"Teachable Moments!" (Mark 2:1-12, part 2)

“Teachable Moments!”

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #12)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

April 3, 2011

The Word of God for a message entitled, "Teachable Moments!" from the Gospel Mark 2:5-12 (NAU): ⁵ And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? ⁹ “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk'? ¹⁰ “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”--He said to the paralytic, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” [Prayer]

Last week, we studied Mark 2:1-12 focusing on the active faith of the four stretcher-bearers as they brought the paralytic to Jesus Christ. They walked by faith and were blessed to see the miracle of Jesus healing their friend. This week, we are going to focus on how Jesus Christ handles the interruptions to His teaching time. We see in Mark 2:2 that Jesus was “speaking the word to them”. Mark did not record any of this teaching, but he recorded the story of the interruptions. The interruption of four stretcher-bearers filled with faith who dug a hole through the ceiling to lower this paralytic down to Him. The interruption of the Scribes and what they were reasoning in their minds. Mark did not record the formal teaching of Jesus in this story, but he did record the teachable moments that Jesus utilized to model for us His teachings through His own actions. Jesus did not see these as interruptions to His mission, but as the exact purpose He had come. Let’s learn from our Master. Our first teaching point: JESUS CONFRONTS THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD!

Mark 2:1-4 sets the context and we see that four stretcher-bearers have successfully brought the paralytic before Jesus. Mark 2:5-7 shows us what happens next, “And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?’”

Jesus’ words to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven”, must have caused a hush filled with a diversity of emotions to sweep across the audience. Mark focuses not on the eager disciples filled with faith by the boldness and authority of Jesus Christ, nor on the eager crowds who flocked in hope to be touched by this Jesus of Nazareth who can heal people.

Rather, Mark focuses on the Scribes, who were skeptical of Jesus, and came to test His gospel message according to the Law of Moses. Mark chooses to focus on the interruption to the interruption! Why? I believe it is because Mark the evangelist wrote this Gospel for the reason of convincing people of this one eternal truth: Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, and He does have the authority and power to forgive sins and give eternal life to all who follow Him! The Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus Christ!

Friend, today, right now, God sees your sin and your brokenness and you are not an interruption to Him; you are the very reason He came! Are you a skeptical person? Is your heart open to experiencing God in the world today? God is at work in the world today and this Jesus I declare to you has the authority to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God!

These Scribes based their views of God on their cultural tradition and on their own interpretations of how God was going to work in the world. They had codified the Scriptures into rules and regulations to such a point that they no longer were able to experience the revelation of God’s word. Their traditions and interpretations of the Law led them to see the coming of the Messiah in a very specific way which in turn caused them to reject Jesus of Nazareth as a blasphemer rather than receive Him as Messiah. Instead of embracing their God who took on flesh to save them, they accused Him of a crime in their hearts and minds; an accusation that would later be brought to trial.

Listen to the punishment for blasphemy as legislated in Leviticus 24:16b, “Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him.”

The Scribes were not open to experiencing God in a way that was outside of their own human learning and experiences. In the same way that they boxed God into their own life experiences and human teachings, I wonder if we do the same. Have you put God inside the box of your own learning? God will neither be limited to your own experiences, nor your systematic theology.

Here’s the good news: God is bigger than our intellect and our senses! Jesus Christ, God’s agent of revelation and salvation, confronts the wisdom of the world, for the very purpose of saving us from the domain of darkness. Colossians 1:13-14 testifies, “For He [God, the Father] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God.” Faith in Jesus moves us from darkness to light; ignorance to truth.

Jesus Christ came to reveal who God is to humanity, but the world rejected Him as God’s agent of revelation and salvation. Do you allow the Holy Spirit to confront you in your assumptions about God, life, and death?

Jesus does not react to the accusing thoughts of the Scribes. Instead, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, initiates the confrontation, not over who has the power to forgive sins for they are correct in that only God can forgive sins, but over His person as the One who has the power and authority to forgive sins.

The Scribe’s had this question in their hearts, “Why does this man speak this way?” Mark captures this story in his Gospel because Jesus’ confrontation offers a teachable moment with eternal implications. That is our second teaching point for us to apply to our lives: CONFRONTATION OFFERS TEACHABLE MOMENTS!

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us cringe at the word confrontation, but if we are to follow Jesus Christ we must learn from His example that confrontation of worldly wisdom is necessary and we cannot avoid nor back down from these confrontations if we are to proclaim the Gospel with our words and deeds. The story continues in Mark 2:8-9, “Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?’”

Our Master Jesus Christ confronted the Scribes in order to teach them. He asks the question, “Which is easier…?” not in terms of which is easier for Him to say or do, but which is easier for us to visibly see the proof of effectiveness. There is no way for the bystanders to see or quantify the results of Jesus declaring this man’s sins are forgiven, but they would be able to see whether or not he can walk. Which is easier?

Jesus has already addressed this man’s greatest need by forgiving him of his sins; this provides reconciliation to the Father. That is why Jesus came and He would not compromise who He was or why He came.

Whether or not the man was physically healed at that moment or not is speculation and not the point of this story. In addressing the Scribes, Jesus is essentially saying that if He were to successfully command the paralytic to “Get up and pick up your pallet and walk”, then we could equally be assured that the former declaration, “Your sins are forgiven”, was also fulfilled by the same authority and power that caused him to be able to walk. We would have to believe this by faith at Jesus’ word, because we cannot verify the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins or our own. We are saved by faith (not works) and we are called to live by faith (not sight)!

After His resurrection, Jesus confronted one of His disciples in a similar way to teach this same lesson. From the Gospel of John 20:24-29, “Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

We are to believe even when we have not seen; Faith!

How has Jesus taught you about faith by meeting you in the places of your own doubt and disbelief? How do you allow the Holy Spirit to work through you to teach others about God in the midst of their own doubt and disbelief?

Jesus confronted the wisdom of the world to proclaim the good news of God. We too should never miss an opportunity to confront the lies, deceptions, and philosophies of our worldly culture. And you don’t need to go out looking for confrontation. You just have to live by faith and confrontation will find you; don’t back down from it and remember that every teachable moment is an opportunity to point to the power of God who lives in you! That is our last teaching point: TEACHABLE MOMENTS ARE AN OPPORTUNITY TO POINT TO THE POWER OF GOD!

The story ends in Mark 2:10-12, “‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’--He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.’ And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”

Jesus had already performed a miracle of reconciliation, but the people were not astonished because they could not see it. “But so that you [Scribes] may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” Jesus Christ heals this man’s physical condition and the people are all amazed by what they can see!

They see a miracle, but that was not the point. The fact of the physical healing is not in question, but Jesus declared that the purpose of this healing was to point to the power of God to forgive sins through the Son of Man—this is a point of faith, that Jesus Christ is the power of God! 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 proclaims, “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The point of Jesus utilizing this teachable moment, and the point of Mark including these interruptions in his Gospel account, is for us to understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that all authority and power has been entrusted to Him to bring salvation to everyone who believes. As Paul states in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”

We are not to be ashamed! Our lives, by the grace of God, should point to the power of God; make Him visible. Do you point other people to Jesus Christ in the midst of difficult circumstances? Are you ashamed?

There is a way we make a public declaration of our faith and that is by sharing communion at the Lord’s Table together. Regardless of whether or not you are a member of FBC, as members of the one body of Christ through the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation of the Cross, if you have given your life to Jesus Christ then you are invited to join us in communion.

Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

Communion is an ordinance of the Church of Jesus Christ that calls us together to the Lord’s Table regardless of our circumstances in this life.

Communion is a remembrance to all Christians of the all-surpassing power of God who lives in us. We consume the elements: the bread that represents the broken body of Jesus Christ; and the cup that represents the poured out blood of the eternal covenant shed on the Cross of Calvary. We consume Christ who is the all-surpassing power of God.

Communion is a declaration of faith that the treasure of God’s salvation lives inside of each of us and that for all eternity we each will dwell in the House of the Lord. No matter what circumstances may fall on us—in this life or through our death—the life of Jesus Christ is revealed in our body.

May this time of response through communion remind us once again of our mutual call to reveal Christ, the power of God, to our world. Our elders will lead us in consuming together as the one body of Christ after the ushers serve you the elements. Let us pray.