A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (6)

 

“…Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Now some of the scribes were…questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  At once Jesus…said to them…Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?  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, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed…” (Mk. 2.5-12)

     Along with exorcisms and healings, there is another predominant theme in the first two chapters of Mark’s Gospel – the forgiveness of sins.  This had been the essence of John’s message (1.4-5).  Whether John’s preaching was the catalyst of what Mark describes as a national movement of repentance, or whether John simply provided the means for the people to give expression to their penitence (by baptism), the opening act of Mark’s narrative portrays a seemingly universal attitude of contrition and pursuit of forgiveness on the part of the people of God.  This is reminiscent of certain prayers of repentance found in passages of the Scriptures that reflect the circumstances of the exilic period (cf. Dn. 9; Ez. 9; Neh. 9).  As Israel’s situation of “exile” extended far past the 70 years predicted by Jeremiah (cf. Dn. 9.1-2) and even past the time of the return to Jerusalem of certain exiles to rebuild the temple and the City of David, various movements of national renewal came into existence – the Pharisees and the Essenes, to take two examples.  The Pharisees were intent on “sanctifying” Israel by instructing all the members of the people of God to go about their daily lives as if they were in the courts of the Jerusalem Temple, the very abode of Yahweh.  The Essenes, on the other hand, elected to isolate themselves from ordinary society along the shores of the Dead Sea in the Judean wilderness.  They understood themselves to be the true Israelites, the faithful priests of God who would be vindicated when Yahweh returned to free his people and establish his kingdom and inaugurate the Age to Come.  Since the Essenes practiced daily immersions in ritual pools, some have speculated that John may have been a member of this desert community before striking out on his own as an itinerant preacher of repentance.  Whether one sought, à la Pharisees, to live a holy life in society or, à la Essenes, sought a solitary sanctification in the wilds of Judea, the objective was the same – to seek God’s forgiveness and thus the end of “exile” (cf. Is. 40.1-2).

     Mark chapter 2 begins with Jesus returning home to Capernaum.  For the second time, Jesus is “besieged” by his fellow townsfolk as they throng the house where he is – this time, his own residence (2.1-2; cf. 1.33, 45).  For the first time in the narrative, mention is made of peoples’ “faith” (2.5; cf. 1.40-42, where the leper demonstrates “faith”, i.e., confidence in Jesus’ ability to heal him).  In response to the faith of the four people who carried the paralyzed man onto the roof, dug through the roof and then lowered him into the house so Jesus could be made aware of him, Jesus declares the paralytic’s sins to be forgiven.  While the Pharisees desired to live as if they were in “the house of God”, Jesus acts as a kind of “human Temple” – all the benefits of Yahweh’s home (healing, forgiveness; cf. 1.43-44) are available wherever he is.  Whether Jesus had some insight into the paralytic’s personal need of a word of forgiveness or whether Jesus’ declaration is a reflection of his – and John’s – overall mission of restoring the people of God, we are not told.  Whatever the case, it remains true that in the prophetic promises of the return from Babylon, national forgiveness and individual healings were inextricably linked (cf. Is. 35.5-10, esp. vv. 5-6).  In response to the scribes grumbling concerning his “obvious” lack of credentials for forgiving sins, Jesus ups the ante and asks a rhetorical question as to whether it is easier to tell the man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to stand up, pick up his mat and walk.  The unspoken message is “if only God can forgive sins, surely only God can heal the lame” followed by an implicit “Just watch me!”  As with the healing of the leper, the thrice-repeated triple formula “Stand up, take your mat and walk/go home” (2.9, 11-12; cf. 1.40-42) drives home the same point – just as the former leper had been “made clean”, this former paralytic had “stood up and walked” home on his own two feet.  In both cases, these former victims had had their agency restored, and had reintegrated society as fully-fledged members of the people of God, free from the burden of guilt.  Healed and forgiven, with a clean bill of health and a clean conscience.  Freedom sure feels good.  All hail the king! (2.12; cf. 1.27-28).