Mark 2:1-12 meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Mark 1:1-12 are Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke 5:17-26.

Mark picks up the narrative several days after Jesus had healed the leper (Mark 1:40-45).

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home (v 1).

The pronoun—He—refers to Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus returned to Capernaum several days after He had healed the leper (Mark 1:40-45). Capernaum was located on the northern shore of Galilee and it served as the headquarters for Jesus’s ministry. This was why Mark referred to Capernaum as Jesus’s home.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-6) and He grew up in Nazareth (Matthew 2:22-23, Mark 1:9, Luke 2:39-40, John 1:45), but Capernaum was the home of His ministry (Matthew 4:13).

Previously in Capernaum, Jesus had:

• Amazed crowds with His teaching in a synagogue (Mark 1:21-22)
• Cast out an unclean spirit from a demon-possessed man (1:23-27)
• Miraculously healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:30-31)
• And performed numerous other miracles of healing and exorcism there (Mark 1:32-33)

After those things, Jesus went about Galilee preaching and healing (Mark 1:39) and His reputation grew. Therefore, when He had come back to Capernaum it was heard that He was at home.

It seems a crowd had quickly gathered around Jesus (v 5) once again.

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them (v 2). 

Mark says that He was speaking the word to them. This indicates that Jesus was likely preaching about “the gospel of God” (Mark 1:14) also known as “the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:15). The term—the word—may suggest that Jesus was speaking scriptures. If so, it would seem likely He would be using some of the same scriptures concerning Himself which He will use later to show how He fulfilled prophecies to a pair of disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:25-27).

The Gospels do not tell us precisely where Jesus was speaking. They only indicate that He was inside some sort of building while He was speaking the word. We know Jesus was speaking to the crowds from inside a building because there was a door and a roof (v 4). He might have been in someone’s house.

The crowd which had gathered to see and hear Jesus was substantial. There were more people than there was space inside for them to gather. And Mark adds that there was not even room near the door. This indicates how hungry and eager people were to hear Jesus teach. The entire front of the building was so surrounded that newcomers could not even get near the door of the building He was speaking inside.

Luke reports that within the crowd that had gathered to hear Jesus, “there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem” (Luke 5:17).

Jerusalem was typically a three-day journey to Capernaum. It seems these religious leaders had come to Capernaum specifically to investigate Jesus. These authorities possibly came in response to investigate the miraculous news of the healing of the leper (Mark 1:40-45).

After He healed the leper, Jesus told the leper to “show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them” (Mark 1:44). The only records of a leper being healed were the results of miracles. So, when a man who was known to be a leper reported to the priests that Jesus had miraculously healed him, it naturally grabbed their attention—so they sent a delegation to the home of Jesus’s ministry in Capernaum to investigate if He might be the Messiah.

The presence of these Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem and Judea indicate that Jesus got the response He expected when He sent the leper to the priest as a testimony to them.

Mark and Luke both share this story about Jesus’s healing of the paralytic and his interaction with the religious authorities (Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26) immediately after they told about Jesus’s healing of the leper (Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16). The miraculous healing of the leper appears to be linked to events surrounding this miracle.

While Jesus was speaking from inside the crowded building, four men brought a paralytic to Jesus to be healed by Him.

And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men (v 3).

A paralytic is a person who suffers from paralysis, a condition where they lose the ability to move or control one or more parts of their body. This condition can result from injury, illness, or other issues affecting the nervous system. The loss of movement is often permanent for many paralytics.

Many paralytics are unable to move their legs, which makes moving from place to place extremely difficult. Such appears to have been the condition of this paralytic because he was being carried by four men.

The Gospels do not identify the four men who carried the paralytic. But evidently, they were people who loved this man. They were likely family or good friends of his.

Apparently, when these four men had heard that Jesus was back in Capernaum, they learned where He was speaking and decided to go and pick up their paralytic friend and carry him to Jesus so he could be healed. But when the four men carrying the paralytic arrived at the place where Jesus was speaking, they encountered a problem.

They were unable to get to Him because of the crowd (v 4a).

Jesus was inside the building, and it was so crowded that there was no longer room for them inside, and neither was there any room outside the building near the door.

The four men would have to wait for the crowds to clear before they could bring their paralytic friend to Jesus. But this would risk missing the chance for their friend to be healed by Him. Perhaps Jesus would dismiss everyone when He was finished and not be able to receive any visitors. Perhaps they would not be able to recognize Jesus as He exited the building and not know who to ask. (After all, this was still early in Jesus’s ministry).

Whatever the reason, these four men felt an urgency for their friend, and they did not want to lose this opportunity for him to be healed, as they believed only Jesus could do.

So, they improvised.

They removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying (v 4b).

Buildings and homes in ancient Judea often had an outdoor stairway that led to the roof. The area above the roof served as an outdoor space, not unlike a balcony or a porch. Buildings were often made of solid wooden beams that were plastered over with thatch and mud.

Apparently, the building Jesus was speaking inside of had an outdoor stairway leading to the roof for these four men to carry their paralytic friend up. Once there, they were able to dig an opening through the plastered thatch and mud that was wide enough for them to let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

It was by this remarkable and innovative method that the four men with their persistent faith were able to bring their paralytic friend to Jesus.

Mark does not comment about how their unexpected digging or the unusual sight of lowering a man on a pallet through a freshly cut opening in the roof interrupted Jesus’s teaching. Jesus seemed unbothered by these things. He was impressed by their incredible act of faith.

And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (v5).

Mark tells us that Jesus saw their faith. It is not totally clear from the context who their includes. At a minimum, it seems their faith refers to the four men who brought the paralytic man to Jesus. But the paralytic man himself could also have been counted as one showing faith that Jesus could heal him. He had apparently agreed to his friends’ plan to take him to Jesus, or he may have even initiated the idea and asked his friends to carry him. The group as a whole, the four men and the paralytic whom they were carrying, all showed faith. When Jesus saw their faith, He saw their act of love and expression of hopeful belief.

Their faith was simple and remarkable. It was simple because they believed Jesus had the power to heal their friend from his condition of paralysis. It was remarkable because it required thoughtfulness, effort, and innovation to place him on a pallet and carry him to Jesus.

They even had to cut an opening in the roof to reach Jesus because the crowds surrounding Him prevented them from coming near. Their faith demonstrated both belief and love, and it put those things into good action. Their faith displayed the “serve-first” lifestyle and righteousness that Jesus described when He delivered His kingdom platform in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7):

"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
(Matthew 7:12)

They were serving their friend, who was physically unable to come to Jesus on his own, believing that He would heal him. It was their faith in Jesus and love for their friend that moved Jesus.

Jesus addresses the paralytic with an unexpected and startling statement: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 

This was surprising because the paralytic was brought to Jesus for the purpose of healing him of his paralysis. There is no indication that he was brought or was lowered through a roof to be forgiven of his sins. It is also startling because, traditionally, the only one who could forgive a wrong would be either the person wronged or God Himself. Given that this appears to be the first encounter between Jesus and the paralytic, there would be no prior opportunity for the paralytic to have personally wronged Jesus or need to seek forgiveness. In telling the paralytic that his sins are forgiven, Jesus implies that He is the primary party who has been offended. By making this statement, Jesus is speaking as though He is God.

This greatly disturbed some of the scribes who were present and offended by Jesus's remark.

But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” (vv 6-7).

When Jesus declared the paralytic’s sins forgiven, these scribes accurately perceived that Jesus was acting as though He were God. However, at least some of these scribes did not believe that Jesus was actually God, and were offended at hearing what they took to be blasphemy.

If Jesus was not God, then what He said would have been blasphemous. But Jesus really was Almighty God, and therefore, it was not presumptuous or blasphemous of Him to act as though He was really Himself.

The scribes’ lack of faith stands in stark contrast to the remarkable faith of the paralytic’s friends. The scribes’ unbelief was not merely neutral, but it came from a heart that was negatively predisposed against Jesus.

There is an irony in the fact that their evil thoughts accusing Jesus of blasphemy were, in themselves, acts of blasphemy.

Even though some of the scribes did not believe that Jesus was God, they were mistaken. Jesus was and is God. He knew the reasoning of their hearts and the evil within their hearts that fueled their unbelief. And Jesus addressed their inner skepticism directly.

Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?” (v 8).

With this rhetorical question, Jesus confronted their silent, evil reasoning about Him. Their thought process might have been something like this: "If Jesus is making this claim and presuming that He is able to forgive sins as only God can do, He is asserting that He is God, but since Jesus from Nazareth does not align with our preconceived notions of God, He must be blaspheming."

Jesus followed this challenge with another question.

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?” (v 9).

The scribes (and everyone else) likely hesitated to answer. From an earthly perspective, it is much easier to say to someone, “Your sins are forgiven,” than to tell a paralytic, “Get up and walk.” Forgiveness is intangible and cannot be measured or proven by human means. One could claim forgiveness without any tangible evidence to validate it.

Conversely, if someone commands a paralytic to get up and walk, the outcome is immediately observable. If the paralytic can walk, it demonstrates that the one who issued the command possesses the authority and power to perform such a miracle.

Jesus then told the unbelieving scribes:

“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” (v 10a).

The Son of Man had multiple meanings in Jesus’s day. It was a Messianic title and it was an expression, meaning “someone.” Jesus was referring to Himself as the Messiah, the Christ (“Christ” is the Greek term for Messiah), when He used the term: the Son of Man. His meaning was clear for all to hear for those that wanted to hear (and those that did not), but He stated shrewdly so that it would not be easy for others to accuse Him of saying He was the Messiah and using that to condemn Him.

To learn more about the significance of this title “Son of Man,” see The Bible Says article: “The Son of Man.”

This is similar to how Jesus did not outright say, “I am God”; but He demonstrated through His words (and later in healing the man) He was God when He said: Son, your sins are forgiven. In both the instance of His use of the phrase “Son of Man” and His statement your sins are forgiven it would be difficult for His enemies to use His words against Him.

When Jesus said, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He was clarifying that the healing of the paralytic was meant to serve as proof to the scribes (and everyone else) of His authority on earth to forgive sins. In other words, if the paralytic was able to get up and pick up his pallet and walk on Jesus’s command, this would prove that Jesus also had the authority to forgive sins as only God could forgive sins.

The point is to demonstrate to the Jewish leaders that He is the promised Messiah.

As soon as Jesus said to the scribes—But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—He turned and said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” (vv 10b-11).

Jesus made this bold statement in part to prove His authority to forgive sins, and in part to reward the friends’ remarkable faith, and in part to love the paralytic. He was providing all of them undeniable evidence of His power. But He was also demonstrating that He was the long-awaited Messiah promised to Israel (John 10:37-38).

By performing this miracle, Jesus underscored that witnessing such works brings with it a greater responsibility to believe (Matthew 11:21-23).

Mark writes that when Jesus commanded the paralytic to pick up his pallet, the paralytic did so:

And he [the paralytic] got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone (v 12a).

Jesus demonstrated His authority as God and the Christ to forgive sins, and asserted His identity as the Son of Man who is the Messiah by healing the paralytic, allowing him to walk home with his bed.

This dramatic event should have challenged and transformed the scribes' flawed reasoning. Their thought process might have shifted to something like, "Clearly, this is the work of God's power, so our prior assumptions must be mistaken." Everyone present saw the paralytic do these things. There was no denying that it happened. This appears to be the reaction of the amazed crowds.

They were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (v 12b). 

It is clear that they were astonished by the miracle that healed the paralytic. However, their amazement likely extended beyond just the miracle itself. They were probably also struck by the dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the unbelieving scribes.

The scribes, established as authorities and accusing Jesus of blasphemy, were confronted with undeniable proof of His divine authority and power. Jesus demonstrated both divine healing and the authority to forgive sins, achieving a decisive victory while the scribes faced a humiliating defeat. The crowds, as Mark recounts, were not only amazed by the miracle but also by the display of God’s glory. They glorified God, recognizing that God was working through Jesus.

Interestingly, in Luke’s recounting of this miraculous event, he writes that on this particular day, “the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing” (Luke 5:17b). This seems to indicate that as Jesus was dependent upon His Father to teach and perform miracles, He was unwilling to do these things unless the Spirit was upon Him. Some days God’s Spirit was upon Jesus and He performed miracles on those days, and some days God’s Spirit was not upon Him and Jesus did not perform miracles on those days. This is consistent with Jesus’s own testimony that He only did the things that His Father directed Him to do (John 5:19, 30, 8:28).

While the crowds might not have grasped that Jesus was claiming divinity—unlike some of the scribes—they could clearly see that God was manifestly active through Jesus, endowing Him with the authority and power to heal and to forgive sins (v 5).