In this incident we see both the humanity and the deity of the Slave-Savior. When the Lord referred to the paralytic as a child, the Lord conducted Himself in a very human manner. The Lord addressed him in an intimate way, in a way full of human kindness. But when the Lord told the paralytic to rise, take up his bed, and go home, He manifested His deity. Therefore, the Lord’s deity was manifested in His humanity. His humanity was full of virtue, and His deity was full of authority. The Lord’s glory seen here was the expression of His authority. The Lord’s word to the sick man to rise, pick up his bed, and go home was not a word of teaching; it was a word of authority. This word was confirmed by the fact that the paralytic then received the ability, the energy to rise, pick up his bed, and walk. All those gathered there saw the Lord’s authority, glory, and honor. Therefore, in this case we see the Lord’s humanity displayed in its virtue and perfection and His deity manifested in its glory and honor.
When the paralytic picked up his bed and walked away, the mouths of the opposers, the scribes and the Pharisees, were shut. They were put to silence by the Lord’s authority in His deity and also by His kindness in His humanity. Here we see a slave; yet in Him God is manifested. Because many saw the Lord’s deity manifested in His humanity, they followed Him.
According to the incident in 2:1-12, the first thing we must learn in our preaching of the gospel is to help others have their sins forgiven. It is significant that the Lord did not say to the paralytic, “I am sorry that you are sick. But I want you to know that this sickness comes from sin. Because you are paralyzed, you must have sinned in some way. You know what sins you have committed.” If the Lord had preached to the paralytic like this, he may have argued with Him, saying, “No, I have always been a good person. I have been kind to others. But suddenly I became paralyzed.” We should learn of the Lord Jesus not to argue with others concerning their sins. That will only stir up their anger and cause them not to care for what we have to say. We should follow the Lord Jesus to tell people that their sins are forgiven. Of course, this does not mean that we should literally repeat the words, “Your sins are forgiven.” My point is that we need to follow the principle seen here.
When we approach people for the preaching of the gospel, we need to be inwardly praying. However, we should not let them know that we are praying. Then the Lord may lead us to say something like this: “Dear friends, only the Lord Jesus, as the Son of God and our Redeemer, has the authority, power, and ability to forgive our sins.” Instead of saying “your sins,” we should say “our sins.” The Lord could speak of “your sins” because He was not a sinner. We, however, must include ourselves, for we know that we too are sinners. This means that we should not tell people that they are sinful. Instead, we should tell them that only the Lord has the ability to forgive us our sins. We may go on to say, “In our human life, all troubles and problems come from our sins. We need to have our sins forgiven, and only the Lord Jesus has the authority to do this.”
If we present the gospel to others in the proper way, the Holy Spirit will honor our speaking. Then those who listen to us will be deeply impressed with the word that only the Lord Jesus can forgive our sins. The result is that this word concerning forgiveness will be sown into them as the seed of the gospel.
Another way to help people experience the forgiveness of sins is to read Mark 2:1-12 with them in a living way. We may take out a pocket version of the Gospel of Mark and read it in a prevailing way in order to impress others with the fact that only the Lord Jesus can forgive a person’s sins. Then we may help them see that peace comes as the result of having our sins forgiven. According to the sequence of the cases in 2:1—3:6, the first way to carry out the preaching of the gospel is to help others have their sins forgiven.