The Gospel of Mark
The Healing of the Paralytic: Mk 2,1-12
The story is introduced by Jesus returning to his home in Capernaum "after some days". This give us a different setting to the healing in 1,21 which was done in the synagogue on the sabbath.
Verses 1-2 therefore set the scene. The three evangelists are quite different in their settings for the episode. Luke (Lk 5,17) keeps much of Mark's detail but alters the situation while Matthew (Mt 9,1) typically cuts the story to its essentials. All three though make the comment "seeing their faith" (2,5). This scene is as much about his carers as about the man himself.
We note that Jesus in verse 1 "spoke the word to them" as in the previous chapter (1,21). We are not told what he preached and taught.
Whereas the leper in the previous scene took the initiative, here a sick man is brought to Jesus by his friends and he is healed (verses 3-4 and 11-12). Unlike the leper story, a controversy is inserted into the healing when the scribes query to themselves Jesus's words "Your sins are forgiven" (verse 5)
Whereas the leper asks for and receives healing, the paralytic is entirely passive, he says nothing and only acts to get up and walk (2,12). He is therefore healed entirely through the faith (trust) of those who are carrying his stretcher. Hence the words of verse 5: their faith, his sins. The traditional link between sin and disease ia seen in Ps 107,17 and at greater length in Ps 38. It is an important theme in the story of the man born blind (Jn 9,2-3).
New to the story therefore is the controversy in verses 6-10. At this stage, the scribes do not challenge Jesus directly. Rather, they are questioning themselves about Jesus' activities, "in their hearts" (NRSV) (verse 6 and 8). Blasphemy, because "Who alone but God can forgive sins" (2,7) is a message which echoes through the Old Testament and the references I gave are just a few to illustrate the point. From their point of view, the thoughts in the scribes are having in their hearts would have been perfectly justified. Blasphemy is therefore an appropriate word, Jesus is taking on himself God's perogatives. Blasphemy is punishable by death (Lev 24,10-16).
At which point, in verse 8, they are challenged by Jesus himself because Jesus knows rather more than is usual about what goes on in human hearts.
In verse 9, the physical healing would be straightforward and would be seen. The inner healing, the forgiveness of sins, is harder with no obvious results.
In verse 10 makes a clear statement about his authority. "You may know" in Ex 16,12 and Is 45,3 show the consequences of God's action. In this verse for the first time in this Gospel Jesus speaks of himself as Son of Man. The expression occurs a number of times in the prophet Ezekiel and it is also found in the psalm, notable Ps 8,4. There it is another way of stressing humanity, very important to Jesus. The more exalted reference though is the Son of Man in the book of Daniel (Dn 7,14) which may also be behind Jesus' use of the term for himself, a sign of his future glorification. That will be the reference right at the end of Jesus' ministry (13,26).
In verses 11-12, the cure duly takes place. In verse 11, Jesus tells the paralytic to rise; he also used the word in verse 9. As with Peter's mother in law (1,31) we have here echoes of the new resurrection life being given to the paralytic (see also 3,3).
This is followed by the reaction of the crowd: as before (1,27) it is one of praise to God. That's a contrast to the sceptism of the scribes which just increases as the story unfolds.
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The Sunday Gospel
The passage from the prophet Isaiah for the 7th Sunday is taken from the second part of the book (Is 40-55). These chapters are known as The Book of the Consolation of Israel . The background is that of the exile in Babylon. The city has been taken by the Persian Emperor Cyrus who is now allowing the exiles to return to Jerusalem (Is 44,28). The magnificant poetry of these chapters encouraging exiles to return to Jerusalem had an enormous influence on the New Testament. This return was portrayed as a new exodus, a time when God will lead his people back to Jerusalem (Is 40,1-11).
The new exodus is the background for the reading this Sunday (Is 43,16-17). For Isaiah, this would have been the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. In Christian terms though, this new exodus becomes the Church's experience of the forgiveness of sin in Christ (Is 43,25). This finds its appliction in the healing of the paralytic (2,5)
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