Last week we studied a typical day in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus came to this world to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Today Jesus declares that he came to this world to save sinners. He uses every opportunity to make clear that he has the authority on earth to forgive sins. The people needed to have their sins forgiven in order to enter the kingdom of God. Because only God can forgive sins, Jesus’ words and actions identified him as God. But the Jewish religious leaders would not accept that, and so they began to challenge his claims and ways. Jesus forgave sins of the paralytic, a representative sinner, because he saw his friends’ absolute faith in his power. Not only Jesus forgave his sins but also he healed the man from his paralysis. Let’s learn the faith of four friends of the paralytic and bring many helpless students like this paralytic to Jesus by faith. May God heal our sin sickness by the power of Jesus. I pray that we may accept the good news of the kingdom of God through Jesus from this passage.

PART I. “SON, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN” (1-5)

Look at verse 1. ‘A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.” Before this, Jesus had been preaching the good news of the kingdom of God by traveling from village to village. The public quickly becomes interested when things are happening and affecting people. The healing of the leper and the casting out of demons were very astonishing to the public in the time of Jesus of Nazareth. It is easy to understand why so many were gathered together when they heard that Jesus had come home. Jesus’ popularity spread quickly all over the place through word of mouth. So many gathered at the house that there was no room left, not even outside the door. What did Jesus do for them? Jesus immediately taught the word of life (2). The crowd came and listened to him preach the word. Probably the majority of the crowd came to Jesus for healing like the paralytic. Why did Jesus teach the word to them first? Jesus put a priority in his teaching ministry. The main topic of his teaching was the kingdom of God. He knew that people were suffering under the kingdom of Satan. He wanted to free them from Satan’s dominion and to plant hope in kingdom of God. Jesus shared the secret of the kingdom of God. (4:11) He taught the word to them to solve their fundamental life problem instead of giving them a temporary relief. Jesus believed that the word of God gives them life. Jesus believed that the word of God gives man joy and peace. Jesus believed that the word of God gives man the Spirit of God to overcome the world and be set free from the bondage to sin (Jn 8:31,32). Jesus believed that the word of God would rejuvenate their broken spirit and would restore their relationship with God. As you know, UBF the ministry is devoted to the word of God. That’s the reason why we are called as University Bible Fellowship, not as University Healing or Eating Fellowship. We focus on the ministry of the word. We believe that where there is the word of God, there will be a spiritual revival. The early church grew quickly when they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching. (Acts 2:42) Teaching the word of God to young American student is the most beautiful thing in the world because the kingdom of God will come to one soul. I believed that there is hope of God in America when I saw M. Elijah Park studied the word of God with one student in the kitchen and M. Grace Park studied the word of God with another student in the eagle’s wing the other day. D. L. Moody was not educated well and could not read well because his father died early and his family was poor. He worked in a shoe store for his uncle in Boston. But when he was born again into the kingdom of God through his conversion, his life was changed completely. He began his life of mission as a Sunday school teacher in Chicago. When he had the word of God, people came to him to hear the word of God from all over the world and he became one of the most powerful evangelists in America. The key to have a successful ministry is to teach the word of God to our sheep. That’s the reason why we chose this year’s prayer topic to become excellent Bible teachers. I believe that each fellowship will grow if there are two excellent Bible teachers who love the word of God in it.

Now let’s look at four friends and one paralytic. Look at verse 3. “Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.” There were five men. They were very dear to each other. Most probably, one of them had a stroke and he became a paralytic. This paralytic was unable to walk or drink freely. He needed other’s help even just going to the bathroom. He became powerless and useless to do anything. He had to depend on others all the time. In a modern term he became a handicapped person. His four friends felt his problem as if it were their problem. They had great compassion for him. But they were utterly helpless. One day they heard the news that Jesus had come to Capernaum. They cried out, “Yeah, that’s it!” Suddenly they were strongly convinced that their paralytic friend would get well. While Jesus was preaching, some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.

Why could the men carrying a paralytic not get to Jesus? Look at verse 4. “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” It took a long time for them to carry the paralytic and they were late. To get him to Jesus, they pushed and waded through the crowd until they came near. Still, they could not get him to Jesus. People had already crammed around Jesus for healing.  Each thought that his or her case was most urgent. No one wanted to concede. The crowd did not allow this handicapped man get to Jesus. They implored saying, “Look at my paralytic friend. Let us pass through just one time.” But the crowd responded, “No way. Wait for your turn. Turn is turn. My problem is more serious than yours.” We learn that there is always an obstacle in our way when we try to bring one person to Jesus. But we must overcome any obstacle in order to bring one soul to Jesus. How did they overcome “because of the crowd’’ problem. They were willing to do anything to bring their friend to Jesus. There was no turning back to them.  Zacchaeus the tax collector in Luke 19 faced a similar “because of the crowd” problem when he wanted to see Jesus. He overcame this obstacle by climbing a sycamore-fig tree. (Lk. 19:3-4) How did the four friends overcome this obstacle? Look at verse 4. “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.” They did not see any trees to climb. But they saw the roof. They shouted together, “it is the roof.” They were thinking about “mission impossible.” Let me give you some visual presentation. At that time the roof was not like the roofs on our houses. The roof was a flat top and it was covered with tiles. They lifted the tiles and broke it up. They were destroying someone else’s house. They were violating the law by making an illegal entry. Imagine that some one is breaking our roof right now above me and the debris are falling on our heads. What will be our reaction? It will be unacceptable. It is dangerous. We will be mad. In doing so, they offended many people. They disturbed Jesus’ teaching session by making a lot of noise. The owner of the house might have called the police. But to the friends, it did not matter what might happen to them. They might be sued and arrested and jailed. Nothing stopped them because they loved their friend. They say that a friend in need is a friend indeed. They were indeed beautiful friends to the paralytic. Their compassionate hearts toward him were flaring intensely, so intensely that they could not stop themselves from climbing up and digging a hole through the central part of another’s roof and lowering the paralytic in front of Jesus. They brought him to Jesus. Though paralysis was known to be incurable, it did not matter to them. They brought this man to Jesus believing that Jesus would make him whole. This paralytic was blessed to have such friends who were willing to do anything for him.
Jesus said to his disciples regarding friendship, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Modern people are lonely because they do not have true friends to share everything together. These days we can hardly see friendship among men due to their selfishness and individualism. But it is good for us to make friends among men, as our Lord made friends with us. I am glad that senior missionaries maintained their friendship for last 25 years regarding each other as families in Christ. They are willing to sacrifice anything for others and to work together for helping one sheep. These days I was encouraged that Isaac team members became good friends among themselves. They gave a surprise party to M. Joshua Kim last Friday. The idea came from S. Anthony Mokre. Last Sunday we had a pizza party for the second and chosen generation team. There were some leftover pizzas. Shannon asked the waitress wrap up some pizzas. I thought that it would be his evening snack but he said, “this is for Joshua and Abraham at the prayer house.” He demonstrated his friendship for his teammates. Where can we find a true friend today? He is near us. He is Jesus. Jesus is our true friend who gave up his life for us so that we may find life eternal. He carried us while we were unable to walk due to our paralysis. He carried us on his back while we were lying on our mat. Hymn 123 says, “What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear!”

What did Jesus think about their action? Look at verse 5. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”  Jesus did not rebuke their rude behavior of breaking the roof. Jesus did not condemn their illegal entry. Rather, Jesus saw their faith. Jesus saw their motive. Jesus saw their inner heart to love one friend in need. Jesus saw the faith of the four friends. Jesus did not see outward actions but see our faith when we do something for our friend. Jesus saw their beautiful friendship among themselves. What does this teach us about faith? They had faith that as long as they would bring the paralytic friend to Jesus, Jesus would heal him. They were not just thinking about helping him to get healing. Their faith showed in action. Faith must be expressed in action. They had to work together when they carried him holding one corner of the mat. They were able to do so because they had faith in Jesus. They overcame many obstacles when they had faith in Jesus. Jesus saw their faith and forgave the sins of this paralytic. We learn that faith of the shepherd is important for helping one sheep. Do you think our sheep would not blessed if we are faithful to God for them. Do you think our children would not blessed if we are faithful to God for them.  I realize we need the faith of four fellowship members to bring one person to Jesus. What is the best way to bring the students to Jesus? We have to pull them to Jesus with faith. They cannot come to Jesus by themselves due to their paralysis. We have to become their feet until they meet Jesus personally.
What did Jesus do for the paralytic? Look at verse 5. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” To people’s eyes, this paralytic was a source of anguish because this man was burdensome and smelly to everyone he met. But to Jesus, he was like one of his own sons. To Jesus, he was a man created in the image of God. Jesus hoped that he would be fully restored. Next, Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus knew this man needed to be healed of his paralysis immediately. But Jesus did not think that paralysis was his fundamental problem; Jesus knew it was sin that made him paralyzed. Jesus knew it was sin that made him utterly powerless. Jesus wanted to solve his root problem, that is, his sin problem. So Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Here we learn that Jesus came to this world to solve our sin problem. People think that their human condition makes them unhappy. So they work hard to improve their human condition. Still they remain unhappy. It is sin that makes people unhappy. But nobody can forgive our sins. President Clinton gave pardons in the last minutes to many criminals. But his pardons cannot forgive their sins. Only Jesus can say, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” People suffer mostly due to their sin problem.
 Let’s think for a moment about why the paralytic is comparable to a representative sinner. In the Bible, a paralytic is regarded as a passive sinner, for he is powerless to do anything. Why is this man a sinner though he did not harm others and did not violate the law. He is also a burden to others all the time, instead of being a blessing. In Genesis 1 God created man in his own image and commanded man to carry out his mission to be fruitful and increase in number. God created man to be a source of blessing. But when man sinned, he was cursed and became a source of curse to everyone around him. Like paralysis, sin makes man powerless (Rom. 4:6) We could not do anything right. We could not even walk to Jesus. Sin deprives man of holy desires. Sin separates man from God. It was not a physical paralysis but a spiritual paralysis that made him become a sinner. One woman was paralyzed completely but she was able to live for the glory of God when she was saved by Jesus. When we are paralyzed by sin, we are unable to glorify God but fall into self-pity. These days many able young people are paralyzed by their sinful desires and became useless. Once we were paralyzed by our sins and we were complaining, blaming, fatalistic, unthankful, critical, hateful, irresponsible, sorrowful, shameful, unforgiving, depressed, burdensome, unhappy, and negative. But Jesus forgave our sins when we repented of our sins. We were freed from the paralysis. We began to praise God. We were thankful, joyful, happy, positive, faithful and loving, serving, getting up early, responsible, repentant, forgiving, and graceful. There are many spiritual paralytics. They always depend on others and blame others when things do not go their way. They need Jesus’ healing. Once M. James Park was like a corpse due to his spiritual paralysis caused by his family situation. But when he met Jesus, he was cured from his spiritual paralysis and began to praise God and became a powerful missionary. Once I was a paralytic. I always blamed M. Esther whenever there was a problem because I had no one else to blame. I was very dark and fatalistic. But Jesus carried me all those years and forgave my sins and now I can live for the glory of God. Praise Jesus who came to forgive our sins.

PART II. “GET UP, TAKE YOUR MAT AND WALK” (6-12)

As Jesus’ work grew and grew, the religious leaders sent out a group of people to check up on Jesus, and they were already sitting there. When they heard Jesus say, “Your sins are forgiven,” they thought to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming!” (7;Lev 24:16) Theologically, they might be right because only God can forgive sins. But they did not see Jesus’ compassion on the paralytic. They did not see Jesus’ power to heal the paralytic. They did not see that Jesus is the Messiah promised to come. They were spiritually blind. They were so jealous that they only wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus knew that they did not know about man’s fundamental problem, that is, the sin problem. They felt okay. So he said in verses 9,10, “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” Jesus demonstrates his power to forgive sins (10-12). The environment was very hostile. If Jesus wanted to help this man further, he had to risk his life. But Jesus decided to demonstrate his power to forgive the man’s sin (10). Jesus looked around at the people for a while, then turned his attention to the paralytic and said, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home” (11). Look at verse 12a. “He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.”  What a great sight! Now he was complete physically and spiritually. Jesus proved his authority by healing this man completely, body and soul. Now this paralytic could play basketball and have a new life. He could marry the woman of his dream. He can help his mom in the kitchen.  Historically, people did not even know what sin was, though they suffered endlessly because of sin. Even if they knew what sin was, they were helpless to do anything. In history, Jesus is the only one who has power to forgive sins. So Jesus wants us to come to him to receive the forgiveness of sins. When the people of Capernaum saw the paralytic pick up his mat and walk, they marveled and said, “We have never seen anything like this!” (12b) People marveled at Jesus’ power to forgive man’s sins. Jesus’ declaration of his power to forgive man’s sin is good news of great joy for all mankind. What a remarkable story! May God bless us to have faith in Jesus that our sheep can be healed by Jesus. Let’s read the key verse 10a.