Who did Jesus claim to be? He never hid that from anyone. But rather than stand on a street corner in Jerusalem and campaign for His Divinity, He simply did what you would expect God to do – wherever He went, He would heal lepers, heal the lame, divine the thoughts of His enemies, and plainly call Himself the “Son of Man”.

How does that apply to me and the life I live?

The link for the video is here:

Mark 2:1-12 Who did Jesus claim to be?

The audio links to Spotify and iTunes are to the right.

Here is the transcript for today’s podcast:

Mark 2:1-12

Jesus Does Not Hide Who He is

2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 

Wow. To have friends like this.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

It doesn’t say that when He saw the paralytic’s faith, the paralytic was forgiven. If I am reading this correctly, the paralytic’s faith wasn’t in the picture here. Think of the repercussions of what I just said. Jesus’ forgiving the sins of the paralytic had nothing to do with anything concerning the paralytic other than the fact that his friends apparently believed that Jesus could heal him.

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

They asked the question – but they are not going to like nor accept the answer. Who but God can forgive sins? Indeed. Just like His healing the leper in ch1 was  statement of His Divinity (only God gives leprosy as a judgement of sin, therefore only God can heal leprosy), Jesus’ statement here concerning His forgiving of that man’s sin was also a statement pertaining to His authority and Divinity.

According to the Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament,

Their basic premise was that for anyone but God to claim to forgive sin was blasphemy. Since for them Jesus was not God, he was blaspheming. If they were right about who Jesus was, their reasoning was flawless. In Jewish teaching even the Messiah could not forgive sins. They failed to recognize who Jesus really was—the Son of God who does have authority to forgive sins.

Copyright 2004.

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” 

Their not recognizing that Jesus was the Son of God was in spite of the evidence facing them. 

1. Jesus own confession (calling Himself the “Son of Man”); 
2. His forgiving the man’s sin (something only God can do); and 
3. His healing of the man of his lameness.

I can’t help but wonder that as Jesus called them out on what they were THINKING – not SAYING – if they were startled at all by His question

 “Why are you thinking these things?”

Another proof of Who He was – He could discern their private thoughts. That had to have been a little spooky.

So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

They asked the question – 

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

He responded in word and deed. Jesus did not shy away from Who He was. He was not hiding. When questioned, He responded honestly and plainly. The religious leadership of Israel didn’t hate Him because they did not understand His claims… they very MUCH understood His claim to being the Son of God, with the authority to forgive sin, the authority to heal disease, the authority to cast out Demons. Jesus was so forthright and plain that they only had two choices to choose from:

1. Jesus is the Son of Man (Messiah… God)
2. Jesus was a blasphemer, deserving of death

There is a lesson here for me – do I shy away from being just as plain to the world around me as to MY identity? Am I shying away from plainly stating and demonstrating my relationship with the God of this universe? Is there any doubt to those around me about Whose I am? Jesus didn’t stand on a street corner declaring He was God in a loud voice. He simply acted as the Son of God would act, His words accompanied by His actions proclaiming the truth about Who He was. He did things only God could do. He healed lepers, He healed the cripples, He forgave sins. What do MY actions say about who I am and more importantly WHOSE I am? Some serious food for thought there.

In His Grip:

Paige