Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 2
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Mark 2
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Mark 2
"And when he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was noised that he was in the house." — Mark 2:1 (ASV)
This passage shows the close relationship between the healing of the body and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus returns to Capernaum, a kind of base of operations for him in the northern part of the country, to the house of Peter and Andrew (cf. 1:29). His presence in town was soon discovered, so that even this place afforded him no privacy. The house filled with people, and the overflow was so great that the space outside the door was blocked. They no doubt wanted to see Jesus perform more miracles. But he was not working miracles inside the house; rather, he was preaching the gospel to the people.
"And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room [for them], no, not even about the door: and he spake the word unto them." — Mark 2:2 (ASV)
This passage shows the close relationship between the healing of the body and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus returns to Capernaum, a kind of base of operations for him in the northern part of the country, to the house of Peter and Andrew (cf. 1:29). His presence in town was soon discovered, so that even this place afforded him no privacy. The house filled with people, and the overflow was so great that the space outside the door was blocked. They no doubt wanted to see Jesus perform more miracles. But he was not working miracles inside the house; rather, he was preaching the gospel to the people.
"And they come, bringing unto him a man sick of the palsy, borne of four." — Mark 2:3 (ASV)
To understand these verses, it is necessary to visualize the layout of a typical Palestinian peasant’s house. It was usually a small, one-room structure with a flat roof, accessible by means of an outside stairway. The roof itself was usually made of wooden beams with thatch and compacted earth in order to shed the rain. Sometimes tiles were laid between the beams and the thatch.
The four men brought the paralytic to the house where Jesus was; but when they saw the size of the crowd, they realized it was impossible to enter by the door. So they carried the paralytic up the outside stairway to the roof, dug up the compacted thatch and earth, removed the tiles, and lowered the man through the now-exposed beams to the floor below.
"And when they could not come nigh unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay." — Mark 2:4 (ASV)
To understand these verses, it is necessary to visualize the layout of a typical Palestinian peasant’s house. It was usually a small, one-room structure with a flat roof, accessible by means of an outside stairway. The roof itself was usually made of wooden beams with thatch and compacted earth in order to shed the rain. Sometimes tiles were laid between the beams and the thatch.
The four men brought the paralytic to the house where Jesus was; but when they saw the size of the crowd, they realized it was impossible to enter by the door. So they carried the paralytic up the outside stairway to the roof, dug up the compacted thatch and earth, removed the tiles, and lowered the man through the now-exposed beams to the floor below.
"And Jesus seeing their faith saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven." — Mark 2:5 (ASV)
Jesus recognized this ingenuity and persistence of the paralytic and his bearers as faith. But instead of healing the man of his lameness, Jesus forgave his sins. On the surface, this hardly seemed to be what the man needed. But Jesus was illustrating an OT claim that human suffering rests in separation from God. Thus forgivness is our deepest need.
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