Mark 2:1-5, 11-12
Let’s Do Something
We have here the account of a great healing performed on a man who
had the palsy. It is the culmination of a journey undertook by five
men, one being carried by the four. What I would like for us to do is
back up and see the journey at its beginnings. Let’s back track and
see if we can see what it was like before the five arrived at
Capernaum. In fact, let’s see what it was like before there were five
men. Let’s back up to the first.
I. The 1st.
A. The first man to be considered is the one being carried.
1. We do not know his name so I will just call him the
1st.
2. Not much information is given on the 1st so we will
have to draw some conclusions.
B. We know that the 1st had the palsy \\#3\\.
1. That is a paralysis.
a. A Greek lexicon defines the word as "the relaxing
of nerves on one’s side."
b. From the rest of the story, we can deduce that he
could not walk at all, not even enough to limp
his way through the crowds when they got close to
where Jesus was.
2. The Bible does not tell us how the 1st came to be that
way.
a. Perhaps this individual was born this way.
b. Perhaps this individual was made this way through
some trauma to the head or body.
c. Perhaps this person suffered a stroke.
C. Regardless, he was…
1. Helpless - This man was so decapacitated that he could
not travel to Jesus without great aid. He needed the
help of others.
2. Hurting - Whether he was born in this shape or came to
be in it, he had suffered much pain (physically and
emotionally) from it.
3. Hopeless - While man’s knowledge of natural remedies
were probably more advanced back then than they are
now, the medical knowledge needed to help this man
had not discovered yet. And even today, there is
only so much that can be done. This man had no hope
of getting better.
D. Of course we are speaking of the 1st’s physical condition
but his physical condition is a picture of his and our
spiritual condition.
1. \\#5\\ Notice Jesus’ method of healing him was to
forgive his sins.
Mark 2:5 …Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
a. Why? Because the two are connected.
b. We get sick because we are sinners.
c. One is a representation of the other.
2. So the man’s problem was not limited to his body. It
went all the way through to his soul.
E. Here is the situation. This man needed help and he knew
it. He can’t get well on his own.
1. I believe there is at least one time in every
individual’s life (and there are probably many times)
when he or she realizes just how helpless and
hopeless he is.
a. It is not just a physical problem, a relationship
problem, or a financial problem, but a series of
problems going back to a bigger problem.
b. We are sinners who need help beyond our own.
c. At that time, he will look for the One who can
help.
(1) He may not know it, but that One is Jesus.
(2) Jesus is the only One who can fix the problem
that ails the human race.
(3) Doctors can help us repair some of the
physical problems; but the root of our
problem is sin; and we need the Physician of
the soul and spirit to fix that.
2. An additional problem is that the realization of our
true problem does not last.
a. This is a spiritual truth produced by the Holy
Spirit.
b. The Bible makes it clear that the devil will not
allow spiritual truth to remain with us for long.
(1) Jesus told the parable of the sower and said
the fowls of the air come to snatch away the
seed.
(2) Paul described it differently.
2Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to
them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine unto them.
(3) Whether Satan is the bird that snatches the
seed or the teamster that puts on the
blinders, the devil steals the recognition
that we need a help beyond our own, leaving
us to think our problems are only physical.
(a) I have seen people lose their jobs and,
in doing so, realize that their whole
life has been one struggle after
another, realize that they need help
beyond themselves, start looking to
God, only to settle for the next job
that comes along and to forget God all
together.
(b) They do the same thing when it comes to
broken relationships and poor health.
(c) We settle for whatever physical help we
can find when what we need is Jesus.
c. Jesus wasn’t going to let that happen to this man
so He told him straight up what his problem was.
(1) It wasn’t bad legs.
(2) It was a sinful soul.
d. The 1st needed to get to the One who could help
him before the devil could steal his recognition
or before his foolish flesh lost the awareness of
what he really needed.
(1) If you are this man, don’t wait until Satan
comes and steals your spiritual awareness.
(2) Turn to Jesus today.
(a) Turn to Him first for salvation.
(b) Turn to Him second for Lordship.
(c) Turn to Him third for help.
II. The 2nd.
A. If little information is given about the man with the
palsy, even less is given about the 2nd.
1. I say the 2nd man because it is very unlikely that
four men passed this paralyzed man at the same time
and all had the same thought; but even if they did,
one of them had to be the one who spoke up.
2. We’ll call this unnamed man, the 2nd.
B. The 2nd was moved with compassion - He saw someone
lacking, something that was needed and he wanted to do
something about it.
1. That’s the basic definition of compassion.
2. Someone needs something, typically something
important, and another is motivated to help.
3. Pity is a poor substitute for compassion.
a. I do not believe that people are necessarily cold
and uncaring.
b. Most probably have some pity.
c. What is pity?
(1) Pity sees the needs of others.
(2) Pity feels for the needs of others.
(3) But pity stops there.
(4) Pity has no action.
d. To my knowledge, the Bible never says Jesus felt
pity for anyone. He felt compassion.
(1) Compassion sees the needs of others, feels
the need of other, and then does something
about the needs of others.
(2) The difference between the 2nd man and the
others was the difference between pity and
compassion.
4. That’s true whether we are talking about seeing the
physical needs of others or the spiritual needs.
a. There probably is not a soul in this building that
does not have pity for the lost; but, sad to say,
there are very few who do anything about it.
(1) Most do not talk to others about Jesus.
(2) Most do not pass out a tract.
(3) Most will not invite another to church.
(4) Most will not even pray for the people that
they know are lost.
b. The difference between pity and compassion is the
action we do to try to help.
5. Yet, we should acknowledge that both pity and
compassion have diminishing returns.
a. Even if you see people and help them, you can only
help them so many times and you can only carry
them so far.
b. At that point, your compassion dries up and you are
left pitying them.
c. But you can only pity them for so long and then you
stop seeing them altogether.
6. The 2nd had compassion. Lord, give us some 2nd’s.
C. The 2nd knew the solution.
1. Doctors had failed, but the 2nd knew Someone who would
not fail.
a. I say the 2nd knew Someone because of his
determination to get the 1st to Jesus.
b. It is one thing to have compassion and want to do
something.
c. It is another to go to the extreme the 2nd went
through to get the 1st to Jesus.
2. It stands to reason that the 2nd knew of Jesus because
he’d already been.
a. The best candidate to help is one who has been
helped.
b. That is what soul winning and evangelism is all
about.
c. Someone defined witnessing as one hungry man
telling another hungry man where to go to get
bread.
d. This 2nd man was a walking testimony to the power
of Jesus Christ.
e. Everyone who has been helped ought to want to help
everyone who has not been helped to get to Jesus!
f. But there was a problem.
D. The 2nd was key but he was not strong enough to get the
1st to Jesus alone!
1. We do not know where the 1st was at the beginning of
this story but as it turns out, even if he was in
Capernaum, the two would have still needed help.
a. Most needs can’t be meet by the resources of a
single individual.
b. If they can, some compassionate soul will probably
meet that need quickly.
c. Since most people’s needs cannot be meet by the
resources of a single individual, God puts us
together in groups. We are:
(1) families,
(2) communities,
(3) cities
(4) states,
(5) nations,
(6) churches.
Ec 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two
shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is
not quickly broken.
2. What the 2nd could not do on his own, he was
determined to do with the help of others.
a. So the 2nd persuaded others to help him.
b. Even good, moral, Christian people must be
encouraged to help others less fortunate.
c. Time, pressures, personal life, work - All tempt
us to be complacent with our needs being met so
that we forget others still have needs.
3. God give us some 2nd’s!
a. Those who see the needs of others.
b. Those who must help with the needs of others.
c. Those who will persuade us to help with the needs
of others.
III. Three Others
A. Just like we know little of the 1st or 2nd, so we know
little of the three others.
B. The 2nd found them. Where he looked, how hard he looked,
how many he talked to to find the three—we don’t know
any of these things.
C. Here is what we do know—or think we know—about them.
1. The three did not originally see the need of the 1st.
a. That is all right.
b. We are not all given the same gifts and
temperaments so we don’t all see people and needs
the same way.
2. It was not the idea of the three to help the first.
In fact, when first presented with the idea, they
may not even have wanted to help.
3. But the work could not have been done without the
three; therefore, they become no less important than
the 2nd and will receive no less a reward!
a. Hence, we cease to speak of the 2nd man now and
begin to speak of the 4.
b. That is the way the Bible speaks of them.
Mark 2:3 …which was borne of four.
c. They are no longer individuals but a team.
d. They did not start that way, but that is what they
became.
D. Get this. As Christians, we may not all be leaders or be
brimming with compassion, but we should all be part of
the team, doing EVERYTHING we can to get people to Jesus.
1. Everyone has their place.
a. The man who first saw the need may have had no
knowledge at all of how to build the stretcher.
b. He may not have even thought of the stretcher!
c. He may have been the force God used to start
getting this man to Jesus and then someone else
figured out the how and put it all together.
d. It really doesn’t matter because they are no
longer individuals but a team with a cause.
2. It was the four who carried the man.
3. It was the four who took him to the roof.
4. It was the four who uncovered the roof.
5. It was the four who let down the bed.
6. It was the four whose faith Jesus saw and healed the
man sick of the palsy.
E. Let’s be part of the team!
1. You may not have seen the need of the lost, but you
can show up to tag doors.
2. You may not be able to operate a ditch witch, but you
can fill in the ditch with a shovel.
3. You may not be able to preach a message, but you
change a diaper.
4. Let’s all do something!
IV. There is one more set of people in this story we need to
consider.
A. \\#4\\ Those in the way.
1. I don’t mean to be ugly to them.
2. These people wanted to see Jesus too.
a. They needed Jesus.
b. They needed Jesus’ words.
c. They needed to worship Jesus.
3. Unfortunately, they were in the way when one who had
a greater need came in.
a. All they had to do was step aside, give a little
room.
b. No one asked them to help.
c. And certainly no one asked them to leave.
d. But, they stood there… in the way.
4. Christian, are you in the way of the work of God?
a. Just getting what you want and doing nothing to
help another?
b. Even worse, perhaps by your actions and your life,
are you the impasse for others to get to God?
5. The four would not be deterred. They found another
way.
B. I just point this group out because I do not want to be
one of those "in the way."
C. I don’t think it is what any Christian would want. Get on
board with the team!
Which are you?
1. The first man? The needy man? In need of Christ? A Lord?
His help?
2. Are you part of the team, helping to get others to Jesus?
3. The by-standard? Doing nothing to help?
4. Maybe even being the one in the way, hindering others from
getting to Christ?
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