Week 4 of My Reflections in the Gospel of Mark. 

Maybe you haven’t thought about it much, but Jesus gets away with a lot. He really does. And I’m still trying to come to grips with it.

He invites himself to parties, he touches people he’s not supposed to touch, and — what’s on my mind right now — he seems awfully frivolous when offering forgiveness.

At the beginning of Mark 2, Jesus returns to Capernaum and his popularity has grown. It seems the whole town has descended upon the house where he is staying. The crowd fills every inch of the place as the overflow is forced to stand outside the doors. Even those late to the party are trying to get a glimpse of what’s going on.

As readers of the story, it’s not the crowd that catches us off guard, but the arrival of a small group bringing a paralytic man to see Jesus. With their access hindered, they do what I’ve never thought of doing when arriving to a crowded place I’d like to enter — they dig a hole in the roof. 

I love picturing the scene as dirt and roof materials drop on the heads of those sitting comfortably on the couches below. Looking up, the well-behaved crowd sees a man on a mat lowered down upon their laps. 

I imagine Jesus filled with joy at this scene. Not only because he was often moved by those who demonstrated unconventional faith, but because there were now a group of misbehaving heads peeking down through a hole above!

What we expect Jesus to say is what those who dug the hole came to hear. But he doesn’t say it.

Seeing their faith, Jesus catches everyone off guard and declares, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” — Mark 2:5

The scribes who heard him say these words were upset. Mark says they questioned this pardoning act of Jesus in their hearts and asked one another: 

“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” — Mark 2:7

At first glance, it appears they are standing up for God as the only one who is able to forgive sins. It’s as if they are defending God from those whose actions could offend him. “This fellow doesn’t have the right to play God! How dare he!”

But, in reality, the scribes are the ones who are offended. What comes across as a defense of God is actually panic. They are afraid of losing their own societal power.

The scribes served as interpreters of the law and held a certain place in society. They saw themselves as holding the keys to forgiveness. But what they are actually doing is using God as their scapegoat.

Check out your latest news feed and you will see the same thing happening today among those who have similar resumes. I’m not sure we’ve really come to grips with all the things that religious people of power can get away as they attempt to defend God. And the scribes’ behavior should not be surprising to us — because it can often become our own.

One way we can avoid falling into the same pattern of defending our presupposed ideas of God, while resisting the work of God’s Spirit, is by allowing Jesus to speak forgiveness to those who aren’t asking for it. 

Not only because we don’t want to get in the way of Jesus pardoning sinners, but because we should long to experience the same pleasure Jesus does when he offers the pardon.

Forgiving his children isn’t something God does begrudgingly, as if he is somehow forced to do it because it’s the godly thing to do. Forgiveness is part of the joy set before him. Jesus comes as our forgiveness.

In Isaiah 43, we see the desire of God to offer forgiveness — even to those who haven’t done anything for it. After telling the people how they have burdened God with their sins and haven’t bothered to offer sacrifices for them, the Lord says, 

“I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” — Isaiah 43:25

Jesus wasn’t merely setting an example by forgiving the man — I think Jesus just really wanted to forgive him. For the paralyzed man, yes, but also for Jesus’ own sake. 

Jesus’ proclamation of forgiveness was not a way for him to say that the spiritual is separate from the natural. He wasn’t using a rhetorical strategy to ruffle the feathers of the scribes. 

I think Jesus’ forgiveness was speaking to the wholeness of the paralyzed man and that he saw him as a whole person — whether he could walk or not. Through Jesus’ freedom proclamation, the man is no longer bound by his physical position or his position in society. He is now no longer in debt to those who held the power over him, such as the scribes who might withhold forgiveness. 

In the kingdom Jesus initiates, a paralyzed man is made new and seen as whole.

I think we must be about this kind of forgiveness. Not only should we recognize that Jesus alone has the authority to offer forgiveness, but he is the God who loves forgiving. Not because it removes sin that can keep us out of heaven, but so that sin won’t hold us back from being wholly human. 

Can we speak this forgiveness to those who long to be whole, whether they ask for it or not?

From the cross, Jesus calls out, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” — Luke 23:34

Who but this dying man has the authority to say something like that? Who but this God would declare it to be done?

If we question how seriously God takes sin, all we need to do is focus on the cross. And, if we question how willingly God offers forgiveness, the cross must continue to hold our gaze. 

This God is the Jesus who forgives the sins of the paralyzed man. And as he sits with dirt and roof materials falling around him, he responds to the questions of those standing on the outside. To demonstrate his authority to make a person whole, he gives them what they wanted and tells the man to walk.

“I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” — Mark 1:11

With every astonished eye watching, the once paralyzed man walks through the crowd and out the front door. Holding his mat in his arms, he reunites with his friends and heads home. 

This is the same God who forgives us. And whatever infirmities we have, whether we are healed from them today or after we die, we can know that the forgiveness of God makes us whole even now. And this forgiveness extends well beyond us. 

I don’t think we’ve come to grips with all the things that God gets away with. But that is what makes the news, good news.

We do not hold on to forgiveness in order to keep it out of reach. We hold on to it because it’s the most important thing we’ve been given and the best thing we have to offer.

Let us partner with Jesus and proclaim that forgiveness to those around us. Let us point to the Father who makes his children whole and sends them home. 

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