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Transcript 357B — Jesus Heals the Sick Man [Mk 2:9]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I have a question on Mark 2:9.
HC: Let's look at that a moment. Mark 2:9: "Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk." What is your question concerning this?
CALLER: I was wondering if Jesus was insinuating that people other than He could perform healing, but that only God could forgive sins.
HC: Is Christ insinuating here, suggesting here, that only He could forgive sins, but others could perform miracles of healing? No, He is not suggesting that. The context here is that here is a man who is an unsaved man. That's obvious, as we shall see in a moment. He's an unsaved man, so that spiritually he is sick. Spiritually he is dead. But also he is physically sick. He's got the palsy, some kind of a paralysis. His friends bring him to Jesus. And then Jesus says, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." Now here before our eyes, therefore, we see the miracle of regeneration. Jesus of course is God. He is the one who can forgive sins. He is the one who does save us. And right before our eyes here we see Him saving this sick of the palsy.
Spiritually now this man is whole. Now the scribes, the Jewish leaders, who are watching here, reasoned very correctly, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" Nobody else can forgive sins. Only God can. And rightly so, because only God knows the heart of man. God has made provision for the forgiving of our sins. So they were very correct.
But in order to show them that He was God, Jesus therefore said, "Is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, He sayeth to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all."
Here Christ is saying, "Look, you can't really know whether I am God, or whether I am just blaspheming God, because I said, 'Your sins are forgiven.' But so that you may know that I am God, I will show you a miracle that you can recognize as being from God, one that you can see with your eyes. You can't see this man's heart. You can't see that his sins have been forgiven. You can't know that he's born again. I do, because I forgave him. But you don't see this. But I'll show you a miracle that you can see with your naked eyes, so that you will know that I am God, and that I have the power to forgive sins." And so instantaneously He healed this man who was sick of the palsy.