Well, good morning. It's good to see you all here.
I'm glad you could join us for worship this morning.
Today we're going to talk a little bit about forgiveness.
And you know, I've been thinking about it, and the world today is wrestling with forgiveness.
Some of us, facing the fatigue of living in a fallen world and with a proper desire for justice,
have come to view forgiveness as weak, or even worse, unjust and wrong.
Something that allows evil to continue.
The attitude is, we just can't forgive that.
And yet there's a whole other strain of our culture today that's saying that forgiveness is really important.
But it's important for us. It's important for our well-being.
If you go to the Mayo Clinic, or if you go to the Center for the Greater Good at the University of Berkeley,
you will see that they see forgiveness as forsaking bitterness and resentment
to free yourself from unhealthy emotions so that you can live at peace.
Now, both of these have a thread of truth in them.
Both of these see something right and good.
And yet, it's missing something, I think, often in this,
which is that forgiveness has a relational element to it that we need to make clear.
Forgiveness is not just about us.
Forgiveness in the financial world, for example, means that if you borrowed $10,000 from me,
I would then hold you to pay that back.
I might choose then to forgive that debt.
And this is not a policy discussion, just in case you're wondering.
This is simply an illustration.
I might choose to forgive that $10,000 debt.
But if I do that, I forsake the claim to that $10,000 that were originally mine and is now yours.
I am giving up that.
I bear the loss.
I bear the cost of this forgiveness.
And so there's a relational element in this where I'm bearing something if I choose to forgive.
If forgiveness is relational, then we would say that it is forswearing vengeance or revenge of a wrong that someone has done against you.
It does not mean that you don't allow consequences to play out.
It does not mean that it's wrong to ask for restitution.
It does not require instantaneous and unquestioned trust when forgiveness is offered.
But forgiveness happens in the context of relationships.
These are just some big picture thoughts about forgiveness to get our minds thinking about the topic that our passage is going to look at this morning.
I want you to imagine this scenario that's going to focus in on what our passage this morning is looking at.
If I walk up to Alex and I say,
Alex, I forgive you.
His first response is,
Great.
What did I do wrong?
Because he probably doesn't know.
Maybe he does.
And he's like,
Yeah, I know.
I blew it.
Right?
But what happens if a stranger in the street walks up to Alex and says,
Hey, Alex, I forgive you.
He doesn't even know I ask his name.
He's like,
Hey, you.
I forgive you.
You think,
Do I know you?
If I don't,
What are you talking about?
I've never done anything wrong.
How is it that you can forgive me when we've never met and that we've never done anything?
We've never had a relationship to deal with.
This actually brings us to, I think, the passage most clearly today.
Our passage isn't going to be how we forgive one another.
This is not what it's about.
It's about who can forgive and why that's true.
So let's look at us.
We're in Mark chapter 2, verses 1 through 12.
I forgot to look up the page number.
Anyone want to, in the Pew Bible?
786.
There we go.
786 in the Pew Bible.
If you want to look along with me, that would be great because it's a great story.
It's a great narrative for us to look at this morning as we think about the topic of forgiveness.
So let's go ahead and read our passage together.
We'll pray and then we'll dive in.
Does that sound good?
Mark 2, starting in verse 1.
And when he, that is referring to Jesus,
And when he returned to Capernaum, after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.
And he was preaching the word to them.
And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him.
And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
My son, your sins are forgiven.
Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts,
Why does this man speak like that?
He's blaspheming.
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,
Said to them,
Why do you question these things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
Your sins are forgiven?
Or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,
He said to the paralytic,
I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed and go home.
And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed
and glorified God saying,
We never saw anything like this.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for what you have to say to us through it this morning.
Lord, I ask for your help,
that your spirit would enable me to speak clearly as I ought.
And Lord, I pray for all of us,
that our hearts would be humbled before you
and prepared to receive and to sit under your word.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So as we continue our series in the book of Mark,
the context, chapter one tells us that Jesus has come
proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand
and that he's calling people to repent and believe the good news.
He's begun his ministry characterized by preaching and teaching
and healing and delivering from evil spirits.
And in the last section, if you remember,
Tom preached to us last week about Jesus healing a man with leprosy.
And it said at the end of that story that his fame became so great,
he could no longer go into towns because the crowd was so great.
And so Jesus was now such a thing that there were crowds,
there were mobs happening.
And so he couldn't go into a town.
And that leads right into our story,
which has a very surprising beginning
because it says he returned to Capernaum,
which is a city on the north side of the Sea of Galilee.
It's likely where Jesus lived during his time
in doing ministry in the northern part of Israel
before he moved to Jerusalem later in his ministry life.
And Jesus was in a house.
And it seems like he was there kind of clandestinely
because it says,
and when they found out,
and they meaning the crowds,
they meaning the people,
when they found out,
the mob showed up.
And the house was full.
And if you don't know,
first century houses were usually one story.
They would have lattice roofs with mud plaster on top of it.
And often there would be different rooms.
And so even at the doorway meant that this house
was completely full of people spilling out into the hallway,
into this road outside of the house, I mean.
And so Jesus is there.
He's teaching the word,
continuing his normal ministry, right?
And then we pick up and we are introduced now
to some new characters in the story
because suddenly there's a paralytic.
And he has four friends.
And these four friends say,
Jesus is going around doing all these amazing things.
He can heal you.
Let's take you there.
So they pick up the guy on his bed
and they try to take him to Jesus.
But the crowds are so great,
they can't get there.
What are they gonna do?
They say,
we will not be put off.
We will not,
we are determined to get you to Jesus.
So they go around,
they climb up onto the roof
and they dig through the roof.
If you've ever seen The Chosen,
it's a lovely miniseries
that depicts first century life.
It's not always theologically
exactly how I would interpret the Bible,
but it's worth watching.
And the picture of this one,
we actually saw this episode.
And it's amazing
because Jesus is in this dark room
and then suddenly chunks start falling
from the ceiling above him.
And then the roof collapses
as these guys dig a hole
through the plaster
and lower this man down.
Brief aside,
what a beautiful picture of friends.
Friends who see their friend in need
and are so determined
to bring their friend to Jesus,
the one who can help them.
Oh, may we be friends like that.
And would we have friends like that?
What a beautiful picture it is.
But you wonder,
how is Jesus gonna respond
to the ceiling collapsing on him?
You would imagine
he might be a little frustrated
or a little upset at this,
but Jesus isn't.
Jesus looks at the man,
he looks at his friends
and their faith,
and he rejoices in this.
And he looks on them with compassion.
And we know what's gonna happen
in the story.
He's gonna look at the paralytic,
he's gonna say,
rise and walk,
and everyone's gonna say,
this is amazing.
Except that's not what Mark is telling us,
and that's not what Jesus did.
Look with me at verse five,
because it's shocking.
What we expect is Jesus coming
to demonstrate his power
over the fall
and the brokenness of the world
by healing this man's paralysis,
by bringing wholeness
to his spinal cord
and restoring his ability to walk.
But instead,
he looks at the man
and he says,
son,
your sins are forgiven.
He speaks personally
like he's a part of his family,
showing his compassion.
And yet,
Jesus' compassion sees
greater than we do.
Jesus' compassion sees
more than we do,
because he sees
that this man's greatest need
is not healing,
but forgiveness.
And we may bristle at this.
This is not compassion.
You're looking at a paralytic man,
and you're telling him
he's got a greater problem?
You're looking at him
who suffered such great,
such loss
and has suffered
so much of his life,
who's completely helpless,
and you're going to ignore that?
And to infer that
he has a greater problem than that?
But it's clear that Jesus
is being compassionate,
not cruel.
So what is Jesus doing?
He's seeing that this man's
spiritual paralysis
of unforgiven sin
is greater than any
of his physical suffering.
Now, in the first century,
there were often,
there's lots of speculation
that sin was connected
to physical suffering.
And so,
if someone was suffering physically,
people would often think,
well, what sin did he do?
This is a common question.
It would have been an assumption
in the first century.
But there's no reason
in this text to believe that.
There's nothing in here
that gives us a sense
that you see anything
in this man
but his need
and his friends.
They bring him,
they lower him,
because they've seen Jesus
heal people with touch.
Jesus looks and he sees
at this paralytic's
greatest need,
and he looks at our hearts
and he says,
I see all of you
in your greatest need.
And your greatest need is,
in fact,
the forgiveness of your sins.
How can this be?
Well, biblically,
we need to recognize
that sin is never merely
a horizontal thing.
Oh, surely,
we will sin against one another,
and we do so
in our selfishness,
in our pride,
in our anger,
our jealousy,
our ingratitude,
our self-pity.
We are always being selfish
and therefore sinning
against those around us
by asking them to change
and work according
to our plan
and our world.
But sin,
biblically,
is more than that.
It is fundamentally
a rebellion
against our creator.
It is fundamentally
a rejection
that God should be
the center of our lives
and instead putting ourselves
in the center of our lives.
God who created us
to flourish under him,
and yet we have rejected him
and said,
we're going to go our own way.
This is what happened
in the Garden of Eden.
God provided everything
for Adam and Eve
and said,
live and receive my provision
so you can flourish.
And they said,
no,
we would rather try
to be like you
than receive from you.
And tellingly,
when one of the greatest stories
of human sin and failure
in the story
of the life of King David,
after David's sins,
horrifically,
against a woman,
against her husband,
against the nation.
Psalm 51,
when David writes
about his sin,
he says this
in Psalm 51,
three and four,
for I know my transgressions
and my sin
is ever before me
against you,
speaking to God,
against you
and you only
have I sinned
and done what is evil
in your sight.
See,
the Bible
and what David
is saying here
is though he has sinned
terribly against Bathsheba,
terribly against Uriah,
and he's not denying that,
I don't believe
in this passage,
but he's saying,
deeper than that,
I have sinned
against my creator.
I have sinned
against my God.
And this is the greatest fault
and the greatest problem.
And Jesus sees
in the life
of the paralytic
and he sees
in our own hearts
that this too
is our greatest need.
Jesus comes,
Mark is painting
this picture
of the kingdom
of God on earth.
And this passage
reminds us
that the forgiveness
of sins
and the restoration
of a relationship
with God
is the very centerpiece
of it.
Friends,
we need to recognize
if we gain
all the healing,
all the righteousness,
if we overthrow
evil in all of society,
if we eradicate
sickness and disease,
poverty and oppression,
but do not have
the forgiveness
of sins from our God,
we have nothing.
We know that Jesus
and his kingdom
is more than just
forgiveness of sins,
but it must be based on
and centered on
this idea.
So I ask you,
do you think
this is your greatest need?
Do you think
it's the greatest need
of the whole world?
So you look at
your neighbors
and your family
and your friends,
even your enemies,
do you see
that their greatest need
is for forgiveness
from God
for their sins?
So verse 5,
Mark brings us
to this point
where we're expecting
healing
and we get something
very different.
But the story goes on
because it doesn't just say
this is the greatest need
that you have,
but verses 6 through 12
tells us that there is
a help that will meet
that greatest need.
And the narrative continues,
right?
So we have this man,
the scribes haven't even
been mentioned until now,
but now in verse 6,
the scribes show up.
And remember from
a couple weeks ago,
the scribes are the teachers
of the law.
They're the experts
who would act
as both moral advisors,
as judges,
and as teachers
and rabbis.
And so this is what
they do,
this is what
the scribes are,
and they look at Jesus
and they think
in their hearts,
you can't do that.
Why are you doing that?
Who do you think you are?
Only God can do that.
And of course,
they're right.
In the Old Testament,
what we see in multiple places
and in critical places
in the Bible
is that we see
God as the one
who forgives sins.
So when God reveals
himself to Moses,
when Moses demands
on Mount Sinai,
God, show me your glory.
And God responds
and says,
well, you can't see
my glory and live,
but you can see
the backside of my glory.
So I'm going to show you
just a little bit.
And so he hides Moses
in the cleft of a rock
and he passes,
the presence of the Lord
passes by
and the words come out,
the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love
and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love
for thousands,
forgiving iniquity
and transgression
and sin.
He says more than that,
but he's saying
this is the God
that has revealed himself.
And so these scribes
are not wrong
when they see,
when they say
only God can forgive sin.
And Jesus looks at them
and he knows their hearts.
This is one of those
little windows
where you realize
Jesus,
Mark is just assuming
that we understand
that Jesus is someone special,
that Jesus has the ability
to understand
our hearts
supernaturally.
We didn't have to tell him that.
He wasn't super insightful
in guessing that this was true.
He knew what they were saying
in their hearts.
And he looks at them
and he says,
he challenges their thinking.
He says,
why are you questioning
in this way?
Let me ask you this.
Which is easier?
To say,
I forgive you
or to say,
rise and walk
to this paralytic man?
Now,
think through the logic
of this for a minute.
if I say,
I forgive you,
it's easier
in a way
because
you can't disprove it.
Right?
There's nothing to see.
And so I can say
whatever I want
and there's nothing
actually that happens.
Right?
But if I say,
rise and walk
to a paralyzed man,
it either happens
or it doesn't.
Right?
And you can see
the outcome.
And that's Jesus' point.
He's saying to these scribes,
you don't think
I have the ability
or the authority
to forgive sin.
Well,
what about the authority
to do something
that you can watch me do
and see me do?
I also think Jesus
is suggesting
that actually
forgiving of sins
is way,
way,
way harder
than actually healing
the paralytic.
And he's going to show us
that from the arc
of his whole life
because he's going to go
to the cross
for the forgiveness
of our sins.
So I think that's also
what Mark is doing here.
But in the middle
of this,
Jesus says,
okay,
you're asking a question,
who do you say I am?
Well,
let me show you.
Watch this.
So that you may know
that the Son of Man
has authority
to forgive sins
on earth.
And he turns from them
and he turns
to the paralytic
and he says,
rise,
pick up your bed
and walk
and go home.
the man picks up
the mat
that he'd lived
his life on
and he walked home.
And the crowd responds
with amazement.
We've never seen
anything like this.
And Jesus is sitting there
with a crowd
and Mark is looking
at us,
the audience
that he's writing to
and he's saying,
who do you think
Jesus is now?
And this is the point
of the story,
right?
This is the point
of the narrative arc
is Jesus alone
has the authority
to forgive sins.
He,
as the Son of Man,
has the authority
to forgive sins.
and we see in this story
a response
of awe
and joy
and wonder
because the greatest
need that we have,
even greater than
our personal suffering,
even greater than
our circumstances now,
even greater than
the global trials
that we are facing
and enduring
as a world,
even greater than
all of those things,
our greatest need
is met
by the greatest help
we could ever imagine,
the Son of Man
who comes
with authority
to forgive
our sins.
And we see the crowds
responding in awe
and wonder,
the man walking home
with joy.
Friends,
we who are now,
and of course Mark
is writing to Christians
who know the end
of the story,
they know where
Jesus is going,
the gospel itself
tells us
that Jesus has
authority to forgive sins
in a unique way
because it's baked
into the logic
of the gospel.
And I want to spend
just a few minutes
thinking with you
for a minute
about how is it
that God can
forgive sins,
right?
Because what we see
in the Bible,
and we're just going
to walk through,
this is going to feel
familiar to a lot of you,
but Romans 6.23
tells us that
the wages of sin
is death,
right?
That our offense
against our creator
is so great,
it is a capital offense.
We have rejected
the Lord of life,
we have turned
from life to death,
and God is going
to bring his judgment
upon our sin
with the condemnation
of death.
This is what happened
in the garden,
it's what we see.
So Romans 6 says
the wages of sin
is death.
Then Hebrews 9.22
tells us,
without the shedding
of blood,
there is no forgiveness
of sins.
This is the outworking
of Romans 6.
Somebody has to die
for sin.
In God's economy,
it must be atoned for.
Either the one
who committed the sin
must die,
or perhaps someone
might be able
to die in their place.
But who could do that?
Who could die
for someone else's sins,
since we know
that all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
in Romans 3.23?
And Jesus comes,
and he was without sin.
And he says,
I have come
to offer my life
a ransom for many.
I have come
to give myself
to die
so that you
might live.
And so Romans 3
tells us this,
there is no distinction
for all who sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and are justified
by his grace
as a gift
through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward
as a propitiation
by his blood
to be received
by faith.
This was to show
God's righteousness
because in his divine
forbearance,
he had passed over
former sins.
It was to show
his righteousness
at the present time
so that he might be
both just
and the justifier
of the one
who has faith
in Jesus.
Paul uses
some fancy words here,
some theologically
loaded words.
Justification
means being
made right
before God
and it requires
the removal
of the penalty
of sin
and the curse
of sin.
Propitiation
is the satisfaction
of God's judgment
against sin
and Jesus
is the one
who accomplishes
that propitiation
through his death,
making possible
the forgiveness
of sin
because Jesus
comes
and dies
in our place
so that our sins
might be judged
in Jesus
and so that forgiveness
might be extended
to us.
This is the logic
of the gospel.
You see,
because God doesn't
forgive sin
the way we do.
Most of the time
when we forgive sin,
we pretend
that you really
didn't do anything wrong
or we say
it wasn't really
a big deal
or I've gotten
over it.
It's okay.
But God
can't do that
because God
is perfectly just
and he can't
overlook our sin.
He can't overlook
evil
and we don't want
him to
when someone else
is evil
but we really
want him to
overlook our evil
in our own hearts
but God
can't do that
nor will he
simply
condemn the whole
world
with no chance
of forgiveness
because he is
a God
loving and merciful
slow to anger
and abounding
in kindness.
So how can God
be both just
and the justifier
of the ungodly?
Well because
a perfect man
came
and in love
offered himself
for us.
He did not
deserve to die
said I will
die for you
so that the wrath
of my father
against your sin
will fall on me
so that you
can be forgiven
and your slate
wiped clean
and restored
to a relationship
with your creator.
And this is what
the gospel is about
and this is
ultimately why
Jesus says
I have the only
authority
to forgive sin
because I alone
am the one
who will do
what is necessary
for you
to have your sins
wiped away
so you can be
restored
in your relationship
with God.
Now Mark
doesn't spell this out
but this is for us
as we think about
what is it
how is it
that it is good news
that Jesus
as the son of man
has authority
to forgive sins.
So coming back
to this story
in Mark
Jesus looks at us
and he says
yes I can heal
your paralysis
I can heal
your leprosy
I can cast out
the demons
but more than that
I can forgive
your sin
come to me
in repentance
and faith
come and believe
and trust
in me
come
to me
the only one
who can meet
your greatest need
and if you're here
this morning
and you're not sure
whether Jesus
has forgiven you
of your sin
if you're feeling
like
he can't
or he won't
or he doesn't
Jesus invites you
to come
come
and receive
his forgiveness
as you repent
of those sins
and turn
and put your faith
in him
and if you're here
and you've been hearing
this story
for a long
long time
and this is
the good news
I pray
I pray that you
would be renewed
this morning
in your awe
and wonder
and joy
like the man
who walked home
with his bed
under his arm
for the first time
in who knows
perhaps his whole life
may we have
that same
sense of joy
that we
who are crippled
by our sin
can now walk
and rise
and live
and worship
because Jesus
can forgive
our sins
let's go ahead
and pray
together
oh Lord Jesus
we
come to you
and
Lord
we confess
that we
often
don't see
the world
the way
you do
Lord
we don't
often
understand
things
the way
you have
arranged
them
and Lord
how often
we lose
sight of you
and who you
are
and what you
have done
that you
alone
are our
hope
in being
reconciled
with God
you alone
are the one
who can
wash away
our sin
Lord
I pray
this morning
that you
would be
with us
as we
go to
the Lord's
table
Lord
that as we
celebrate
communion
together
Lord
that you
would renew
in us
joy
that you
would
Lord
draw those
who are
here
who
maybe
haven't
taken
that step
Lord
to put
their faith
in you
and the
forgiveness
that you
offer
in Christ
we pray
this in
Jesus name
Amen