Mark 4:1-20 A Hope and Purpose in Life
The existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) lived an influential life. His best-selling book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ chronicled his experiences as a prisoner in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. He had been sent there by the Nazi regime because he was Jewish. He realised that those who had a purpose and hope in life always coped better, even under very trying circumstances, than those without hope. Freidrich Nietzsche famously said,
“He who has a ‘why’ to live for, can bear almost any ‘how’.”
Viktor Frankl often quoted this. He also taught that it is through the ‘whys’ in people’s lives—their goals—that they establish a sense of meaning.
His experiences in the concentration camps had confirmed this view that it is through a search for meaning and purpose in life that individuals can endure hardship and suffering. He had a profound problem however. Although he was Jewish, he was also an existentialist, a movement which teaches that there is no purpose or meaning in our existence - we just are. His problem was how can hope and meaning be found in a world that has essentially no purpose and no God. He found meaning in families and the possibility of something wonderful happening to us but clearly death snuffs out such personal hopes.
‘Cabaret’ was a musical, starring Lisa Minnelli, about Germany between the two World Wars. It was based on the book ‘Cabaret’ by Christopher Isherwood. Both the book and the musical wrestle with the question of hope. He wrote:
“There is only one question worth asking each other, and we rarely ask each other because it is such a brutal question. What is the quest that we rarely ask each other? It is this, “How do you carry on. What keeps you going amidst the various turmoils, griefs and pains of life?”
It is a brutal question that confronts us all. The non-Christian has a problem as the only answers they can give are short-lived. Suffering and death, in some form or other awaits us all. The problem is also there for a Christian, particularly if we are active for Christ. We will face rejection and even persecution so we all need a substantial ‘hope’!
Hope can be erased so easily by the problematic realities of life. What keeps us going can be so artificial – even for Christians. You hear some Christians saying glibly,
“Keep looking up, brother!”
We can so easily be full of cliches when what we really need is to be sure of the future, a realistic substantiated hope that all will be well in the end.
The Parable of the Sower
This, the first parable in Mark’s gospel, is so realistic and is here to give us all real hope. We have to think hard about Jesus’ parables. Jesus loved to put the unknown in the context of the known so that the unknown might be known! Everyone listening to Jesus would have known something about farming in those days, what was unknown were the spiritual truths about God’s kingdom.
Bear Grylls has become known worldwide as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. representing courage, kindness and never giving up. He is a Christian who was trained in the SAS. Grylls has shared how his Christian faith has been ‘a real backbone’ and a ‘secret of strength’ in those difficult moments which abound in his life. He jumps out of aeroplanes, hikes, eats frogs, worms snakes and spiders! What is extraordinary is that nothing ever seems to go wrong for him. He always seems to succeed, always gets to the end of his journey unscathed. A Christian should surely be ashamed of presenting such a viewpoint. He should fail occasionally because all the rest of us do!
This passage is written by Mark in the form of a sandwich with the top layer being chapter 4:1-9, the filling being 4:10-12 and the bottom slice being 4:13-20. Mark loves to use this technique to stress a point.
Top Slice
This parable can be read with different emphases:
1. We are called to sow
This approach focuses on us as the sowers. This parable is nothing like Bear Grylls, this is much more realistic, stressing that failure is to be expected – the majority will not respond to the message as God wants. The New International Version of the Bible calls this story, ‘The Parable of the Sower’, and this keeps the emphasis on the sower who keeps spreading the seed because only as he sows will there be a harvest. This is certainly not wrong. Jesus is the great sower and so should his followers be. That is a major priority in life and suggests we should be moving away from self absorbing hobbies and constant television and get sowing. It is so easy for Christian leaders to be so absorbed in administration and organisation that they do little sowing themselves. At one conference, attended by sixty Christians involved in university mission, they were asked how many had they help to become Christians that year. The answer was none. They were all too busy doing other things! The speaker said to them,
“You all need to come face to face with unbelievers.”
They determined to do this and in the next month twelve people became Christians.
We are all called to be sowers.
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.” Mark 4:3
Farmers have contact with the soil. Sometimes this will cause them to get dirty but that can easily be washed off. However this doesn’t matter to him. You can feel the determination in the wording, ‘He went out to sow’.
2. The focus is on the seed
“The farmer sows the word.” Mark 4:14
Our message is about God’s eternal kingdom and how people can be admitted into this by submitting to the rule of the king. This change in direction is called repentance. The fate of the seed is variable.
a. This seed can be immediately whisked away by Satan
b. Some seed has a short-lasting effect, they acknowledge the king until it begins to cost something.
c. Some seed is choked. These people come to Jesus on their terms so do not last.
d. Some seed produces a massive harvest which makes the work of sowing so worthwhile.
The seed must remain the true seed. No-one should change Jesus’ message to make it more palatable! The lesson is clear, we should expect failures but we must have expectations. The Christian life is not like Bear Grylls expectations. As we sow the seed some will produce a good harvest and that is exciting so we keep sowing.
3. The focus is on the soils
This does seem to be Jesus’ emphasis, the seed falls in different places:
v. 4 along the path
v. 5 on rocky places
v. 7 amongst thorns
v. 8 on good soil
The way the seed is received depends on the each person’s reaction to the message. Note that this parable was told to the masses, they must all hear this message. Jesus wanted everyone to realise the meaning of what he is saying. The key word ‘hear’ keeps being repeated:
v. 9 “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
v. 12 “. . . so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; . . .”
v. 16-17 “Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time.”
v. 18 “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but . . .”
v. 20 “Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop . . .”
v. 23 “ If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
v. 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,”
Clearly what is important is how we receive the seed of God, how we hear! Paul later wrote:
“. . . faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17
For anyone to be saved, and to be admitted into the Kingdom of God, they need to hear the message about the real Jesus and this comes from learning from the Bible the first-hand witnesses about what he did and taught.
The emphasis of this parable is mainly on the soils. Several of my wife’s relatives bought farms in Kenya. Some were wise and bought farms where the ground was fertile. Others bought stony infertile land. The farmers put in equal work in preparing the ground and sowing the seed but some land was simply not good at producing good crops!
In verses 3-9 Jesus says ‘listen and hear”. Seed on the path has no chance. In verse 5 there is thin soil so the seed germinates but the sun rises and the seedling quickly perishes. In verse 7 the weeds choke the young in faith so they also die. In verse 8 the seed in the good soil multiplies 30, 60 or 100 times. The lesson to us all is ‘Be careful how you hear.’ We are each responsible for how we listen and respond to God.
When this brilliant story is recounted it would be possible to think it emphasises what I ought to do. However, remember this account is another sandwich. The story is separated in the middle by another story about parables. So verses 10-12 should be our guide on how to understand the whole.
The filling
When Jesus was alone with his disciples sitting around him, they ask him the meaning of the parable. He replies:
“The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” Mark 4:11-12
For outsiders the parable reveals their hardness of heart. This parable is an instrument of judgment. They see but don’t really see, they hear but don’t really understand. If anyone does not respond to God’s offer of admission into his kingdom this parable will harden their heart. To those outside the kingdom this is just a good yarn, whereas to those who are engaged with him this is thrilling.
Only once on my evangelistic walks with my evangelistic dog have I had a complete rebuttal. I was chatting amicably with a man and his wife and I asked if I coukd give him one of my articles. I explained that it is to try and encourage people to think about the big issues of life such as what we are here for. His reaction was startling - he turned from being amicable to saying abruptly,
“Don’t talk to me about God. I don’t believe in him and I don’t want to talk about him.”
He then walked away. I suppose that that is like seed sown on stoney ground.
David Cook, the Australian Bible teacher and evangelist was at a school reunion. One old classmate asked him what he was doing now.
“I work in a Bible College.”
“Oh is that what you do, you teach people to cut hair.”
He obviously heard ‘Barber College’
“No, Bible College!”
His reply was typical of many,
“Oh, I believe everybody has their own right to believe whatever they want.”
At this point he turned and walked away. He had the opportunity to ask more questions but he demonstrated a judgment on himself.
God always shows mercy to genuine enquirers but judges those with a hardness of heart. Hearing this parable gives people an opportunity to change direction in life and to want to produce fruit for God. Where there is no response it confirms a person in their unbelief and that they are under God’s judgment. So we must be careful how we respond.
Verse 12 is a problem for some:
“. . . so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” Mark 4:12
Is Jesus really saying that he is deliberately keeping people from being saved?
Certainly not. Jesus is quoting from the book of Isaiah. This reads:
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Isaiah 6:8-9
God is sending out his prophet to warn people. There is an opportunity of receiving mercy because that is what God longs to give us. The following chapters in Isaiah describe the hope that there is because God is going to come into this world as a Saviour, a son is going to be born:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
There is always hope for those willing to turn but only judgment for those who are hard of heart.
The second slice
Notice how the seed that is sown is the ‘word’. This is obviously an emphasis of Jesus:
v. 14 “The farmer sows the word”
v. 15 “The word is sown.” Then “ Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”
v. 16 “Others . . . hear the word”
v. 17 “When trouble or persecution comes because of the word . . .”
v. 18 “Others . . . hear the word”
v. 19 “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
v. 20 “Others . . . hear the word”
The seed is the ‘Word of God’. The repeated use of the word stresses this. It is the message about Jesus, the Word of God that is revealed in the whole Bible, which is also called the ‘Word of God’. The vital difference between people is how they respond to God’s message:
v. 15 Some hear but it goes in one ear and out of the other.
v. 16-17 These people respond superficially but ‘troubles and persecution’ make this commitment no longer fashionable or cool so they are lured away from Christ to their peril.
v. 18-19 these people also start living with God but ‘worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word.’
It is striking that in the Greek all these sentences so far use the aorist tense, it happened once – they fell away. This is stark realism. In contrast verse 20 uses the present continuos tense:
“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20
They go on hearing the word. Those who continue to feed on the word are the ones who produce a remarkable harvest. Paul emphasises this same truth:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom . . .” Colossians 3:16
As we feed on God’s word the information we learn will lead to transformation, just as hearing leads to adhering. Psalm 119 is a remarkable psalm in that nearly every verse speaks about the word of God, using different words for this. For example:
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:9-11
Application for Christians
1. God is the director of his farm
If the sower knew precisely where the good soil was he wouldn’t waste his seed elsewhere. We certainly do not know who will respond and who won’t and we have been told to spread the word around widely. Solomon understood this need to be active in spreading the message widely:
“Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. . .
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Ecclesiastes 11:1-2, 6
When Paul was in Corinth God said to him,
“ ‘For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’ So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.”
Indiscriminate scattering of the word of God was his practice. There is a time however to move on. Jesus said to his disciples when they were on their trainee missions:
“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14
The Gideons have distributed 2.5 billion Scriptures since they were founded in 1863. Their Bibles are placed in hotels and hospitals throughout the world. Although many of those have ended up in the dustbin or burned, some have helped people to faith in the Lord Jesus. Understanding God’s word leads some to eternal life by leading them to become followers of Jesus.
2. The right seed needs to be sown
The Bible, from beginning to end, is all about how God saves individuals to become his servants. In contrast ‘religion’ is all about what man should do to impress God. When we share the news about the grace of God seen in Jesus, some will respond and turn to Christ. We mustn’t have unreal expectations, like Bear Grylls, but we must continue sowing the word in the knowledge that God will act in peoples lives through our doing this. Ordinary activity will bring about extraordinary results.
The right seed is teaching what the Bible teaches and nothing else. Ministry is all about sharing the Word with people. Discipleship is all about being in the Word. What a disaster it is that so many churches have moved away from being known as Bible teaching centres.
Ministry of the Word is far from easy. We need to be studying the Bible every day and learning how to communicate its message in a fascinating and exciting way. Jesus used stories and so should all who want to share the Word with others effectively.
I have a friend who is a professional golfer who plays off scratch. When I asked what I was doing wrong and how I might improve he simply replied,
“There’s nothing fundamentally wrong, you’ve just got to practice six days a week, year in and year out.”
I wanted a short cut, something easy, but to be effective for Christ is not easy. Anyone can preach a poor sermon which, although the theology is orthodox, influences no-one.
3. The key to entering the Kingdom of God is to come to Jesus
Belonging to God comes in no other way. Trying to please God by being religious saves no-one. Being a recognised, baptised, confirmed, ordained, consecrated person does not save anyone.
Bishop Taylor-Smith was a corpulent Chaplain General to the Forces. One Sunday morning he was preaching in Salisbury Cathedral on this passage. In order to emphasise this necessity of the new birth he said,
“My dear people do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth. Jesus said, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’.”
On his left sat the Archdeacon in his stall. Pointing directly at him the Bishop said,
“You might even be an Archdeacon, like my friend in his stall, and not be born again. Remember, ‘Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’.
A day or two later he received a message from the Archdeacon.
“My dear bishop, you have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years, but I have never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand. Mine has been a hard legal service. I did not know what the matter was with me, but when you pointed directly at me and said, “You might even be an Archdeacon and not be born again; I knew in a moment what the trouble was. I had never known anything of the new birth.”
Next day the Archdeacon and the bishop met up and they went through the Bible together. Then the Archdeacon knelt before his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and took his place as a sinner who desperately needed Christ’s MERCY.
George Whitfield was an eighteenth century evangelist who often preached on this same verse especially to religious people. Someone complained to him,
“Why do you preach on this text so often?”
He answered, “Because you must be born again!”
A personal submission to Jesus as your Saviour and Lord is essential if you are to be accepted by God. There is no other way. Christians need to get into the word, learn it and sow it indiscriminately. Resist the word, have little or nothing to do with it, or respond in a superficial, temporary way and your eternal future is in dire peril. This is the message of Jesus in his parable of the sower, the seed and the soils.
BVP
Questions based on Mark 6:1-6 sermon, ‘Jesus polarises people’
This sermon was given at Christchurch Baldock and can be seen on YouTube. These questions are to encourage discussion:
1. What is the key verse of this passage?
2. How many conflict stories are there in Mark chapter 2?
3. In this show trial, who is in the dock?
4. Who takes control of the proceedings?
5. What details are there in this story that shows it was a real historical event?
6. What is so brilliant about Jesus’ question in verse 4?
7. Why is healing a paralysed arm so astounding?
8. Why do you think Mark doesn’t tell us about the man’s reaction to being healed?
9. Why are people always resistant to change?
10. Did Jesus know that he would be despised, rejected and killed?
11. Who has the right to be called a child of God?
12. Why is it hard to stand up for Jesus at work, at college or at school today?
13. Who is naturally hostile to God?
14. If we are not part of the solution, what are we?
Mark 2:1-12. What is most important?
On May 23rd 2001 Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, launched his party’s manifesto prior to the general election that won him his second term in office,
“Our top priority was, is, and always will be education, education, education.”
Jesus had much to say about what man’s greatest need is.
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 paralysed 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 paralysed 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 paralysed 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!” Mark 2:1-12
In this momentous account Jesus is telling us what man’s greatest need is.
The Prime need – Forgiveness
It is probable that both the paralysed man and his friends thought that healing was his greatest need, but Jesus realised that there was greater problem – his sin. Sin is fundamentally the way we treat God and our failure to do what he wants. Such sin inevitably results in particular sins such as hatred, stealing, lying, pride, lust and promiscuity as well our failing to do what is right. There is therefore no-one who is not a sinner. When Jesus talks about sin he means both the root cause and its effects.
There is no suggestion given in the text that this man was a greater sinner than any others, even though Jesus recognised that illness and death are the work of Satan. There will be no illness or death in heaven. These problems will affect all of us and our families in one way or another, whether we are Godly Christians or not.
This paralysed man was just a normal person who had great medical and social needs which was what people could see. Only after people are converted does the truth become apparent – our greatest problem is our sin, we are naturally on the wrong road. The world cannot see this, so we need to keep reminding everybody that most are on “the broad road that leads to destruction”, on the road to hell, and have missed ‘the small gate and the narrow way’ that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).
His friends passed the paralysed man down through the hole in the roof so that he lay at the feet of Jesus. Can you imagine how aghast the ‘teachers of the Law’ would have felt when Jesus said to the man,
“Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:5
They instantly saw what Jesus was claiming:
“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:7
This is exactly who Jesus is claiming to be, the very incarnate Son of God that the Jewish Scriptures had repeatedly said would be coming to his world. It is a major mistake to miss this. To forget God is the greatest mistake anyone can ever make. What does God think when we turn our backs on our creator and Saviour? People don’t know this so it is our job to remind them of it.
What is a tragedy it is to see pastors of churches forsaking the teaching of God’s word about Christ and the forgiveness he offers, Too many focus instead on what the world wants churches to emphasise, such as social care, poverty, political issues and the like. These suggest that it is what we do that can make us acceptable to God but this is a heathen idea. Common sense tells us that going round after people clearing up the messes without addressing the root cause in not a brilliant solution. Similarly it is not wise to treat an early skin cancer with a plaster covering!
Some years ago, when taking a mission in Ramsgate, we went for a stroll one afternoon along the seafront. Also out for a stroll were a group of about thirty nuns, members of Mother Theresa’s ‘Sisters of Mercy.’ We started to talk and I asked them how they would describe the Christian gospel. One nun replied by quoting from the parable of the Sheep and Goats that Jesus told. The sheep and goats were separated, the sheep for heaven and the goats for hell. One nun thought the gospel is the good things Christians do for others and said,
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:34-36
This nun mistakenly thought that these activities of Christians were the gospel and that people who do them will go to heaven. That is not Christ’s message. These good actions are the result of the gospel changing peoples’ lives. People become Christians by being accepted into God’s family. It is as members of God’s family that we are given an eternal inheritance as a free gift when we submit to the rule of Jesus Christ – it is not earned at all.
“Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Matthew 25:34
Jesus goes on to explain,
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” Matthew 25:40
Throughout the Bible the phrase ‘Christ’s brothers’ always refers to fellow Christians, male and female. A real evidence that we have been adopted by Christ is seen in how we live. The evidence that Christ is in us is that we will love Christ, love his word, love holiness and love his people.
I then politely asked the nun how the life and death of Jesus fitted into her gospel. At this point a senior nun intervened and rightly explained to us all,
“The gospel is surely the news about Jesus and who he is, that he is God who came to this world to die for our sin so we can become acceptable to God. The good news is that those who turn to him as their Lord and Saviour are forgiven all their sin. How we live is a reflection of this faith.”
I have just received an email from the evangelist Roger Carswell saying that Jesus himself summarised what the essential gospel is. According to Luke, the last thing Jesus said to his disciples, after his resurrection, was:
“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.’” Luke 24:45-47
Sin really is our greatest problem. Anselm, an Archbishop of Canterbury in the eleventh century said to his contemporaries:
“You have not yet considered the seriousness of sin.”
The only remedy for the disastrous consequences of sin is Jesus himself. He alone can forgive our sin and empower us through his Holy Spirit to overcome sin. He said to people of his day something that is just as relevant to our society today,
“Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:40
When Jesus spoke to the paralytic he is saying to us that man’s greatest need is to have our sin forgiven so that we can start to live a new life.
I was puzzled why Jesus said to the crowd,
“Which is easier: to say to the paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.” Mark 2:8-10
Then it dawned on me. Was it easy for Jesus to be able to forgive our sins? No - he had to die a horrific death on that cross. The miracle of this paralysed man rising up was just a foretaste of the greatest miracle of all, the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus. It is because of this that we can be forgiven our sin against God.
The man’s subsequent healing was to make it clear to everyone just who Jesus is. If he is not the one true God he could not have immediately and completely healed such a man. If he is not God he cannot truthfully forgive our sin against God.
Why did Jesus say he had come to his world? On one occasion Jesus passed through the old city of Jericho and crowds collected to see him. A small tax collector named Zacchaeus had found it too difficult to push through the mass of people so he climbed up a sycamore-fig tree in order to get a good view. You can imagine the shock he got as Jesus passed by. Jesus looked up into the tree and spoke directly to Zacchaeus,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
When they met Jesus explained his purpose,
“For the Son of man came to see and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10
People are lost when they are on the wrong path, going their own way, but Jesus longs to change that. Sin is going our own way, not God’s.
So our prime need is for forgiveness, but . . . . secondly,
2. The priority of Word ministry
The setting of this story was that Jesus had just returned to Capernaum, a small fishing town at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. People quickly heard that he had come and a large crowd gathered. Whatever their motives, perhaps it was to see a few miracles, but what they received was a sermon.
“He preached the word to them.” Mark 2:2
In the chapter, as Sam taught us last week, we read that preaching the gospel was Jesus’ priority, even more important than miracle-working. After a day when he was inundated with people wanting to be healed, he went off to pray about what he should do. He decided to leave the crowds who were gathering, to go elsewhere to fulfil his primary purpose.
“‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ So he travelled throughout Galilee preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” Mark 1:38
Preaching, or prophesying, is passing on God’s message about the kingdom of God and the forgiveness that Jesus alone can give us. This can be done in one to one conversations, using literature or by inviting people to come and hear someone explain the way of salvation. If we are Christians, we have also been chosen to do this. In Paul’s final letter to Timothy he said this,
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word . . . For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit there own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers who will say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:1-3
This charge is just as relevant to each of us today when so few are finding ways to share the gospel with others. Any who question this priority may like to read ‘The Duty of a Disciple’ which contains an overview of what the Bible emphasises.
Whenever Jesus preached the gospel there was opposition. We see it in this story of the healed paralytic.
“Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that?’” Mark 2:6
The phrase ‘this fellow’ is very derogatory, they despised Jesus. Whenever ‘the Word of God’, the message of the salvation that Jesus has won for us, is faithfully preached this opposition raises its ugly head, either from the traditional religious people or from secular authorities. Satan has his workers everywhere, even within churches!
Jesus was willing to stand against the traditions of the religious in order that God’s message should be heard. Mark’s gospel contains many conflict stories between Jesus and evil. They start with Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness (Mark 1:12-13). The book of Acts is similarly full of conflict stories and constant battles between the Jewish and secular authorities and the church of God. Paul reminded us,
“Our struggle (hard work) is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
If any readers have not experienced this struggle, they should ask themselves, ‘Am I really in the battle for Christ and his rule?’
3. The importance of faith
Jesus is looking for all people to have faith in himself.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’” Mark 2:5
Occasionally Jesus performed miracles after seeing people’s faith. Thus, when the woman who had had heavy bleeding for twelve years, touched the hem of his garment when Jesus was being hassled by a heavy crowd, he said to her,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you.” Mark 5:34
In most instances of Jesus healing people there is no mention of faith in the recipients. The healing comes simply because of God’s love for the suffering, because of his grace.
The faith Jesus is looking for in all of us is a real personal faith in him as God’s chosen king, his Messiah, who can save people from their sin for eternity. Finding this faith may be triggered through a wide number of means, an illness, bereavement, suffering, job problems, relationship problems or just an inner uncertainty, but whatever the trigger the way someone becomes a Christian is always by being taught the gospel. People need to learn who Jesus is, what he has done to save us and the reasons that we know this to be true.
Faith in Jesus opens the door to the kingdom of heaven. Without faith in Jesus no-one will be saved. Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
When Peter and John were on trial for their life before the Sanhedrin, Peter boldly said,
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Real faith will always radically change our lives so that we become obedient servants of the Lord Jesus. James, the brother of Jesus said,
“Faith without works is dead.” James 2:26
We were recently on holiday in Croatia and got talking with a very pleasant middle-aged couple and had given them a copy of the article ‘Mistakes, Minor, Major and Catastrophic’ which explains part of Jesus’ teaching (This article is available on this website). She met us later and said,
“That article was very interesting, I must discuss this with my mother-in-law, who is a Christian.”
My wife then asked her,
“Are you a Christian yourself or aren’t you sure about these things?”
“Well, I was baptised as a baby.”
Rosy smiled,
“Are you involved in a church now?”
To this came the encouraging reply,
“I haven’t been for years but I’m going to start’
“That’s great. Please keep in touch.”
Our prayer is that this seed planting will go on to result in them becoming strong Christians who bear fruit for Christ.
Just as Jesus saw the faith in those who brought the paralysed man to him, he can also see the heart of each one of us. He knows whether we have a real, life-changing, personal faith in him.
This same Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God, who healed the paralytic man will be returning to earth one day in triumph, ‘Coming with the clouds of heaven.’ That time will not be to share the gospel of salvation but to pronounce God’s judgment on all of us, the living and the dead. At that judgment we will either be acquitted because we have been obedient to Christ or we will be condemned because we have rejected him and all the evidence for his claims.
Jesus always had God’s authority. He said to the man,
“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Mark 2:10
The man recognised this authority of Jesus and he obeyed.
“He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.” Mark 2:12
What an amazing miracle. The muscles had atrophied and contracted, the nerves no longer functioned, yet suddenly he is able to walk normally. Incredible except many witnessed it.
Can you imagine the scene? The healed man must have had a broad grin on his face whereas the crowds standing there would have had their mouths open, astonished. Has our meeting with Jesus had the effect of thrilling us?, resulting in an enthusiastic smile on our faces and in our hearts? Can we say,
“Jesus has healed me, he has changed me.”
The man wasn’t ashamed at all. He had met and had been saved by the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Do you think he could keep this story to himself. Mark summarises the crowd’s reaction,
“This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’” Mark 2:12
Mark deliberately leaves the question about who they were praising open. ‘They praised God’, did this mean they praised Jesus?
Listen to this description of the effect the gospel had on William Tyndale, the sixteenth Bible translator who was burned at the stake for doing this, it was,
“. . . good, merry, glad and joyful news that makes a man’s heart glad and makes him sing, dance and leap for joy.”
4. The persistence of faithful friends
The text says,
“When Jesus saw their faith . . .” Mark 2:5
The obvious question is, ‘Whose faith is he talking about?’ Surely it must be the persistent faith of the paralysed man’s friends. They wanted their friend to meet Jesus, knowing that he alone could help him. However there were real obstacles:
1. The crowd prevented them from getting to Jesus, so they had to use their initiative. They went round the back, up the outside staircase onto the flat roof.
2. The roof was a problem. Thy dismantled part of this by lifting up the palm branches and dried mud, leaving a gaping hole. Nothing mattered so much as getting their friend to meet Jesus.
3. The criticisms of the religious people who were sitting there in the front row as they saw the man being lowered down through the hole would have been difficult. This is not how things should be done! It could have got these friends into serious trouble.
Yet when Jesus saw their faith he acted. Firstly he treated the man’s greatest problem, his sin and then he healed his body, both out of compassion and to show everyone who he is.
Do we have such a persistent faith that will move mountains to enable our friends and members of our families to come to Christ? Do we,
a. Keep praying for them?
b. Keep speaking with them and encouraging them?
c. Find different ways to help them find Christ, perhaps by inviting them for meals to keep the friendship close, perhaps by giving them books or articles, possibly by inviting them to come to church, or your home group or to a Christianity Explored group?
Surely one great application of this story for us is that we should emulate the faith of the paralysed man’s friends and keep on persisting until people meet Jesus and are saved by him.
Summary
This wonderful passage reminds us:
1. The prime need we all have is to be forgiven by God.
2. The priority of Jesus and of his church is to teach about the kingdom of God and how the cross of Jesus allows us to be admitted into it.
3. The necessity of having a personal faith if we are to be eternally blessed by God.
4. The persistence of the faithful in bringing others to Christ.
It is only by hearing and accepting this good news about Jesus, that people can be put right with God, and so given passports into his eternal kingdom. There can be no greater blessing.
BVP