Read Mark 2:1-12
Raising the Roof

How did these guys do it?

How could they tear up the roof and let their paralyzed friend down in front of Jesus without dumping so much debris all over Jesus and the crowd that somebody would have stopped them?

After all that uproar, then what does Jesus say to the crippled man?
“Son, your sins are forgiven (1:5).”

Talk about an anticlimax. Do you suppose the men who had made that great effort to bring him to Jesus were disappointed? They thought this prophet who had been healing people left and right would say, “Walk!” Instead of that, all the Teacher does is tell him his sins are forgiven. Big deal. We’re all sinners.

What is Mark trying to tell us? Mark is especially interested in portraying Jesus as the divine Servant of man. This Servant is also the strong Son of God. How does Jesus’ handling of this circumstance prove it?

Mark records here a “first” in Jesus’ life. He is God, Who alone can forgive sins. Jesus proves His deity. He is Son of God, not just a prophet with a gift of physical healing. The sick man evidently realized, as Jesus did, that his basic problem was his sin, not his paralysis. In answer to his unspoken cry of repentance, the man found both spiritual and physical restoration.

Who do I really think Jesus is?

Read Mark 1:21-45
Compassionate Cleansing

Mark’s purpose in writing was to show what Jesus did.

Mark’s question is:
What does God do when God becomes man, lives on earth, and becomes the servant of all? In rapid-fire order, Mark tells us three things that Jesus did.

• He drove an evil spirit out of a man, right in the middle of the Sabbath services in the synagogue (1:23-26).
• He healed Simon’s mother-in-law of a physical illness, a fever (1:29-31).
• He healed the sick and demon possessed in a great gathering of the entire town of Capernaum (1:32-34).

Notice the areas over which Jesus exerts authority. First, Jesus demonstrated power over evil spirits. Observe that the man with the evil spirit was attending religious services. Being at church is not the same thing as knowing God. The second healing proved Jesus’ power over physical illness. It was done in private, and for a woman. In the third demonstration of the incarnate God’s power, Jesus handled both demon possession and physical illness. It was done in the most public place available, the middle of the street, and probably for children and old persons, rich and poor, men and women, everyone.

Isaiah’s words were being fulfilled: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat (Isaiah 55:1)!”

All these are things Jesus did. What will you let Him do for you?

Read Mark 1:1-20
Hear! Hear!

Mark is the gospel of graphic detail.

Times, places, colors, numbers, locations, emotions tumble from Mark’s hurried pen. Mark reports about the same number of Jesus’ miracles as Matthew or Luke, but a much smaller number of His parables—only four. Mark portrays Jesus’ gestures, emotions, attitudes in a few bold strokes.

Mark progresses farther in his first 20 verses than Matthew covers in four chapters. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled, John the Baptist comes and preaches, the Holy Spirit acknowledges Jesus as God’s Son, Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus calls his first disciples. Mark wraps up the whole thing in his first 20 verses.

The shortest of the gospels, Mark devotes five of the 16 chapters—almost one-third of his book—to the last week of Jesus’ life. In the remainder of the book, healings, sermons, and miracles tumble one after another in breathless succession. Things happen in Mark’s gospel “straightway,” “immediately,” or “forthwith.” The one Greek word translated by these three different English words occurs in Mark’s little book 42 times, more than the rest of the New Testament all together.

Yet, in spite of the movement, Mark’s gospel shares one thing with Matthew, Luke, and John: His picture of Jesus is majestic. Unhurried, dignified, deliberate, Jesus moves through Mark’s pages toward Jerusalem and His death with the same majesty that shines through the other accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.