The healing of the Paralyse man.
“And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house” Mark 2:1.
Reading: Matthew 9:2-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26.
“It was noised that He was in the house!” For where Christ is there is healing. My subject today is to cover divine healing where Jesus is. I want to show that Jesus Christ is:
1. A compassionate healer, who gives relief from suffering because of His great love and mercy.
2. A powerful healer; who has the ability to destroy every disease, heals every wound, remove every physical disease.
3. A sovereign and wise healer, who sometimes delays healing, permits suffering to continue, even unto death, because He has a purpose for suffering.
Here is an example of Jesus healing power:
“Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”--then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house” Matthew 9:2-7.
1ST POINT: THE OPEN HOUSE.
When it was noised that He was in town, and when they heard He was “in the house,” within Peter’s house, “straightway many were gathered together to Him.” Whenever God moves in power, people are attracted. Where the king is, there is the court of the King. Where the King is, there is the glory and the power.
One invited another, come, let us go and see Jesus, so that this house could not contain His visitors. When they heard where Jesus was, the multitudes grouped about Him.
The author lays stress on the situation by saying there was no room, “There was no room to receive them, even to the door way.” A blessed sight, to see people running as one to the house where Christ was. When Christ is truly in the midst of His Church, the crowds will gathered unto Him, and God will truly bless them. Let it be noised about that “Christ Jesus is in THIS house, His church.
Some churches offer good entertainment, the things we do not need. But Christ gave them, the best; He “preached the word unto them.” Many of them perhaps came only for cures, and many perhaps only for curiosity, to get a sight of Him; but when He had them together He “preached the Word of God to them.”
2ND POINT: THE CARING HEALER.
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick” Matthew 14:14.
“Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him” Matthew 20:34.
“A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured” Mark 1:40-42.
What does this tell us about Christ? That He healed people out of love. He healed because He cared. He grieved with these people; He shared their pain. Have you ever been treated by a doctor whom you sensed cared little or nothing about you as a person? How did that make you feel? Jesus was not like that.
When Jesus came back to Capernaum, it says it was noised that He was in the house. The little Greek word the is really an adjective in the Greek and it is so declined. It is a modifier to the word house and refers to a very definite, particular house. So the question is: Which house is mentioned in the first chapter of this gospel?
In the first chapter we are told that after He had been to the synagogue that morning, He entered into the house of Simon and Andrew. This leads us to believe that when these fellows start taking off the roof, they are taking the roof off Simon Peter’s house!
It is hard to imagine Peter being submissive (or may I say Mrs. Peter, his wife, having just tidied up for her visitor) standing aside to let them do it. Not Simon Peter! I have an idea that he even threatened them with the police. It was his house, the family home.
Four men came to Jesus at the house of Peter, carrying a Paralysed man, on a crude bed or mat. Our attention is directed to this little group of five and this is how they look. One man is sick with the palsy, a man in need. He could not even have made it there because he is in that stretcher.
The other four make a kind of quartet, one at each corner of the stretcher. And here they come. They cannot get in because of the crowd which actually “fills the doors and the windows.” So they use the roof.
Mark’s account tells us that because of the crowd, they had to tear up the roof and lower the man into Jesus’ presence (Mark 2:1–12). When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
Notice that He saw their faith. Faith prompted the men to bring the invalid to Jesus, and the invalid’s faith went out to Jesus for healing. Our Lord first rewarded this faith by pronouncing his sins forgiven. The Great Physician removed the cause before treating the symptoms; He gave the greater blessing first. This raises the question whether Christ ever healed a person without also imparting salvation.
The Savior faithfully preached the word to them as they clustered round the door. At the rear of the crowd was a paralytic, carried by four others on an improvised stretcher. The crowd hindered his getting near the Lord Jesus. There usually are hindrances in bringing others to Jesus. But faith is resourceful.
The four carriers climbed the outside stairs to the roof. The house probably had an external staircase leading to a flat roof. In the New Testament period, to escape the cramped interior of the house, women often did their daily chores on the roof. The paralytic was lowered through the roof into Jesus’ presence, bringing him near the Son of God.
The roof described by Mark seemed to have been made of mud, grass, and branches that formed a supporting lattice for an outer covering of clay tiles (Mark 2:4). Someone has nicknamed these good friends Sympathy, Cooperation, Originality, and Persistence. We should each strive to be a friend who displays these qualities.
CONCLUSION:
What we need in the church today is stretcher-bearers, men and women with that kind of faith to go out and bring in the unsaved so they can hear the gospel. There are many people today who are paralyzed with sin.
These four men had the faith to bring this poor man to hear the Word of the Lord Jesus. Then Jesus dealt with him personally and said, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
