Your Sins Are Forgiven
1 When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was at home. 2 Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. 3 Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. 4 When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. 5 Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6 But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.” 12 He arose, and immediately took up the mat and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” 13 He went out again by the seaside. All the multitude came to him, and he taught them. 14 As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him. 15 He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him. 16 The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
A hole in a roof, a word only God may say, and a dinner party of the wrong people — the physician announces whom he came for.
When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on.
Four friends, one paralyzed man, and a demolition. Mark's comment on it is the sentence to keep: Jesus, seeing their faith Mark 2:5 — faith here is visible, and it is corporate. Nothing is said of the paralytic's own believing; he is carried by other people's, which is one of Scripture's quiet consolations for everyone who has ever prayed someone else through a roof.
"Son, your sins are forgiven you."
The man came for legs and is given absolution first — an ordering that offends modern instincts and answered the scribes' theology exactly: who can forgive sins but God alone? Mark 2:7. Their premise is correct; only the conclusion fails. A man may forgive wrongs done to himself; this paralytic has done nothing to Jesus, and forgiveness pronounced over a stranger's whole account is God's prerogative or blasphemy — the two verdicts between which this book allows no third Isaiah 43:25.
9 Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”
The logic is public and fair: forgiveness is invisible, walking is not, so the checkable miracle is staged as evidence for the uncheckable one. The man walks out in front of them all Mark 2:12, and the title makes its debut — the Son of Man, Daniel's figure with dominion Daniel 7:13–14, exercising heaven's authority on earth.
As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him.
The next call goes to the least callable man in Capernaum. A tax collector was a collaborator grown rich on his neighbors — and unlike the fishermen, Levi cannot go back; abandoned nets wait, an abandoned tax franchise does not. His response is a dinner: many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus Mark 2:15 — the new disciple's first act of witness is a guest list.
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The scribes' question — why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? Mark 2:16 — receives the book's mission statement. Table fellowship in that world meant acceptance, which is precisely why he was there and precisely their scandal. The physician sentence cuts both ways: it defends the company he keeps, and it quietly diagnoses the questioners — the only people beyond this doctor's reach are those convinced they are well Luke 18:11–14.
settled What this mark means