Mark 2:1-12

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Our Lord Heals a Paralytic

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Jesus can forgive sin because Jesus is God.

  2. God honors the faith of those who assist in the salvation process.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let's be creative and ingenious in bringing our friends to Christ.

  2. Let's be willing to carry one corner of the bed.

  3. Let's pick up our beds and walk.

QUESTIONS

  1. Why did the friends of the paralytic tear apart the roof? Wouldn't this damage the house?

  2. What would the paralytic think when Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven?"

  3. Which is more important -- concern for the eternal condition of a man's soul, or the temporal condition of the body?

  4. How did Jesus claim His deity in this episode?

  5. Was God glorified in the healing of the paralytic?

  6. How did the Lord test the faith of the healed man?

  7. Compare the picture of the leper and the paralytic. What does each represent?

ANSWERS

  1. This miracle took place in a home in First Century Capernaum. Houses were different in construction then, having an outside staircase leading to a flat roof. The roof would have been made of stone or clay tiles laid across the beams, then covered with sod for insulation. In other words, the roof was not damaged, but just taken apart for access to the room below.

  2. The Jewish mind connected sin and sickness, so he likely had a sense of guilt.

  3. Jesus dealt with the sin question first.

  4. If only God could forgive sins, as the scribes had said, then He proved Himself God. He asked which was easier, to forgive sins or to heal (Mark 2:9). Both were impossible for man, but God could do either. The scribes could not refute the healing (Mark 2:11-12).

  5. Yes. See Mark 2:12

  6. Jesus did not pick up the man's bed or carry it for him, but He told him to do it.

  7. Leprosy is a picture of sin. Paralysis is a picture of the result of sin.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Think of some creative ways by which you could bring your friend(s) to Christ.

  2. Try putting some of these into action.

CHALLENGE

  1. Are you willing to carry a corner of the bed?

KEY VERSES

  • "When Jesus saw their faith, He said, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you...that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins." (Mark 2:5, 10)



Mark, Talks, New TestamentDeb HarmsMark 2:1-12