Who Can Forgive Sins? "I Am Who I Am" [5 of 12] Tim Mackie (The Bible Project) 3/30/2014

hi everybody hey good morning um i invite you to grab a bible you're you're on grab your bible and uh uh turn to the gospel of mark with me mark chapter one just the first page last week we looked at the first page of the new testament and now we're looking at the first page of the second book of the new testament and we're uh right square reaching the middle of uh the series that we're in that we started when uh we started gathering here in in the northeast building here and uh we're doing this long uh exploration of the unique identity and the character of the christian god as the disciple of jesus what do i mean when i say the word god and the reason we're doing this it's kind of borne out of this conviction that the word god is a very sloppy ambiguous word in american english or in western english and so when as a follower of jesus when i use that word i'm not talking about the big guy upstairs or whatever that my neighbor thinks of or i'm not talking about some old man in the sky when i use the word god i'm not talking about the same god that gets invoked in kind of american public religion or something like that for a christian the word god has a very specific meaning and that meaning is totally bound up and woven up with jesus and who who jesus is and so we took a month to explore uh god's character as god the father we're taking now a month leading up to easter to explore the character of god through uh exploring the character and identity of jesus and so this is great this is i mean i really i love this part and i love this this part they win too and then i love the next part they were doing about god the spirit too so i love all of it i'm really excited about all of it but i really like this part but not because i don't like these it's just because i really like this part that we're in pretty much whenever i'm teaching the bible whatever part that i'm in is my favorite part at that time that's just kind of how it goes anyway so uh and so here's why we're taking this whole center part of the series it's because whatever your view of god is it growing as a christian means growing in the practice of taking any idea i have about god and running it through the grid of these stories about jesus in the new testament and if you have some idea that you've inherited or observed about god from somewhere and it doesn't fit it doesn't square it actually clashes with who jesus reveals god to be you need to check that and do some serious homework and evaluation on whether you're actually thinking truly about the god who's revealed to us in jesus and so um we're going to explore what i think is one of the most beautiful important stories about jesus today in the gospel of mark actually in chapter 2 but you know with me you can't ever just do the passage you're gonna focus on you have to talk about everything all at once right so uh mark mark chapter one let's just uh dive into the first sentence and uh see where the rabbit hole will lead us mark chapter one beginning of the good news about jesus the messiah the son of god as it is written in isaiah the prophet i will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the lord and make straight paths for him and end quote and so begins mark's gospel all and we're all like oh yes oh isaiah 40. oh the brilliant really good mark okay let's get going so no that's never the case with us right because uh we didn't grow up in jesus family where uh the family scriptures what we call the old testament scriptures you're like you're raised on these stories and these poems from the time you're a little child and so what mark is doing you remember last week mark wants to introduce jesus to you just the same thing that matthew did which is first uh make this claim that jesus didn't just like drop out of nowhere he came and he's what he's doing is a climactic moment and a long story that leads leads up to this moment and that long story is jesus family story so do you remember if you were here last week how did matthew do that at the beginning of his gospel yeah through that genealogy right through that long long list of names which is a gripping way to begin a story right we're just like thrilled right from the beginnings and so that's how matthew does it he's inviting you in jesus fam into jesus family story to understand who jesus is mark's doing the same exact thing he just does it more briefly and he does it through quoting a whole bunch of poetry and so he says here it is this is going to be good news about this guy jesus messiah son of god you know isaiah 40. okay let's get moving and so hold on okay let's stop here so he has this long quote from isaiah most of it comes from chapter 40 but he's also doing some awesome things here he's actually sprinkling in some words from exodus 23 and malachi chapter 4 and isaiah chapter 40. and because he's brilliant and amazing and that's that's how he works so isaiah 40 and then you just get you're supposed to get a whole story which we're going to take a moment just to recap briefly and then you're like oh oh we're at that point in the story holy cow and then the rest of mark one unfolds and you know your deer in the headlights because this is so amazing so let's just take a moment a moment here to get this backstory what mark's doing you can see in verses two and three he's just he's thrown together actually wording from three different uh passages in in the family scriptures in the old testament scriptures and so and what he's trying to do is not just you know correspond the wording to some events that happen he's trying to get a whole story in your mind right now so we do this we do this in culture through different ways but it's a we do this kind of thing uh all the time so i'm i uh googled the other day just because i was curious and because it really does seem like google is omniscient i don't know what else say about that but uh so uh a hundred uh most famous movie lines do you know this whole web whole website dedicated to surveying and accurate statistical information about what are in fact 100 most famous movie lines and so uh right in the top 15 uh is this one toto i've got a feeling we're not in kansas anymore for eight of you knew that one okay apparently so okay a little line total i've got a feeling we're not in kansas anymore for those of you who know the story what what moment is that in the story yes right after the you know the house lands and all this kind of thing and she's waking up to this reality it's sinking in this whole this whole broad new world now much closer to my heart uh was like number three or something like that and that's uh hey luke may the force right and so and so there's a lot of there's a lot of may the force be with you moments right in star wars but hey luke hey luke yes yes exactly right it's on the lips of han solo and this is why that moment's significant because in han solo's character development right so because he's been the whole movie he's been very skeptical about the force because you can't see it touch it you know feel it smell it or anything and so he han solo represents what george lucas was trying to undermine which is the modern western materialist world view it's read interviews that's what he was going for and so han solo represents this whole world view that is skeptical to anything that claims to be real but that isn't you know apprehendable by the five senses and so but through knowing luke his whole worldview has been shattered and he realizes that there's a bigger world that can fit inside his head and so he it all of a sudden becomes open to this and so right as they part ways to go on the mission to go destroy the death star he says hey luke for the first time ever may the force be with you and it shows he's changing his character's changing he's his mind is broadening and han solo he thought he looks awesome his haircut was unbelievable and uh so anyway you guys with me here now maybe only some of you knew that scene had that scene come in your mind but this is this is what i'm talking about little lines you just throw them out there and it's like oh oh yeah that's so epic that moment in the story that's that is what mark is doing right right here and so when he when he quotes malachi 4 exodus 23 isaiah 40 and blends it all together you're just like oh oh that's where we are holy cow and then the whole what follows in mark chapter 1 and then the story we'll look at right at the beginning of chapter two just again like i said last week it's it just pops into three dimension color stereo whatever whatever you want to say so thumb right here put your thumb here turn back to isaiah 40 with me and we're going to take a little uh five minute detour into isaiah 40. because it will help us it'll help us read the story about jesus healing a paralyzed man and forgiving his sins it will help us read it with a new set of eyes isaiah chapter 40. okay so i won't take the time that we took last week to review the family story but it began with abraham and god's promise to him that somehow through his family that would miraculously come into being the blessing would be restored to all the rebellious nations god rescues that family from slavery in egypt brings them into the promised land they become a kingdom and one of their most famous kings a guy named david god makes a promise to him that a king is going to come from his line and set up a kingdom and rule the nations and peace and and harmony and the new creation it's going to be awesome forever and ever amen and so he has a line of kings come from him and it's israel's kingdom period and how does this go this part of the story it goes badly really really badly it's a it's a long involved four whole books of the bible that's basically a tragic narrative of watching this family that had such incredible potential and opportunity just squander it time and again and run themselves right into the ground and so this 400 year process ends with the kingdom of babylon coming to jerusalem sacking the city besieging it burning the temple and hauling the people off into exile and so the curtain draws significant moment of the curtain drawing here and as the readers and jesus's family were like well what about god's promises and blessing for the nations and the messiah like when is all that going to come and so on and isaiah 40 is one of the most significant chapters in all of jesus family scriptures because it addresses what hope do god's people have at this moment in their history and the voice speaking in isaiah 40 is a voice that is looking beyond exile and speaking to god's people hope for their future you with me here so let's dive into just a few of these words for a couple minutes we began with a word from god that says comfort comfort my people says your god speak tenderly to jerusalem proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed that her sin is now paid for that she's received from yahweh's hand double or more than enough for all for all of her sins so right kind of screaming out of the gates here it's this message to people who are without hope and not sure whether yahweh is with them or abandoned them and so on and so it's this message of comfort and of reassurance because because why what what is the status of israel's sins at this point completed done paid for it's over so this long history of israel getting more and more entrenched in its own sin finally hit bottom yahweh allows them to to face the consequences of their decisions and exile becomes this moment of israel dealing with its sin and the consequences of their sin and so this voice comes and says and now that season is done you face the music your sins are now dealt with and paid for and so we have this announcement right from the beginning that whatever future there is for yahweh and this family and for humanity it's this message that your sin is now forgiven we're moving forward in the relationship keep reading look at verse three the voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for yahweh make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley will be raised up if you know this from handel's messiah during christmas time every valley be raised up every mountain and hill laid low the rough ground will become level the rugged place is a plain and the glory of yahweh will be revealed and all people will see it together the mouth of yahweh has spoken here this is this epic so the poetry so elevated and epic here so what's being described here it's poetic description but what's being described here is actually fairly mundane uh it's it's building a what we're building a highway just talking about road building uh my my son's favorite book about six months ago was all this this poetic set of rhymes about building this road and it's broken into about 12 stages of like the you know the greater comes and pours and pours the gravel and then the tar and asphalt anyway so that's like what's being described right here right so if you're building a road a big highway through the desert and you come to a big valley and you want to build the road what do you got to do the valley yeah fill that thing up right and you get to make it level and then if you're like going to run a road right through and there's a big bend and there's a hill or something liz what do you got to do with the hill so you gotta blow it up right or dig it up because they didn't have dynamite back then and so we're describing the building of a highway there's this voice calling that's saying yahweh is coming yahweh is coming he's returning build a highway for yahweh's presence to come it's like it's like a royal procession of a king coming and the valleys are filled up and the mountains are laid low and everybody's going to see king yahweh returning in glory to his people it's this wonderful scene and so the biggest thing is that there's a messenger coming there's a messenger coming to herald to herald what to herald yahweh returning so jerusalem which is where yahweh's temple was it's where the peoples where the people's gatherings were to meet yahweh and so on that all got destroyed where do we stand with yahweh where did yahweh go did he abandon us did he leave us and so the prophet says no dude sins are forgiven listen to this good news there's a messenger coming who's going to herald the return of of yahweh himself is going to come back to visit his people and to fulfill to fulfill his promises so think through if you were here last week there's another passage in isaiah that we read from chapter 59 that talked about the same thing that yahweh looked out at humanity and at israel and at the kings from the line of david and he saw there's no human there's no one qualified with any kind of integrity to actually be the human being who i called them to be and to bring salvation and deliverance and so on and so yahweh said i'm going to roll up my sleeves and i'm going to do this myself it's the same imagery here yahweh is coming back sins are forgiven he's returning personally let's keep going verse nine oh yes yes verses six through eight a whole other sub rabbit hole that will take in half an hour of awesomeness to go through but we don't have time so verse 9. you who have you who bring good news good news to zion go up on a high mountain you who bring good news to jerusalem lift up your voice with a shout lift it up don't be afraid say to the towns of judah here is your god look sovereign yahweh he's coming he's coming so you have this you have this herald who's announcing good news i wonder if i've ever heard that word before in relationship to jesus so uh this word could also and is sometimes translated gospel so uh if you're wondering like where did this word ever the concept of good news gospel ever even come from here right here you're looking at it this is where it begins life and this is where jesus got his language for where he thought about what he was doing so yahweh is returning and notice how yahweh is returning he's coming back look at verse 10 sovereign yahweh he's coming with what with power and he rules with a mighty arm his reward is with him his his recompense accompanies him and so you get this image here like oh he's not just coming back to plant some flowers in jerusalem or something like that he's coming back to first of all as a king right he's coming with his arm he's going to rule like a king so he's coming back to bring his kingdom and to rule as as king and he's going to bring reward and recompense he's going to bring justice and visit justice on those among his people who who ruined israel's vocation and calling and hold them to become accountable and so now we're kind of like well it's really intense and kind of freaking out like whoa y'all is coming back but it not everybody's going to be happy and so on and then look at verse 11. he tends his flock like a shepherd and he gathers the lambs up in his arms and he carries them close to his heart and he gently leads along little lambs that have little lambies behind them right little that have that have young did you get that's like a head-turning moment you were just like power glory return yahweh is king and then this very this very compassionate gentle soft description of yahweh is this attentive shepherd and he's coming back to bring justice but he's also coming back to pay attention to the weak and to the vulnerable and the little lambies and he's going to pick them up and carry them right here and so i use whatever word you want to describe this i'll use the word mercy and so this is the whole story this is isaiah 40. this is the story mark's trying to get into your head is that this is what everyone was waiting for for a messenger to herald the israel's sins are forgiven yahweh is coming back as king and it's good news because he's going to bring justice and mercy and so on back to mark chapter 1 mark chapter 1. let's just go to the first sentence again of mark the beginning of what beginning good news it's too easy it's just low hanging fruit right there just to begin of good news about jesus and remember what's the meaning of jesus's name last week yahweh brings salvation the beginning of the good news about this guy yahweh brings salvation he's the messiah you know from the son and the lion of david he's the son of god just like it was written in isaiah the prophet hey luke may the force be with you oh yeah yeah yeah okay okay so who's the messenger there's the messenger coming to announce this whole deal will give us four who appeared john the baptist wild crazy man wearing animal hair and eating insects so john the baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching this baptism of repentance for what forgiveness of of sin so he's this he's this crazy prophet who dresses like uh the the ancient prophets elijah and elisha did and he goes down to the jordan which is the symbolic place where israel began life in the promised land as they crossed over the jordan and he's announcing this renewal movement that he's the messenger he's preparing the way for who to come back personally among his people yahweh right they afford it yahweh is coming and so let's all go down to the river and let's own up to the fact that we have failed as the people of israel and let's just start this thing over again let's reboot this whole covenant story and let's recognize that if we turn to yahweh he'll forgive our sins and we're waiting for yahweh to come and we're waiting for yahweh to come and and what will it look like what will it be like when how will the coming of yahweh manifest itself go down to verse nine at that time yahweh brings salvation came from nazareth in galilee and and he was baptized by john in the jordan and just as jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being ripped open torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and this voice came from heaven saying you are my son whom i love with you i am well pleased so uh when we started the series josh and i we explored the significance of this story but so here it is here it is like everything has been set up for yahweh's coming and this is precisely the slot in the story right where yahweh comes back personally and what what is it going to look like it's going to look like jesus that that carpenter's son from nazareth what and then this epic scene at at the jordan river where you have jesus's revelation of his own identity through the god the father communicating his love for the son in the person of the spirit oh you know that's that breaks some categories for me like i didn't see that coming go down to verse 14. what's jesus message verse 14 after john was put into prison jesus went into galilee proclaiming what good news saying yeah the time has come the story lines leading up here we go here it is the time has come god's kingdom it's right here right here right now you're watching it come into being as you watch jesus jesus is saying as you watch me you're watching all of this come true yahweh's kingdom is here repent turn recognize what time it is and believe believe in the good news now here's the thing what mark could have done is he could have saved us a bunch of time and he could have just said the beginning of the good news about jesus now listen you guys here's my claim in this story about jesus i believe jesus is yahweh become a human being to do for us what we can never do for ourselves okay let's get the story moving so he could have done that but what a boring way to begin a story instead he's done this he's pain he's recalled this whole storyline and then right where you're expecting yahweh to come back personally he just sticks jesus right there and he just says chew on that chew on that and then the story keeps me you guys with me here he could say he just could come out right and say it but that would be a totally boring way of doing it he does it this way and i'm really thankful for it so what does it look like when yahweh comes up and when he comes to rule his king what happens well jesus calls a group of followers to himself look at verse 21. jesus goes into this town and he he encounters a very dark spiritual force of evil that has been ruining a man's life and he just he just cast it out and heals heals this man look at verse 28 and so news about him jesus began to spread quickly over the whole region and so as soon as they left that scene they went he went with james and john to the home of two other guys simon and andrew and there jesus finds this woman who's deathly ill and so he heals her right there in the house and then look at verse 32 it just keeps going that evening after sunset people brought to jesus all of the sick and the demon possessed the whole town is gathering at the door and jesus healed many who had various diseases he drove out many demons but he wouldn't let them speak because they knew they knew who he was so mark now mark is describing what does it look like it looks like jesus cruising around healing people moving precisely to the the weak lambs and carrying them close to his heart and leading them along and and rescuing them all the while saying this is the good news this is what it looks like when yahweh when yahweh brings his kingdom personally verse 35 he uh he goes to the desert to pray recharges batteries a little bit and then simon and his companions went to look for him and they said jesus everybody's looking for you everybody's looking for you he goes back and he he heals this man with a skin disease and then look at verse 45. he told guy to be quiet like hey keep this on the wraps you know i'm trying to like actually have a life here in a ministry and if you kind of let the word out it makes things difficult for me and look at verse 45 instead the guy who was healed he went out and he began to talk freely spreading the news as a result jesus couldn't even enter a town anymore he couldn't enter openly he had to stay on the outskirts of town but people still kept coming to him from everywhere are you with me here do you see this building anticipation and so on people are beginning to clue in and recognize like whatever jesus is cruising around doing it's this story coming coming true that's the setup here are we all on the same page okay mark chapter two i just had to do that i'm sorry i can't i can never actually just teach on the passage that i'm trying to i have to paint the paint the whole story mark chapter two this is the uh the story of jesus healing a paralyzed man and i just there this is one of i think one of the most beautiful and compelling stories about who jesus is and who jesus reveals god to be memorize it think about it every day bury the story deep in your heart and it will mess with you chapter two a few days later when jesus again entered capernaum right which he's taken a risk going back into town right everybody heard that he had come back dang it dang it they gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left not not inside the house and not even outside the door and so he started preaching the word to them and so get a part of part of learning to read the gospels is is slowly kind of slowing yourself down and really trying to place yourself in the realism of the stories and and almost uh as what i tried to do is like put yourself into different characters in the scene and and think through the story from all these different viewpoints and so on and so you have these crowds and here's jesus he's been announcing that yahweh is coming back and he's setting up his kingdom and that he's doing it through him and so and people are encountering this very this healing presence and justice and mercy of jesus and so they're crowding and these are not this is a little fishing village they're not huge houses right you get 15 20 people inside there's all these people on the outside of the house the door is packed the windows are packed and so on and so was jesus he's inside is he yelling how is it hurricane people hear him outside i guess you have to yell they don't have megaphones he's yelling and he's preaching the word which is what the message about the kingdom and the kingdom the kingdom is here verse 3. so some men came and they bring to him a paralyzed man carried by four of them now since they couldn't get him to jesus because of the crowd so say a few hundred people around the small house with a little door and window so they can't get him into the house and so they made an opening in the roof above jesus by digging through it then they lowered the mat down that the man was lying on okay now just pause you might be familiar with this story but just again put yourself imaginatively into the scene this is whose house is he in most likely simon and andrews that he was in earlier how are you feeling about jesus being at your house right right all right so you thought it was just going to be a quiet evening jesus teaching to a small circle hundreds of people show up right and then some people are so desperate that they actually get on the roof of your house now don't think uh a-frame houses or anything like that these are single-story buildings um they're not that big and there's um the roof is flat because that's valuable space that's work space and so uh that's where you dry your laundry or if you're fishermen that's where you dry out your fish after you've cleaned and salted them and so on and so that's work space up there so it's like there's heavy cross beams it's a floor up there this is a major demolition operation that's happening right on the roof and there's always an external outside staircase and so on so these four guys carrying this man who can't walk there's a crowd people are trying to hear jesus and so they're so desperate they're so desperate they sneak around to the stairway right and then they get up on the roof and they just straight up start tearing it apart they're carrying up the floor are you with me here this is crazy and you know the story doesn't go there at all but there's you have to wonder like what did jesus keep talking there's like jackhammers going on right above their heads and there's like dust falling down and sticks and broken clay and it's like what did you keep talking did you act like it wasn't happening i got it you know we don't get any of those details in the story but that was clearly some dynamic of going going on these guys are so desperate so they rip this you know demolition hole in the roof and they lower they lower this guy in right you know by ropes or something by the four corners and just right down before jesus and now he can't ignore them anymore like it's kind of like oh oh okay right what do you do what do you do it's such an such an intense story look look at jesus's response this is so powerful it says when jesus saw whose faith okay this is their faith when jesus saw their faith he said to the paralyzed man son your sins are forgiven there's a million amazing things happening here let's focus in on a few of them first of all this is the first occurrence of this theme in the gospel of mark and it's a big one in the gospels and it's this theme of faith when people come to jesus jesus and and they walk away healed or forgiven or transformed somehow jesus always brings up uh faith in in the connection and what just happened in this encounter that people had with him and it's a big theme because where jesus is in places where people refuse to believe who who he's who he says he is and they are suspicious of him or they want him to prove like prove who you are or something like that in those places people walk away from that encounter with like a scary jesus with jesus who's just like what what and he'll just walk away it's a jesus with whom they get make no progress he's impenetrable and always talking in parables and they make he makes no sense to people who come to him with that mindset but the people who like these guys they they just come with just this pure desperation like hey this guy's in a bad situation uh we don't know what to do jesus you're amazing and you can do something here we just got to get to jesus and to people who come with that openness and recognition of their need he's just right there he's right there for them and those are the people to whom he says your faith has made you well or your faith in me is the key to this relationship you know moving moving forward now here so just stop and check your words faith at the door right whatever you thought the word faith means and look at the story how does jesus know that these guys i think the four friends but i think it assumes the paralyzed man too how does he know they have faith look at the story how does he know has he had a conversation with them so do you really believe in me so like i'm just i'm the son of god you're saying you believe that fact or something like no you don't there's no conversation how does he know they have faith they just tore a house apart to get to him you know what i'm saying that's the idea here they they would let nothing you know check their desperation to just get in front of jesus and this is really crucial because i think somehow our ideas of faith and belief in in christian culture whatever it's somehow we associate it with a feeling that you need to muster up like oh i need do i have enough faith in jesus am i sure i placed my faith in jesus but did i really was it enough faith i think it might have been 53 i need to get to that 74 mark or something you know do i it becomes this thing that we that we messed her up and with jesus he saw their behavior and he said their choices actually speak to their deepest convictions and beliefs about the world and about me and this is like belief in the scriptures is not it's not only a mental activity belief it i think it begins with processing what's true about myself and about god and so on but if you want to know what i actually believe please don't listen to what i say because i'll likely increase the impressiveness of what i say i believe inflated about 30 percent so that you think well of me right i mean well we do right so if don't listen to what we say we believe that's perception management right of each other what we actually believe is the choices that we make and how we live and jesus looks at their choices and he just says these guys these guys clearly have trust they trust that i'm able to do something that they cannot do for themselves look at what they're doing and so this right off the bat the story really kind of gets in our faces about this definition what does it mean to come to jesus by faith how are we supposed to emulate these characters in the story and coming to jesus by faith and it's not about mustering up a feeling apparently it's not about like just getting all the mental theological furniture in my head straight although i think that's important as you grow it's just about this pure realization that i need jesus and he has something that i need and i can't let anything get in the way of me getting into the presence of jesus and hearing the truth about him it's very powerful it's their faith now notice also this is just worth observing who does who does he speak to look at verse 5 who does he speak to he's speaking to this guy the paralyzed man but who's what's he responding to he's responding to their faith are you with me here so this is unique in all the stories in the gospels usually it's whoever the person is seeking jesus he'll talk about your faith but here it's like this this communities faith and trust in jesus is what's carrying this man right now it's a very beautiful picture about how there are there are times maybe who knows we're going to see i think in the story that this guy likely has has lost hope for why jesus says what he says to him and so i think it's actually what jesus is saying it's the faith of his friends that's carrying this man right now and there are seasons in following jesus where you're it's like the man uh who's whose son uh was uh under under the influence of a demon and he said it comes to jesus he says jesus i want to trust you help my lack of trust i believe help my unbelief and there are seasons where you actually need the community around you because their faith will carry you in your lack of faith there's something like that going on here he sees their faith and then he forgives that guy okay this is the best story in the world verse five so jesus saw their faith he said to the paralyzed man son your sins your sins are forgiven now stop put yourself like i said put yourself imaginatively into uh the position of the paralyzed man all this energy demolition get in front of jesus yeah he's returning his king and i think it's this guy and so on and jesus says to you son your sins are forgiven how are you feeling about your life right now be really honest don't be religious and pious like be really honest what do you want jesus to say to you get up and walk right it's just like that's great thank you thank you jesus for forgiving my sins i've got this thing here right like i can't walk i can't walk trying to make it funny to help it sink in like do you see i can't walk and you've been healing people and i'm here in front of you and that's wonderful to be forgiven but okay so what's going on here i don't i don't know if that's ever occurred to you in reading the story you know when i was a new christian and reading these stories for the first time that totally stuck out to me it's like what's wonderful to be forgiven my legs don't work and that's what i came here for jesus so so here's the thing jesus is for sure going to heal this guy he's that's been in his attention the whole time he's been healing lots of people he's going to heal this guy his very next thing that he was going to say to the guy was get up take up your mat and walk home but he was rudely interrupted and that's why the forgiveness is separated from the healing because he get rudely interrupted by some religious people in the room and he's got to deal with that before he takes it forward and so but there's something significant here why didn't he say you know you're healed and you were forgiven what's going on here why does he say this to this man and why does he say it first and i think it is significant it's worth it's worth pondering so so i think there's a few reasons first of all this is just part of the good news it's announcing to the whole people of israel and to every individual israelite that as a people they were on the outs with yahweh but he their sin has been dealt with and yahweh's good news is that his his heart his disposition towards his people is this right here and he's come personally to bring forgiveness of sins and to announce good news and justice and mercy and the whole thing so jesus begins here with saying that you and yahweh are on good terms your sins are forgiven and how how how do you know that's true i'm standing here talking to you right now telling you that now that raises a whole bunch of other issues here here too why did jesus think he needed to say this first to this man and i think the story makes it clear he he can read he can read your mail he can read he has discernment into what people are thinking in in situations because he's about to do it to these religious guys who apparently are standing by the guitar i don't know i just pointed there but let's pretend they're right there and so he knows he knows that this is what this guy needs to hear i think and so what's going on here what's going on here is a big big whole theme in in jesus family scriptures about the relationship between sickness and and tragedies and bad things happening to your family to your health and the relationship of those things to sin and to wrongdoing and this is not um unique to their culture i think this is actually a unique thing well it's not unique it's universal if it's universal it's not unique it's a universal thing in in human cultures in general uh at least religious cultures which is which is to say this just generally if if bad things happen to me if there's a lack of health or health disaster family disaster or something it must be that the gods are trying to tell me something or that the gods have it out for me or that they're angry at me or whatever and this is how it's being taken out on me and so i think that's a fairly universal way that people tend to think and so what what's the view of sickness and sin in jesus family scriptures and when you turn to the old testament scriptures you find actually a really sophisticated kind of multi-faceted way of thinking about these things and so you have you have stories in the old testament scriptures where someone does something wrong they wrong yahweh they wrong another human made in god's image and part of yahweh giving consequences or visiting his justice on what they did is that they become sick there's there's not many but there are some stories like that in the old testament scriptures so um on when on a wednesday morning uh our wednesday morning uh 6 a.m bible study for example just a couple weeks ago we studied a story about moses's sister miriam and in front of all the people of israel she shames her brother she questions his authority and undermines him in a really humiliating public way and yahweh is ticked because he chose and appointed moses as the leader and so on and so she gets a skin disease from that now she gets healed from it and so on but there you go here's the story and you just gotta like oh that's in the bible deal with that so you have stories about the whole nation of the people of israel and about how this downward spiral they signed on the dotted line and said yahweh will obey you we love you thank you for rescuing us and you always said yeah dude if you like follow the terms of the covenant it's going to be great there'll be rain and lots of cows and milk and honey and so on and there won't be any sickness but if you violate the terms of the covenant there won't be any rain and there'll be plague and mildew and blight and you'll get sick and this kind of thing and so it's on an individual level like miriam are for the whole nation that sickness will be a result of of sin so you have that perspective but then in the very same bible that is jesus family scriptures you have whole books that are dedicated to saying now that might be true sometimes but that's not always true you can't assume that just because someone gets sick or is in a condition paralyzed or something that they've done something wrong in fact there is one whole book of the bible dedicated to deconstructing that point of view and what's the name of that book this is the book of job it's the book of job right and so you have a man who uh is innocent hasn't done anything wrong or at least in the moment but that he horrible sickness family tragedies and so on and he hasn't done anything wrong and you have another book that's paired right alongside at the book of ecclesiastes that says hey you know something really screwed up that i see in the world is that there's really wicked horrible people and they are healthy wealthy and wise and then you have people who are really awesome and full of integrity and they love their neighbor as their self and they like get sick and have hardship and go bankrupt or something you know and he says that's screwed up why is the world work like that so two whole books of the bible that give a different point of view and so it's not a contradiction it's it's a statement that says this can you assume if you see somebody sick you see somebody paralyzed can you assume that god's angry with that person no could it be the case yes is it necessarily and always the case no and here's the thing is i think most of us tend to the world's very complex and relationships are complex and this whole question is complex and so the bible doesn't give you a simple answer right it doesn't give you a simple answer at all but because we want simplicity in our world views we tend to just camp out on one of those views or the other and the bible forces you to hold hold both of those in two hands and so this is this is why i think jesus brings up this issue and brings it up first there's a story in john chapter 9 where jesus encountered a blind man who he's going to heal and his disciples come up to him and they say oh that guy is blind who sinned that guy or his parents and what is jesus response he says neither neither right there's another there's there's another option and another option is what's going to happen here is so that he could be healed and this whole thing will be for the for the good and helping the good news bread and so on so so neither jesus does not assume that but if you grew up in a culture where that is the basic assumption if you're sick yahweh must be ticked at you if you had a family tragedy yeah yahweh must have abandoned you i don't know i don't know where you stand with yahweh and you grew up in that culture and so just imagine what this paralyzed man we don't know how long he's been in this condition imagine what he knows other people think about him imagine what you might even begin to think about yourself after years of this idea being what you what you swim in and so on and so what jesus does is first he addresses this this man's spiritual emotional i think even psychological state by just saying this word son god is not angry at you you're forgiven it's good it's good news you always hear announcing good news whatever is in your past i mean whatever just because he's paralyzed doesn't mean he's innocent whatever he screwed up just like the rest of us are and so whatever is in your past wherever you thought you were with yahweh this is not an issue anymore you're forgiven you're forgiven yahweh is not ticked at you he's not angry at you and how do you know that's true i'm here saying that to you right now that's what jesus is saying and this is very this is so powerful because what he's not just claiming to be god and he's not you know just saying like you he's saying your sins are forgiven there's so much more going on in this explosive line he's i think he's redefining this guy's view of god that god is not primarily a god who's just waiting to bring the hammer on you he's understandably grieved about the way that human beings destroy ourselves and his good world and destroy others but jesus is here saying here's what yahweh is doing about that your sins are forgiven and so i just think again as we how does this word how's the story of jesus speak god's word to us we're in the place of these people trying to get to jesus and the first thing jesus wants his people to know is that you are forgiven that is where we start things whatever you think about yourself whatever you think about god whatever wreckage is in your past so so here now we're right here right now jesus is speaking to you god's not angry at you he's here to offer forgiveness and a new way forward can you hear that today these are the kinds of words that um get certain people very angry at you look at verse 6. now there were some teachers of the law sitting there and they were thinking to themselves what what why this guy can't talk that you can't say that why is this fellow talking like that he's blaspheming which is a very serious charge so blaspheming is about in a very dangerous flagrant way dishonoring god saying and doing and claiming things that encroach on on god's god's prerogative you're saying you are doing things that only god himself can do that's what's going on here and they make clear what is it he's blaspheming who can forgive sins but whom god alone yahweh yahweh is the one what do you mean isaiah 40 jesus yahweh said he will come himself and personally forgive people's sins who are you who are you to claim to be doing that that's what's going on right here so there's a whole let's let's just stop right here in the story because again remember this all happened in like seven seconds so let's just remember that right so i've got my preach on and so this is taking you know 15 20 minutes or whatever but so this all just happened instantly son your sins are forgiven why are you guys saying that in your hearts i mean it's just like right these guys it's instant they real they see what jesus is saying and they're utterly scandalized because that doesn't fit in their view of who god can be and so jesus instantly just he's reading he's reading their mail and you would freak out i mean jesus looks at immediately jesus knew in his spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts and he said to them why are you guys thinking that right and so imagine this is so freaky jesus is freaky he would totally scare you if you were around him and uh so i was trying to think like what would how would you like reenact a scene like this to imagine the humiliation of being put on the spot like that and the best i could come up with is like you're out to eat and you think your server's shirt is really tacky or something like that right and so like you're totally thinking that you're like hi guys welcome to the restaurant or something how you are specials right now and you're just thinking ooh bad green choice you know really bad and then they just say to you like why are you hating on my shirt like what do you what are you doing and you just be like well i i didn't i mean a green green vegetables or something i don't know so that's the idea like he just calls them out son your sins are forgiven why are you guys thinking that this all goes down very quickly and they're scandalized because and they just say it right here who can forgive you're claiming to forgive sins on god's behalf now what do these guys represent they represent they represent a whole cultural history and institution in israel and so if if you're an israelite and you know the family scriptures like how do you go about gaining god's forgiveness if you steal your neighbor's cow or something like that or whatever you you know you take some of their crops or whatever you know you covet their stuff how do you get right with god well if you live in this town you've got a hike about 120 miles south and to the city of jerusalem and there's a big temple structure there at the high point of the city and that's where yahweh said his presence dwells and you need to bring some cash with you because you're going to go into the courtyard and you're going to get a goat or a lamb or buy something like that there and then you're going to take that to the entrance of the courtyard and there'll be a pre you gotta wait in line thinking about what you did and then there would be a priest who'd be like hi you know my name's the by athar or something like that welcome you know it's good to have you here today what'd you do what'd you do and so you process through that and you go to the altar you put your hands on the animal's head and you confess what you did aloud in front of the priest in front of yahweh who's dwelling places right there in front of you slitting of the throat gurgling bubbling blood and so on and the animal dies on your behalf that's how you do it that's how you do it and it's not just you do it because it was their culture you do that because like that's what yahweh said to do this is with the terms of the covenant agreement and so here's jesus he's you know 1 20 miles north and he's walking around acting as if he's a little mobile temple essentially he's acting as if he just coming into his presence is somehow coming into the presence of god but also he's he's claiming this role of the priests so the priest is is where this humanity that comes to meet with god and the temple is a place where god meets with people and through the priest who represents god to you the sacrifices made and forgiveness is offered to you and jesus with just one sentence does all of that right there in the room of that little crowded house and see these are the kinds of things that will make the people who represent this institution so angry at you and so threatened by you this is the beginning of the conflict between jesus and and the religious leaders and this is ultimately what's going to lead him to being publicly executed on trumped-up charges on a roman execution rack this is where it begins a charge of blasphemy this is a this is a politically theologically charged moment where jesus is offending these guys deeply because what he's claiming is that yeah you know isaiah 40 you guys read your bibles and that's happening right now and here it is look at it here we go it's right here you're looking at it and they had no categories we had no categories whatsoever for that and so here's how the story wraps up really quickly it's awesome he says this is what he says to them brilliant jesus is brilliant he says why are you thinking these things you tell me he always puts the ball in other people's courts here which is easier to say to this paralyzed man your sins are forgiven or to say get up take your mat and walk on home now just stop think of you you think about this question you're in the charged moment jesus says to you which is easier to say this guy is forgiven or to recreate his body so that he can walk out of here which is easier what do you think this is good this one always stumps a crowd that's good so no he doesn't say which is easier to forgive this man which is easier to say this man is forgiven or to remake his body which is easier yeah just say it right because who anybody can walk around saying oh god forgives you god forgives you hey it's a nice day today god forgives you you know like anybody anybody could say that and that's exactly what they're that's exactly what they're challenging is you can't say that you don't have the authority to say things like that after all you're just the carpenter's son from up in nazareth and so it's it's wonderful so it's like okay so okay that's the easier thing to say he's forgiven and so he says he goes right from there i want you to know that the son of man was his favorite way of referring to himself it means me or i and also go read daniel 7 that's also what it means so the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the man i tell you get up take your mat and walk out of here boom boom just right there right right there now think this all happened in eight seconds son your sins are forgiven why are you guys thinking that in your hearts you tell me which is easier to say to this guy that his sins are forgiven or to remake his body so that he can walk out of here but i tell you so that you know that i am who i say i am get up go home bro you're healed and your sins are forgiven you know i mean it's just that's how it went down and so these guys are just like well so we you know that's what's happening here so and the and they're justifiably angry at him look at the crowd's response he got up took his mat walked out in full view of all of them everybody's amazed no one has categories for this they praise god saying we we've never seen any anything like this mark two what what does it look like when isaiah 40 comes true what does it look like when yahweh comes personally to announce good news to his people and to bring the healing reality that brings mercy to the weak but also justice on the arrogant what does it look like when that shows up and mark says here here you go this is what it looks like and it's not it's there's both a theological claim that mark is making about who jesus is he is the place where god and humanity meet perfectly together for forgiveness and healing and reconciliation but it's not just theology to mark it's not just theology to the paralyzed man is it this is his whole his whole view of god has been remade in about 10 seconds here and all of his assumptions about who god was to him and why he's in the situation that he's in that all jesus just redoes all of that and so how does the story speak a word of god to us i think it makes this it's the same one two punch it's this who do you say that jesus is you we read the story now it's very clear who mark says jesus is who jesus is claiming to be who do you say that jesus is and it's not just an idol question because your view of the world and your view of god and your view of yourself is what's at stake right here and the first thing that jesus comes and says to this man is son little child that's what he calls him he never calls anybody that little child little boy that's what he says to him god's not angry at you whatever you think about yourself wherever whatever you've done whatever trail of wreckage you happen to have whatever like that's not the issue right now the issue right now is yahweh brings salvation standing here telling you you're forgiven let's move forward into something new for you and so i think that's where this this lands for us i don't know your story and jesus surely knows your story he's been reading your mail for a long long time right if this story is any indication of his insight into people and his first word to you is of course like the the downward spiral of the stupid decisions that we make it's not as if god doesn't care or that he's indifferent but jesus comes to you and to me and saying that's happened that doesn't determine who god is to you he's not out to get you he's not calling down curses on your life jesus is historical flesh and blood announcement that god's not angry with you he wants to forgive you and whatever guilt and whatever shame or regret that you are carrying you need to bring that to jesus because he wants to make you new i believe that's what mark 2 has to say to a whole bunch of us this morning and so as we come to the bread and the cup i encourage you again not to allow this to become another repetition of the of the ritual but to really make this a moment where jesus's life and his death and his resurrection speaks to you a whole new view of god and a new new view of yourself let it speak good news to you today let me close the word of prayer

Channel: Bible Nerds & Tim Mackie Fans

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Keywords: Tim Mackie, Bible Project

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Length: 62min 44sec (3764 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 08 2021