The Healing of the Sick of the Palsy
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. How Christ's meetings were advertised. Our Lord's Word and His work was sufficient to assure Him a multitude, whithersoever He went. He moved among the people in a quiet and even in an humble mien. When He spoke He was accustomed to sit down. When He healed the sick or raised the dead, He did not sound a trumpet before Him, yet all the people sought Him.
We are coming more and more to the conviction that after all it is a plain, positive, and Holy Ghost indued message that people want to hear in our day. The world is getting weary of the flash of Broadway and of the glare of its white lights. Depression and distress, poverty and almost famine, sorrow and sighing fill the hearts of an ever-increasing mass of men.
What the people need is a messenger sent from Heaven with a power which is of God.
2. What Christ preached. The last statement of the 2d verse carries a wealth of meaning. It reads thus, "and He preached the Word unto them."
The Lord Jesus could have found many other things to preach had He sought for them. There were many thing's which He might have preached, however, "He preached the Word."
Did not Paul say to Timothy, "Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season"? Did not the Apostle Paul write of himself, "Paul * * an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, * * concerning His Son"? On another occasion did he not say, "We preach Christ"?
It is the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
It is the Word of God which is like the rain and the snow coming down from Heaven, and causing the earth to bring forth and bud.
It is the Word of God that is the fire and the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces.
The unsaved are born again by the grafted Word. The saved are built up by the Word. The path of the just is lighted by the Word. Can we not therefore, as believers, appreciate the statement concerning Christ,
"He preached the Word unto them"?
I. ONE SICK OF THE PALSY (Mark 2:3-4)
1. The sick of the palsy was borne of four. Perhaps that day in the crowd that filled the house and pressed the doors, the Lord observed the absence of the four followers. Where were they? Would they not have enjoyed His testimony? They would. Would they not have delighted in His presence? There is no doubt of it. However, they had gone to seek another and to bring him to Christ.
It took four to bring the one, but it was not a waste of time or of energy. Would that we had more people ready to go out into the highways and hedges and constrain the people to come in. Would that we had more men who had a heart for those who wander, for the absentees and non-attendants at the House of God.
2. A hindering crowd. As the four brought the sick of the palsy to the meeting, they found that they could not come nigh unto Christ for the press. Everybody seemed more anxious to see themselves, than to let some one else see. They were peering over each others' heads. They were pressing through, the best they could to get a sight of the. Master. They had no thought and no care, however, for one who needed the Lord more than they.
We have seen the time, as an invitation was being given in some church service, when, pinned in the middle of a seat, there was a man who sought the Saviour. Tears were in his eyes. A sob was in his heart. On either side of him and between him and both aisles were saints filling his only path of egress. They stood with their hymnbooks raised, singing with their might. They knew it not, but they were hindering one who wanted to get out that he might come to the altar for prayer.
Let us be helpers and not hinderers. Let us seek for the lost and not crowd them out from God.
3. An undaunted purpose. The four men had started with the sick of the palsy determined to lay him at the feet of Jesus. The press of the people at the doors could not deter them. Upon the roof they climbed, carrying the bed on which the sick man lay. The tile they removed, then carefully they let down the bed whereupon the sick man lay.
4. The responsive Christ. When Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the four, and the faith of the sick of the palsy, he said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."
The four had faith or else they had never gone to bring the sick of the palsy. The sick of the palsy had faith or else he never would have suffered himself to be brought. Our Lord said, "According to your faith be it unto you."
So when He saw their faith, there was nothing to do save to heal the sick. When faith grasps the hand of God, it grasps the power that rules the rod.
II. THE FAULTFINDING SCRIBES (Mark 2:6-7)
1. The ever-present critic. We wonder if a sermon has ever been preached when there were not some people present who were chronic faultfinders, some sitting there who had not come to worship but to criticize. It was so with our Lord. How wonderful was He! How matchless were His Words! How unspeakable were His miracles! In such a one there could be found no fault. He knew no sin, and He did no sin. He was ever thoughtful and filled with compassion.
However, all of this did not stay the hand of the scribes, nor did it quiet their reasoning against Him. They had made up their minds before they came that they would not accept the Lord Jesus. Their purpose was not to be taught but to contend.
We remember how the Apostle Paul wrote, "All they which are in Asia be turned away from me." He said, that Alexander the coppersmith did him much harm. He said, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world."
He also said, "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me."
Hard it is to understand, and yet it is true that even the Lord was despised. Some rebuked Him because He sat with sinners and ate with them. Some said that He had a demon, others cried that He was a glutton and a winebibber. Against all of these Jesus did not contend. Such reproofs as He uttered were reproofs of love and of pity. Let those of us who seek to serve the Lord expect to be maligned, misrepresented and misunderstood.
2. The cause of their criticism. The Lord Jesus had said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."
The critics said, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?"
Thus we behold that their antagonism began with their negation of Christ's Deity. Had they known that He was God, they would have known that He could forgive sins.
We are led therefore to grant that sometimes the bickering and the strife of people against their pastor or against some other leader in the Word and Work of God is brought about by misconceptions and misunderstandings.
We are sure that the scribes should have known better. We are sure also that the modernists, whom we call destructive critics, should also know better. They speak against One whom they know not. They criticize One who is entirely foreign to their faith.
Christ came unto them from the Father but they knew Him not. He came with the Words of Life but they received Him not. He extended unto them His hands of love but they came not unto Him.
They cried out, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?" and yet they themselves were blaspheming the Christ, the Son of God. They cried, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" and yet, they themselves could never be forgiven of their sins apart from the God-Man whom they were criticizing.
III. THE OMNISCIENT CHRIST (Mark 2:8)
Our key verse says, "And immediately when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?"
1. The Lord knew what was in man. He knew it from the throne in Heaven; He knew it when He walked among men; He knows it now. Who is there who can fly from His Spirit, and hide away from His face? Our Lord has beset us behind and before.
The omniscient Christ! Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. It is high. We cannot attain unto it.
The omniscient Christ! Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? Is there anywhere that we can go that He will not find us? If we ascend up into Heaven, He is there. If we take the wings of the morning and hie us away to the uttermost parts of the sea, He is there.
The omniscient Christ! If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me," even the night shall be light about me. When we think of Christ, we must remember that our substance was not hid from Him. From our mother's womb, He was there. He knows our downsittings and our uprisings and understandeth our thoughts afar off. Thus it was that immediately Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned against Him.
2. The Lord questioned man. To His critics Christ said, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts?" We would like to ask every critic of our Saviour the same word, "Why?" Has the Lord Jesus done anything worthy of death? Have those who criticize Him any real reason for their condemnation? Shall the unclean deride the clean? Shall the impure defame the holy? Shall the unforgiving ostracize the merciful, the tender, the kindhearted?
In other words, how can people cry out, "Away with Him," "Let Him be crucified"? How can they thrust the sword into His side and drive the nails through His hands and His feet? How can they press His brow with thorns?
IV. A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY (Mark 2:9-10)
To the reasoning and questioning of the critics, Christ responded by asking them a question. They said, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" He replied, "Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?"
1. The secret back of Christ's question. In the Gospel of John, we have, in chapter 2, the working of Christ's first miracle in Cana of Galilee. The water having been turned to wine, we read, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory."
In the 5th chapter of John, Christ said, "The same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me."
Now, to the statement of the scribes that God alone could forgive sin, Christ responded that it is as easy to forgive sins as it is to say to the sick of the palsy, "Take up thy beef, and walk." Then He added, "But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (He saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed."
Our Lord Jesus wrought where no one had ever wrought. His miracles were miracles such as no human, unless panoplied with power Divine, could work. Christ cured the sick of the palsy, the leper, the woman bent double by Satan's power, the demoniac of Gadara. Christ raised the dead, the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. Christ walked upon the sea, and with His lips spoke the word that caused the startled elements immediately to be quiet.
Surely such an One could forgive sins because such an One was very God of very God.
Let those who deny the efficacy of Jesus Christ, His power to save and to forgive sins, explain how this Man spake as never man spake; how He lived as none other ever lived; how He wrought as none other ever wrought.
Let those who deny the power of Christ to forgive sins explain His resurrection from the dead, His ascent to the Father's right hand, with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
2. The assurance of the forgiveness of sins. Thank God that the sinner borne down under the burden of his sins needs not to despair. There is One who suffered and died, the Just for the unjust. By virtue of His atoning work, He can and does proffer a full and free pardon.
Not only does He forgive sins, but He takes them away. He justifies the sinner, and makes him to stand before God clothed in Divine righteousness.
No man, be he priest or potentate, can forgive sins but God. Christ has that power because Christ is God.
V. GLORIFYING THE ALL GLORIOUS CHRIST (Mark 2:11-12)
1. The immediacy of Christ's twofold work. That the Lord did do two things for the sick of the palsy, we know. (1) He forgave him his sins. This was done immediately and upon the spot. It may be that his palsy had been a Divine chastisement, placed upon him because of some physical sin, which he had committed. The Holy Spirit, through James, instructed the sick saying among other things, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed."
We are assured that in many cases personal sins, are closely related to personal sicknesses. In Corinthians we read of the failure of certain saints to discern the Lord's body. Then the Holy Spirit adds, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."
(2) He healed him of his palsy. This also was done immediately. The sin was gone; the sickness was also gone. When the latter is the result of the former, the confession of the latter, with forgiveness, will naturally be followed by the removal of that which caused the disease.
2. The people glorifying God. When the populace saw what was done they were all amazed and glorified God saying, "We never saw it on this fashion."
The greatest testimony to the power of God is the redemption of the sinner. In a revival meeting, when the unsaved are loosed from the chains that bind them, and when they experience the marvelous regenerating grace of God, there is joy not only in the presence of the angels above, but also among the saints and populace below.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork." How much more then do reborn men and women declare His glory! This glory will be accorded now to Christ. It will also be given in "the air," and throughout the eternal ages. We love the reading in Revelation which runs this way, "And they sung a new song, saying Thou art worthy * *: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."
Thus, in Heaven itself, the redeemed glorify God.
VI. HEALING FOLLOWED BY TEACHING, TEACHING FOLLOWED BY A CALLING TO SERVICE (Mark 2:13-14)
After the healing of the man sick of the palsy, the Lord Jesus went forth by the seaside. Once again the multitude resorted unto Him and He taught them.
1. Teaching should follow healing. We may behold the mighty works of God without knowing the wonders of the Miracle Worker. He who has felt the power of God in his body in healing, or the power of God in his heart in the forgiveness of sins and in redemption, needs to be taught concerning the Lord Jesus.
It was Mary who chose that better part to sit at the feet of her Master and to hear His words. How wonderful, and how gracious, as well as how illuminating were the words which fell from the lips of the Saviour.
In imagination we can see Him, even now, as He sat on the mountain and spoke forth the magic message of the Sermon on the Mount. Thank God, even unto this hour it is possible for any of us to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His words.
Have you just been saved? Remember how the man of Gadara being delivered sat clothed and in his right mind, at the feet of the Master, as He opened up unto him the Scriptures?
2. Serving should follow teaching. After He had taught the disciples, as He passed by He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the receipt of custom, and He said unto him, "Follow Me." We think that our conclusion is correct. The Apostle Paul being saved immediately proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ and yet before he was sent on his three great missionary tours, he must needs go into Arabia to be taught of God.
The head must be taught before the lips can successfully proclaim the story of God.
3. Levi, commonly known as Matthew, left the seat of the custom to follow Jesus. Beloved, are we willing to follow Him and to go forth to serve Him? We may have much to leave but we will have much more to obtain. If we turn from this or from that, we will find ourselves not in straitened but enlarged quarters.
Even Moses, who left the riches and pleasures of Egypt and the glories of the Egyptian court, left nothing comparable to the glory which he obtained as the leader of the Children of Israel.
As Moses stood on the Mount of Transfiguration, think you that he regretted his abandonment of Pharaoh and Pharaoh's God?
VII. THE EVER PRESENT CRITIC (Mark 2:15-17)
There were critics in the home in Capernaum where Jesus taught. There were critics ready to complain and find fault as Jesus sat at meat in the house of Levi.
1. Jesus sat at meat with publicans and sinners. First of all, we ask you to observe that Christ had a body similar to our bodies. A body that needed substance for He ate and He drank as do we. Again, we would have you to observe that Christ delighted in companionship. He entered the house of Levi and sat together with him at meat. If Christ delights in our fellowship, how much more should we delight in His! Christ did not enter a cloister where He might be separate and segregated from men. He sat rather in the house of Levi, where many publicans and sinners sat with Him. Let us not refuse contact with the lost.
The Lord came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. He was the Bread which was to be shared with the hungry and the Water of Life which was to be a fount from which the thirsty might drink.
God is still saying to the wicked, "Come now, and let us reason together."
2. The criticism of the critics. When the scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the publicans and sinners, they said, "He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners." When Jesus heard it He said unto them, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Christ did not mingle with sinners with the intent of entering with them into their shame and folly. He mingled with them in order to save them. In Luke 15:1-32, we read of how the Lord again sat with publicans and sinners; but, as He sat He gave that marvelous threefold parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
We must not enter into the ways of sinners. We must not walk with their conceptions of things. We may go only where they are, mix with them and mingle with them in order that we may win them and point them to the Saviour of man.
AN ILLUSTRATION
"For your lives!" cried the Portuguese captain of an African slave ship to a band of naked negroes, as he pointed to an English ship which had been in hot chase of him for hours. "Fight for your lives!" he cried out, as he gave each man a weapon. And the deluded and terrified negroes did as they were told, and in doing so they wounded and killed their best friends, who had come to deliver them. So Jesus came to set the captives of sin free, but the Pharisees rose against Jesus; and the very men He loved and came to free they hied on to kill Him. Rev. B. Waugh.