Mark 2:9, commentary and pictures

Jesus asks whether it is easier to declare a helpless paralytic pardoned or to command him to rise and walk, two words equally easy to say but only the second visibly proved when it happens. He speaks pardon first to give peace of mind, then commands rising and walking so the visible recovery shows the declaration of forgiveness had power behind it. The sufferer was utterly helpless and dying under his own sin, tormented by guilt and remorse, and he longed for freedom from sin and peace with Heaven even more than for bodily healing. The immediate healing proves that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, a divine prerogative belonging to God alone which Jesus claims as His own as the sin-pardoning Saviour. His pardon alone rolls away darkness and despair, taking guilt from the inmost soul and bringing peace, joy, and new life, while the restored body rises with fresh strength to walk and glorify God.

Setting and Opposition

The healing belongs at Capernaum in a crowded house where Jesus was teaching, when a helpless paralytic was carried on a bed and, because the bearers could not reach Jesus through the crowd, was let down through the torn roof to His feet. The sufferer was utterly helpless and wasting toward death, and the case was hopeless and urgent. His friends had brought him in hope of relief because they had heard of Jesus' teaching and merciful healings.

Scribes, Pharisees and doctors silently judged the pardon of the paralytic as blasphemy, an assumption of infinite power belonging to God alone. They held it a crime worthy of death, which they meant to use to accuse Him, destroy His influence, and stop the people turning to Him from fear of losing their own influence. They themselves had refused the sufferer help, had coldly pronounced him incurable and abandoned him to the wrath of God, yet hoped to turn the watching multitude against Jesus.

Jesus read their unspoken thoughts and faced them with reproof before He put the question to them. He fixed them with a reproving glance that made them cower. He then answered their silent reasoning and unexpressed accusation with the question about what is easier to say.

Words and Contrast

The question sets two spoken words side by side before the sick of the palsy, the declaration that sins are forgiven and the command to arise and take up the bed and walk. The choice is between claiming a man's sins are forgiven and bidding a paralyzed man rise, take up his bed, and walk, with the spoken claim of forgiveness placed beside the command to rise and walk. The healing then makes authority to forgive visible, for the guilty man is pardoned and his body is healed, showing that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

Neither act can be proved merely by saying it, for words alone leave both unseen. Both are equally easy to declare, yet the commanded rising and walking becomes visible when it happens, and the immediate strength and restored ability to walk confirm the authority claimed. The visible miracle therefore demonstrates what speech alone could not prove, that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.

Forgiveness is spoken first to give peace of mind, meeting guilt, conviction, and pleading dependence with a word of pardon that rolls the burden of darkness and despair from the soul. That pardon takes guilt from the inmost soul and cures the diseased mind, changing the sinner's relation toward God, bringing hope, peace, joy, perfect love, and new life, and restoring the mind so the body can then be reached. Then the command to rise and walk is given so that visible recovery will show the declaration of forgiveness had power behind it, with limbs quickened to life as the man obeys and bodily healing following as evidence of that power.

Paralytic's Need and Faith

The man lowered to Jesus' feet was utterly helpless under palsy, pronounced incurable, without hope of recovery, and wasting toward death. His wasting condition was the penalty of his own dissipation, a life loving the pleasures of sin in transgression of God's law. He had brought the disease upon himself, and knew it.

His suffering was made bitter by remorse, guilt, conviction, and a violated conscience that for months had found no relief. That sickness of soul was far worse than bodily suffering, leaving him in dark despair, distressing doubt, and gloom. Because his life had been sinful he feared he was unworthy and unfit to approach the pure Physician, and doubted He would tolerate him in His presence.

When he appealed to the Pharisees and doctors for relief from mental suffering and physical pain, they coldly pronounced him incurable and abandoned him to the wrath of God. They wrongly treated sickness and distress as always proving God's anger against the sufferer, regarding affliction as evidence of divine displeasure. They held themselves aloof from the sick and needy, while themselves often more guilty than those they condemned.

More than physical restoration he longed to be freed from the burden of sin, to have his troubled mind relieved by pardon, and to receive assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven. His deepest wish was for relief of mind even above cure of body. If he could see Jesus and receive that assurance, he would be content to live or die according to God's will.

Hope revived when he heard of Jesus' teaching, words of mercy to the despairing, miracles of mercy, power to cure every malady, and sublime authority that sets those held by Satan free with a word. He heard that others as sinful and helpless as himself had been healed, and that even lepers had been cleansed and none turned away. His friends encouraged him to believe that if carried to Jesus he too might be cured, and that his plea for forgiveness and healing would be granted.

Jesus understood his guilt, conviction, and pleading dependence, and acknowledged the persevering faith proved by effort under difficulty to reach Him. That faith accepted Christ's words as the gift of new life. He met him first with a word of pardon, which rolled the burden of darkness and despair from his soul, rested perfect love and peace on his spirit, removed physical pain at once, and transformed his whole being before the multitude, so that the helpless paralytic was healed and the guilty sinner pardoned together. The gift was received by simple faith in blissful silence, shining out in a Heaven-irradiated countenance.

Authority to Forgive Sins

The visible healing proves that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, an authority the Pharisees denied belonged to Him. The contrast between the spoken declaration of forgiveness and the command to rise and walk was set so that the immediate recovery, with strength and restored ability to walk, would confirm that authority. Forgiveness comes first to give peace of mind to a man tortured by priestly claims that God had cast him off for sin, and bodily healing follows as evidence of that power. In this the work binds preaching truth and forgiving sin together with healing the sick into one inseparable work.

In asking the question He asserts His divine prerogative as the sin-pardoning Saviour and promised Saviour, claiming as His own a power that belongs to God alone. He reads unspoken thoughts of scribes, Pharisees and doctors who seize His pardon as blasphemy worthy of death, and answers them before the watching multitude. He works for all classes without caste or nationality, and the miracle shows convincingly that He has power on earth both to forgive sins and to heal the sick.

Jesus alone can pardon the sinner, and no priest or religious ceremony can do so. His forgiveness is certain and brings the warmth of His love. It takes guilt from the inmost soul and cures the diseased mind, changing the sinner's relation toward God.

The pardon rolls the burden of darkness and despair from the soul. It brings hope for dark despair and peace and joy for distressing doubt and gloom, with perfect love resting on the spirit and new life received by simple faith. The troubled mind is restored to peace and happiness so the suffering body can then be reached, and the change shines out in blissful silence and a Heaven-irradiated countenance.

Visible Healing and Joy

At the word of command the man made the effort to obey, and life quickened through his disabled limbs. Lifeless, bloodless arms became quick to obey his will as blood flowed again with healthy color, and shrunken, leaden-hued flesh grew fresh and ruddy with health. He rose in youthful strength into the full vigor of manhood and walked with a firm, free step, even with bounding steps. The couch on which he had been slowly borne in he now grasped and carried out with ease, as if it were a feather's weight. His recovery was complete, and that visible restoration proved the power to pardon behind the word of forgiveness.

Joy and hope were written on his countenance, and purity and peace took the place of gloom and the marks of sin and suffering. He received the words in blissful silence, and his radiant face showed his joy. He walked through the crowd to his home blessing God at every step and glorifying God.

His family gathered round him with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes. His home was filled with glad thanksgiving, and God was glorified through His Son who had brought light into their darkened home. He and his family became wholly devoted to Jesus, with faith no doubt could dim and loyalty no unbelief could mar, ready to lay down their lives for Him.

The people fell back to give him room, and with awe-struck faces whispered that they had seen strange things that day. The effect was as if heaven had opened and revealed the glories of the better world, so impressed were they by the work wrought upon one given over to death. For the time the influence of the leading Jews was forgotten, leaving no opportunity for prejudice and jealousy to inflame the multitude. The Pharisees were left dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat, disconcerted and abashed by the contrast between Christ's gentle dignity united with miraculous works and their own proud, self-righteous bearing, recognizing but not confessing the presence of a superior being.

The work restores hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken. It proves the message of salvation beyond doubt. It reveals divinity sorrowing over suffering humanity and soothing its ills, displaying marvelous power and the wondrous love of Christ in stooping to heal the guilty and afflicted. It reveals the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer that must not be slighted.

Healing Ministry Today

Preaching truth and forgiving sin together with healing the sick are one inseparable work, so gospel ministry and medical missionary work must never be divided but must work in harmony. Medical missionary work is the right arm to the third angel's message, continuing Christ's own work of saving souls and healing bodies of the afflicted, including hospital work. That pattern belongs to the healing of the man sick of the palsy, which illustrates Christ's power to heal the soul while joining forgiveness of sins with healing of the body. Sanitarium work follows the same pattern, where faith in God's healing power joined with outdoor life, exercise, good food, and the best treatments does wonders in the restoration of health.

Successful treatment of disease must minister to the diseased mind and point the sin-sick soul to the Saviour, first relieving the burdened conscience so the suffering body can then be reached. Jesus addressed the paralytic's burden of sin before healing his body, for his sickness of soul was far worse than bodily suffering, and forgiveness brought hope for dark despair and peace and joy for distressing doubt and gloom. With the mind restored to peace and happiness the suffering body could then be reached, and as the man obeyed the command to rise and walk his limbs were quickened to life. The burden of sin with its unrest and unsatisfied desires is the foundation of many maladies, and the peace Christ alone gives restores vigor to the mind and health to the body.

Christ is the great Restorer, Medical Missionary, mighty Healer, and great Physician able to heal both soul and body. He meets the sick where they are, heals them and forgives sins, addressing the trouble on their minds and pointing them to the home above. The sick are to be pointed to Him as both the sin-pardoning Saviour and the Restorer of the body. Anyone who wants healing from sins must heed His invitation and come of free will and put himself under His care, and then Christ forgives his sins and bids him rise and walk. Receiving this requires doing His will and taking His prescriptions.

Bodily healing matters, but healing the soul is more important. Patients are to be led to repent, receive forgiveness, go in peace, and stop sinning. The prescriptions include leaving a harmful atmosphere and associations that mean spiritual death, even changing climate, country, and place of labor where needed to preserve spiritual and physical power and to walk and work acceptably to God. Ministers are to counsel those in danger to make that change.