Mark 2:1-12
“Notice what you notice.” Today we have Mark’s coverage of the healing of the paralytic. On a first-time reading of this event, the item that is most shocking/surprising to most people is the lowering of the paralytic through a hole in the roof. I can clearly recall my early (and continuing) thoughts on this event, in particular the dust and chunks of material that would have been falling on those gathered in the room below. (Yeah, small tidbit.) And we often think (or are told) of the faith, not of the paralytic, but of those who carried him and let him down. And that’s worth pondering, but not for me today.
There were a couple of things that I noticed. First, right away in verse 1, And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. He was “at home”. I’ve never imagined Jesus “at home”. I always see Him on the road or in a crowd. In fact, we read in Matthew 8:20, And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” However, there is a lot of support for Jesus “taking up residence” at Peter’s house, so it’s nice to know that occasionally He was “at home”.
A second item was more striking, …Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves (NKJV, verse 8). This is powerful, super important for us today. We have noted Jesus’ humanity on a number of occasions, the He was fully human, just like us. And we’ve often wondered how He knew certain things (e.g., go catch a fish and find a coin – Matthew 17:27). In Mark 2:8 it’s clear that Jesus had the same Spirit available to Him that we have to ourselves. Personally, on a number of occasions I have “known” something from out of nowhere. Or how do Carol and I come up with the exact same thoughts at the exact same time?? For me, I have no doubt that we have access to the same Spirit Who spoke to Jesus!! That’s powerful, folks!!
Glory!!