Study in Mark’s Gospel

1. Study in Mark’s Gospel Presentation 07

2. A Rising Opposition Chap 1v1-12 Presentation 07

3. Introduction On a number of TV quiz shows, contestants are asked to identify a picture. Initially, they are shown only a small part but then more and more is disclosed until the object is identified. Similarly, gradual and progressive disclosure takes place in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus provides more and more clues to his identity and the purpose of his mission. The clearer that picture becomes the more the opposition is intensified. In Ch. 2as Jesus reveals more of himself, there is a growing response of hatred and envy from the religious establishment. This feeds a growing opposition, which would eventually be satisfied with nothing less than Jesus’ death. Presentation 07

4. The Day The Roof Came Down Mark links the growth of opposition towards Jesus with the day the roof came down! A paralysed man was brought by a human ambulance to Jesus to be cured but there was no way through the press of the crowds. The four friends who carried him were short neither, of initiative nor, perseverance and they were soon on the roof making an opening, which enabled them to lower their sick friend to the feet of Jesus. Jesus seeing the faith of these men, including that of the sick man, made a quite remarkable response'Son your sins are forgiven’ v5. Perhaps the five most important words which anyone can ever hear. Presentation 07

5. The Day The Roof Came Down It is possible that the man's friends were immediately disappointed. They wanted something tangible and visible from Jesus. They wanted their friend to walk again. But Jesus had bestowed something which was intangible and invisible. Did they feel let down? They had hoped for so much for their friend but he seemed to have received so little. But ask yourself, was it so little? Jesus had identified the paralysed man's greatest need and not only his greatest need but ours as well. The need of forgiveness. These men witnessed an event which would cost Jesus nothing less than his life to provide. Presentation 07

6. The Day The Roof Came Down We often entertain too shallow and impersonal a view of forgiveness treating it mechanically, almost like taking a wash to the launderette. Put the wash in the machine, press a button and the work is done. Or think of the little boy who brings his muddy clothes home to his mum. He watches as her red raw hands rub and rub on the washboard until the stains are removed. Hopefully, the boy is impressed with the cost of the removal of the stains which he so thoughtlessly accumulated. He might even feel a sense of shame as he remembers with what gay abandon he rolled in the mire. In future he will surely wear his clean clothes with a new sense of gratitude. Presentation 07

7. The Day The Roof Came Down This is why I say we shouldn't view forgiveness mechanically but personally. The forgiveness of our sin cost Jesus infinitely more than red raw hands. It cost him the awful sacrifice of his life upon the cross. It was not something God was obliged to do. How wrong the German poet, Heinrich Heine, was when he said, “God will forgive it is his job”. Forgiveness in neither automatic nor mechanical but a gracious act of God made by his own volition and costing more than man can measure. When next we bring our dirty washing to God perhaps we will abandon the launderette image and approach him with a deeper sense of shame and receive our clean garments with a new sense of gratitude. Presentation 07

8. The Day The Roof Came Down The four ambulance-men may have thought their friend was given much less than they hoped for but there was another group present whose thinking was travelling in a quite different direction. They were saying to themselves, 'Who does this carpenter of Nazareth think he is, doling out forgiveness in this manner, for only God can forgive sins!' There was nothing wrong with their theology at this point. They were quite right to think it blasphemous for man to forgive sins. That is the preserve of God alone! But they could still have kept their sound theology intact and arrived at a quite different conclusion. Namely, if Jesus truly has authority to forgive sin, then he must be God. Presentation 07

9. The Day The Roof Came Down This leads us to the nerve centre of their controversy with Jesus. The focus of their dispute was fixed upon the character of God. They believed, 'God would never deal so graciously and kindly with such a man therefore, Jesus cannot be God’. The grace gift of God's forgiveness was alien to them. They were blind to the fact that the forgiveness of God is not a narrow, niggardly forgiveness but one that is full, free, and boundless. A forgiveness that reflects the excellences of the nature and character of God. And so they had harshly written off the vast majority of sinful men as being too bad for God. Without realising it, many today reject Jesus’ saving work upon the cross because they too cannot accept the reality of God's grace gift of forgiveness. Presentation 07

10. Seeing Is Believing? As they sat there stony faced, inwardly accusing Jesus of blasphemy. And so Jesus presented the religious leaders with a challenge; Which was the easier thing to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Get up and walk?' Of course the answer is that it is easier to say 'your sins are forgiven'. Why? Well precisely because it is impossible to prove or disprove whether anything has actually happened. You cannot see forgiveness! But to say to a paralysed, ‘man get up and walk’, is a harder thing to say, precisely because here is something which is verifiable! Onlookers were able to see if Jesus spoke savingly or not! Presentation 07

11. Seeing Is Believing? Can you follow Jesus’ logic? He had just said the ‘easy thing’ and now to prove that his word is trustworthy and that he actually has power to forgive sin he will now say the difficult thing! Difficult that is in the minds of the religious leaders, 'get up and walk'. And to the amazement of the whole company the man got up and walked home. Jesus had healed him with a word. This action of Jesus argued for only one possible conclusion. If his word of healing had been effective then his word of forgiveness must be effective too! When Jesus speaks his powerful word of forgiveness to your heart and mine we are enabled to rise up and walk home to the presence of our heavenly Father. Presentation 07

12. Seeing Is Believing? By behaving as he did, Jesus demonstrated the very thing that the religious leaders had greatest difficulty in swallowing, his essential divinity. Only God can forgive sin! Over the past century many men, including religious leaders have attempted to rob Jesus his divinity and force him into their warped theological framework. Like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole! They have been unprepared to accept that the Creator God needed to clothe himself in our humanity and to die a sacrificial death in order to rescue us. They've reduced Jesus to a level that meets with their approval; a good man, a fine moral teacher, but no more! Presentation 07

13. Seeing Is Believing? “If you had gone to Buddha and asked him 'Are you the son of Brahma?' he would have said, 'My son you are still in the vale of illusion' If you had gone to Socrates and asked, Are you Zeus?' he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked "are you Allah?' He would first have rent his clothes and then cut your head off--The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God there is no chance for you ... He [Jesus] was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met him. He produced mainly three effects - Hatred - Terror - Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.”C. S. Lewis Presentation 07

14. Seeing Is Believing? What then is forgiveness? Forgiveness is pardon in a personal setting. It is taking back into friendship those who went against you, hurt you and put themselves in the wrong with you. It is graciously compassionate [showing unmerited kindness to the wrongdoer], It is creative [renewing the spoiled relationship], And inevitably forgiveness is costly. God's forgiveness is the supreme instance of this for we find God, in love, restoring fellowship to those who by their sin had alienated himself from him. And doing so at great cost to himself through the death of his Son upon the cross. Presentation 07

15. Seeing Is Believing? God promises to forgive sins. That means both our open sins and your secret sins. It means those sins we have previously repented of and subsequently relapsed into. His mercy dives into your hearts and forgives our sinful thoughts, it spreads itself upon your lips and forgives our sinful and blasphemous word. It saturates our bodies to forgives every wrong action there. God will forgive sins which scarcely appear to be sins in your sight. And will he forgive you when you see your sins through Satan's magnifying glass and so begin to consider them to be greater than God’s mercy. Presentation 07

16. Seeing Is Believing? We can sometimes see our sins as too big for God to deal with. A man in that condition once wrote to Martin Luther. The Reformer, who himself had suffered long agonies over his own sinfulness and need of forgiveness replied; "learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say - Lord Jesus you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what is mine; you set on me what was yours. You became what you were that I might become what I was not. " Presentation 07

17. Seeing Is Believing? Now be careful, sometimes when we ask God to forgive us we are asking him to do something quite different. We want him not to forgive us but to excuse us. There is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing! Forgiveness says, ‘Yes you have done this wrong and I accept your apology. I will never hold it against you and our relationship will be exactly as it was before'. But excusing says, 'I see that you couldn't help it or didn't mean it, you weren't really to blame'. If no one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive! Sadly, often what we call ‘asking for God's forgiveness’ very often really consists in ‘asking God to accept our excuses’! Presentation 07

18. Seeing Is Believing? Mark has led us into the very heart of the gospel: bringing together man's need of forgiveness and a Jesus who forgives. Today, people may not be carried to Christian services on their beds but their need may be as real as that of the paralysed man. You may have come looking only for comfort or encouragement. Perhaps there is some personal or family matter you wanted brought before God in prayer. You may have come in order to encourage another member of your family. Does Jesus intend to surprise you today by making clear that your greatest need is the need of forgiveness? Presentation 07

19. Conclusion Do you see forgiveness to be your greatest need? Forgiveness cost Jesus an agonising death on the cross as he bore the punishment of your sin? What will it cost you? It is God's free gift which becomes ours as we indicate our genuine sorrow to God for all we have done wrong [not excuses], as we tell him we want to break with a sinful lifestyle and start walking in fellowship with him. That's what repentance involves. As we trust and commit ourselves to what Jesus has accomplished on the cross, making his forgiveness our own, that's how faith operates. What is your response to Jesus? It cannot be one of mild approval. It is a response that grows in one of three directions, hatred, terror or adoration. Presentation 07