seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 2:1 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, yesterday's lesson used the word "indignant". Neither Sam Spade nor I have noticed that word in those verses before. Now, today, in these verses the teachers of the law were indeed bickering over wordage. Now that's an interesting "coincidence", Right?Jesus knew what they were thinking. He knew the attitude of their thoughts as well as He knew the color of the sky. Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus is capable of much more than they were. Jesus was there when the human body was created, so Jesus knew how to use it properly.
Back in the days of Jesus, the paralyzed man was believed to have done something horrid in his life to cause the malady. That's why when Jesus healed the Leper, there was a set of steps the leper would have to accomplish in front of the priest before the man could go back home. He was in "Quarantine" because of he suffered with rotting skin. This guy was paralyzed.
Humans could not heal the paralyzed. They didn't have the science yet.
When someone needed healing, they would go to the priests for help. The priests would have them complete a particular sacrifice, and the malady would go away.... probably because it was going away anyway.... they didn't have the science yet. Beakers weren't even invented until the 1800's.
So when a disease came along that the priests or physicians could not heal, they would just say "you're a sinner, it's your fault".
Why was Jesus stealing their thunder? Everyone knew you couldn't heal paralysis. It's a sin and it's a sentence. Everyone knew either you or your parents had perpetrated a horrid act. No amount of tylenol was going to cure it.
So... today, while we're arguing over the wordage of the translations, shall we consider the ignorance of the day?
Humans couldn't heal the guy, in either case. They were all blaming the victim, until Jesus came along with the cure, and then they wanted to lock Him up.... not really for His choice of words, but really because He could heal and they could not.
They argued over wordage.
