture, the Word He expounded. Some churches forget there is even an Old Testament to expound. That’s a mistake. Jesus taught the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish Bible. How can a church claim to be Christ-centered and not teach Christ’s Bible? The OT is the tap root of the New Testament, and we cut off this root at our peril. Do you get enough solid teaching from the Old Testament? Jesus taught all the time. So here we are in Capernaum, with Jesus, preaching the Word, in a local house that is most probably Peter’s, and the place is completely jammed full with people.
Scribe: “Men of Letters,” since the Greek word for scribe is “gramma,” the source for our word “grammar;” religious scholar; teacher of religious law; lawyer; interpreter of Torah; member of Temple leadership; associated with the Pharisees because most of the scribes belonged to the Pharisee party. A scribe is a lawyer, a true scholar who knows the Torah and is intimately familiar with these Sacred Writings. Not only does a scribe know Scripture, but he knows how to teach it to others and interpret its meaning. Scribes are ardent students of the Hebrew Bible, observant Jewish believers, and well-read learners. The well-trained scribe knows how to bring out the old, traditional Word as well as the new fresh application, shedding new light on the old truths.
Pharisees: A popular religious party operating in 1st century Israel. They were respected for their scholarly knowledge of Scripture and for their interpretation of the written word and oral law. They were highly influential in the local synagogues. They were laymen, not priests, and came from all classes of people. They believed in the bodily resurrection of the dead and eternal life, which was earned by good works according to Mosaic Law. They emphasized extreme detail regarding observance to the Jewish law, which made them separatists from anything non-Jewish. They were committed to righteousness and obeying all of God’s laws, but often found themselves following the letter of the law at the expense of the spirit of the law, blind to the law’s true intent.
“And behold, four men were bringing on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed and prostrated by illness, and they tried to carry him into the house and set him before Jesus.” (Luke 5:18).
Chutzpah. These four hardworking and faithful friends of the paralyzed man had the highly honored chutzpah-style faith. “There is a Jewish assumption that an intimate faith in God requires tenacity, and that faith in God can be defined as a bold persistence.” (Brad Young, Jesus, the Jewish Theologian). Chutzpah (hoots-pah) is a Yiddish word that long ago entered English usage. It is from the Hebrew word, “hutspah,” which means insolent or audacious. Chutzpah is a neutral word that can be either positive or negative. Chutzpah can be righteous or unrighteous, holy or unholy. It is an idea difficult to define, so there are a lot of synonyms for it, especially in the biblical sense: spiritual audacity; brazen gall; tenacious stubbornness; headstrong persistence; outrageous guts; shameless nerve; feisty assertiveness; brazen impudence; unyielding boldness; courageous spine; expectant defiance. The Holy Scriptures, both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, are overflowing with examples of holy chutzpah. One wonders not only if it’s a job requirement for saints and prophets, but also a faith requirement for all believers. In fact, God seems to love chutzpah in us when it is based on our ultimate trust in Him and His character, our unselfish motives, our yearning for justice and mercy. Chutzpah in front of others becomes holy when it is done in obedience to the Lord and is an outworking of our faith in Him. As Rabbi Schulweiss once said, “Spiritual audacity toward God finds a place of honor in Jewish religious thought.” The rabbis of old have always insisted that chutzpah is a valid expression of faith. Just a quick glimpse at the Gospels reveals that Jesus and His followers fully embraced the ancient Jewish ethic of holy chutzpah. When Jesus saw chutzpah in action, He usually said things like, “Great is your faith!” Maybe Christian scholar Dr. Brad Young said it best. “True faith requires bold perseverance. Sometimes it is expressed by brazen impudence. Faith can be defined as chutzpah. Persevere with unyielding tenacity.” (Brad Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian).
“And when the friends of the paralytic couldn’t get near to Jesus in the house because of the throng, they made a hole in the roof and lowered him down in front of Him… When Jesus saw their faith and trust, He said to the paralyzed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven!’ (Mark 2:4-5).
True Friends. The house was so packed that the main room and even the courtyard outside the doorway was filled with people. There was no room for anyone to move, no less four friends lugging a paralyzed friend on a stretcher. So, the friends, not to be denied, carried the paralyzed man up the exterior stairway to the roof, made a hole in the roof big enough to fit the stretcher, and lowered the man down to Jesus’ feet. It would be impossible to miss the man on the stretcher right in front of His face. These friends wanted nothing more than for Jesus to heal their friend. If each friend held onto a rope tied to each corner of the stretcher, they had to coordinate between themselves so as to lower the man safely to the floor below. This was work, but they were not daunted. What friends! And what faith in Jesus! What qualities did these men have in order to pull this off? They were resourceful, unembarrassed, determined, faithful, compassionate, courageous, unapologetic. Sometimes that is what it takes to literally bear someone’s burden. Paul states that there is no greater commandment, no greater act of love, than to bear the burdens of another. (Gal. 6:2) Burden-bearing “fulfills the law of Christ.” This scene is a clear picture of what that can look like. These friends decided to bear the burden of their friend, literally, and bring him to Jesus for healing. What a meaningful picture of intercession, where we in faith bring someone we love to Christ to have their needs met.
Substitute Faith. Jesus sees the faith of these friends, and He counts it to the credit of the paralyzed man, who was not willing or able to speak for himself. The friends were ‘standing in’ for their friend, they were substituting their faith for the apparent lack of faith in their friend on the stretcher, and Jesus seemed to say… “I see your faith, my friends, and I’ll count it as his faith.” Faith by proxy? Can Jesus do that? “Seeing their faith,” Jesus announced forgiveness of sins to the paralyzed man. There is a mystery here. Does God accept someone’s Christian faith as a substitute for another person’s lack of faith? Does God’s mercy run this deep? Is this similar to infant baptism, when faithful parents ‘stand in’ for their baby?
Forgiveness. Jesus evidently had certain priorities in mind with this paralyzed man. Physical healing was secondary. Spiritual healing comes first. Jesus felt compelled to heal this man’s paralysis of the soul before the paralysis of the body. Jesus has the power to heal both body and soul, and the soul comes first. In this scene’s parallel version in Matthew 9:2, Jesus said something interesting to the man on the stretcher… “Be encouraged! Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven!” So perhaps there was an urgency in Jesus’ mind to tend to the spiritual, maybe this paralyzed man had lived long enough in discouragement, with a conscience burdened by sin, guilt and shame. Perhaps Jesus wanted to release this man and forgive him now, pronto!
“And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason and question and argue, saying, ’Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts and questionings, answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Arise, pick up your mat, and keep on walking?” (Mark 2:6-9).
Religious Police. Mixed into the crowd around Jesus were a few professional skeptics, the Jewish legal authorities. They were not righteously curious as so many others were. They were there to sit in judgment, to criticize, to entrap Jesus in some breaking of the Law. After Jesus pronounced forgiveness to the paralyzed man, these skeptics were questioning in their own minds what happened. They were thinking, “What? Wait! Only God can forgive sins! This man Jesus is claiming to be equal to God! This is blasphemy, and the penalty is death! We got him!” Jesus read their minds, because He knew their hearts. He cornered them and asked them, “Why are you wondering about this? It’s easy for me to speak forgiveness, because you can’t prove these words one way or another. That wasn’t that hard for me to say, because forgiveness is invisible and there isn’t any way to verify that. But to back up my claim to be the Son of Man, God’s right hand man with the power and authority to forgive sins, I will here and now heal this paralyzed man!” And so He did.
Son of Man. Jesus refers to Himself here as Son of Man, the first time he did so. It’s a phrase that refers to the “fully human” part of Jesus. It was His favorite way to identify Himself, even though He never once heard that term applied to Him by His disciples. Jesus so closely identifies Himself with mankind, with humanity’s deepest needs and vulnerabilities that He chose Son of Man as a part of His identity. Jesus earnestly wants to confirm the dignity of being human, made in God’s image, yet still in need of salvation. But then again, when Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, He was most likely declaring Himself to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Son of Man vision in Daniel 7. Many scholars claim that during Jesus’ time, the Son of Man was the “highest term used in Jewish thought for the Messiah, and it was the most exalted view of the coming Redeemer.” (Brad Young, Jesus, the Jewish Theologian). So when Jesus used that title, it was commonly understood by those who heard it that He certainly intended to suggest His identity as Messiah. Although not having taken the time to certify this number, one biblical scholar claims that Jesus directly referenced the vision of Daniel as many as fifty times when using the term Son of Man.
“But that you all here may know beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has authority and power to forgive sins,’ Jesus turns to the paralytic and says to him, ‘I say to you, arise, pick up your mat, and go home!’ And the man rose, immediately picked up his mat, and went out before them all, so that all the people were flabbergasted, out of their minds with amazement (“existemi”), and glorified God, exclaiming, ’We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:10-12).
FLABBERGASTED: “existemi”; an extreme word that means to be out of one’s mind with amazement; crazy with wonderment; a stunned astonishment so strong that one is beside oneself; to be overwhelmed so as to be bowled over; literally, to remove from a standing position. This word is used seventeen times in the gospels, including when Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man dropped through the ceiling of Peter’s house; when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead; when Jesus calmed the storm and casually climbed into the boat with His disciples; on the road to Emmaus when the disciples heard about the empty tomb from the women. Existemi is also used when the family of Jesus thought He was crazy, going out of His mind.
Healing. Jesus simply told the man to stand up, pick up his stretcher, and walk home. Immediately, the paralysis was reversed, he was healed, he pranced his way through the crowd, and he went home, singing God’s praises all the way. I’d bet his four friends had a hard time keeping up with him.
The People Lost Their Minds with Amazement. The witnesses to these events were utterly stunned, they were completely bowled over by what they had just seen. They were understandably filled with a sort of fearful wonder and astonished awe. They told each other that what they had just witnessed was unheard of and without any precedent. They have never seen anything like this before, ever! They exclaimed to each other, ‘We have seen wonderful and unthinkable things today!’ And in their utter amazement they began to praise God.