Foundations: New Testament - MarkSample

The events in Mark 2 share the common theme of the religious leaders’ opposition
to Jesus. The healing of the paralyzed man is one of Jesus’ most well-known miracles. When Jesus saw the faith of the man’s friends, He was moved to extend spiritual healing to the man, the most important healing Jesus offers. Jesus’ words “Your sins are forgiven” (v. 5) raised an issue with the teachers of the law who were present, because they knew God alone has the authority to forgive sins. Jesus, being God, knew their thoughts, so to validate His authority, He healed the man’s paralysis as well. 

The second account describes Jesus’ encounter with the tax collector Levi (Matthew), who would become one of Jesus’ disciples and would write the Gospel of Matthew. We see in this passage that Jesus’ association with tax collectors and known sinners upset the religious leaders. Jesus took this opportunity to clearly articulate His mission: “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). Every person is born sick, born into sin. Jesus came to earth in order to heal humanity’s brokenness and restore our relationship with God. The religious leaders couldn’t see that they needed this healing just like the “sinners” (v. 16) with whom they refused to associate. 

The two accounts that end this chapter record additional instances when the actions of Jesus and His disciples frustrated the Pharisees. Both encounters gave Jesus the opportunity to teach that the Pharisees were so focused on following their own rules that they failed to see that Jesus, the author of the law Himself, was in their midst. It’s easy for us, like the Pharisees, to become so blinded by our efforts to follow God’s rules or to think we follow them so well that we fail to recognize our daily need for Jesus’ forgiveness and grace.