While the Lord was in a house at Capernaum, speaking the word to those who were gathered together, a paralytic carried by four men was brought to Him (2:1-3). This paralytic signifies a sinner paralyzed by sin, one who is unable to walk and move before God.
Mark 2:4 says, “And not being able to bring him to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof where He was; and having dug through, they lowered the bed on which the paralytic was lying.” Their zeal in seeking the Slave-Savior’s healing compelled the seekers to break through the proper barrier—something which might be considered a wild deed. Then through the roof they lowered the bed, a small mattress or pad, on which the sick man was lying.
Verse 5 says, “And Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic, Child, your sins are forgiven!” This faith, issuing from hearing the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17), indicates that the seekers had heard of the Slave-Savior. Seeing their faith, the Lord called the paralytic a “child.” This loving word of the Slave-Savior implies kindness. Here the Lord’s human virtue was expressed.
The Lord said to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven!” Sins were the cause of his sickness. The Slave-Savior’s word here touched the cause so that there might be a different effect. Once the sins were forgiven, the sickness was healed.
It is important and meaningful that the first incident in this section on the carrying out of the gospel service is a case of forgiving the sins of a sick person. This indicates that in carrying out the gospel the first thing that must be done is to help people have their sins forgiven.
As fallen human beings, our basic problem is our sin. When God created man, man was pure, clean, and without sin. At the end of Genesis 1 God looked at His creation and said, “Very good.” It is a great matter for God to utter such words as “very good.” Man had been created in the image of God and according to the likeness of God. Furthermore, God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). This breath of life became the spirit of man within him. Therefore, man in God’s creation has the image of God, the likeness of God, and a spirit within him. As a creature, he was clean, pure, and complete. However, according to Genesis 3, the evil one, the Devil, the enemy of God, came in to poison the man created by God. Man was “bitten” by the serpent, and sin was injected into man’s being.
All the problems of mankind are the result of sin. Because of sin, the situation of fallen mankind is hopeless. Because of sin, everyone has been corrupted. Do you not believe that mankind, including you, has been corrupted? Do you not believe that your neighborhood, your city, and your country have been corrupted by sin? The whole world has been corrupted by sin. Therefore, in carrying out the gospel service, the first thing we must do is to show people how they may have their sins forgiven. Because all the problems of mankind are the result of sin, sin must be dealt with if people are to be restored to God.
Many of us can testify that in the past we tried our best to get a good education so that we might have a promising future. Nevertheless, the problem of sin remained unsolved and caused more and more corruption. But on the day we believed in the Lord Jesus and received Him, our sins were forgiven.
In 2:1 through 12 we have a case showing us that the first task done by the Lord as the Slave-Savior in carrying out His gospel service was to forgive sins. This was the reason the Lord said in 2:5, “Child, your sins are forgiven!” This word was probably a shock to the paralytic and to the four who had brought him to the Lord. They no doubt had never thought that the cause of his sickness was sin. But much to their surprise, the Lord told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven.
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