Take Up Your Bed and Walk
(Mark 2:1-12 NIV)
Illus. A man was walking in a graveyard late at night and fell in an open grave. Though he tried for hours, he
could find no way out, so he just laid in one end of the grave and waited for daylight. Later, another man fell
in. He tried and tried and could not get out. Then the man laying in the other end said, “There is no way to get
out of this grave.” But suddenly, the second man found the inspiration to get out and was gone.
I will tell you what kind of religion I believe in. I believe in a religion that works. People all over the world have
been disillusioned with church because, too often, church hasn’t changed anything.
Too often, the church becomes just a club where believers can go to escape the stresses of everyday life and
make each other feel better. Now that can be a good thing. We need that. but if that is all it is, we are missing
the vital reality that we are to be agents of change and of hope in this world. You are the "salt of the earth".
When faith becomes a formality – just something you say you believe in – instead of being a life giving and life
changing force, then that faith becomes useless and irrelevant.
If your religious conviction is no more than a set of rules and beliefs, and that is satisfying to you, allright. But if
you need something more than that, then take a good hard look at Jesus. He was never satisfied to leave
people the way he found them. He always left them better than he found them.
Let’s look at this verse by verse:
“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.”
1. When God works miracles, people will gather. Miracles are a great crowd gatherer.
But the miracles are not the main purpose. Miraculous relieve suffering and that is good. God wants to help us
and make our lives better. But the main purpose is to heal the soul – the spirit – the eternal part of man.
Spiritual matters are primary.
The house where Jesus was teaching was full of people expecting miracles.
2. I believe when we come together in His name, we should expect miracles.
Illus. Prayer meeting called to pray for rain…”where are your umbrellas?”
“Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.”
3. Friends bring friends to Jesus. Do you know someone who has problems? Do you know someone who
needs a miracle? These friends actually carried their friend to the meeting so he could get his needs met.
“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 paralysed man was lying on.”
This was a drastic measure. They tore up someone’s roof to get this man to the front of the line. (I’ve seen
people do many things to get to the front of the line, but never that drastic.) They considered the man’s need
more important that the roof. The roof could be repaired, but the man needed a miracle and no obstacle could
prevent them from getting to Jesus.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
4. God honors faith. Without faith nothing happens.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Look through the gospels. Jesus always commended faith.
In Matt 8:10 a Roman centurion (high ranking officer) said that if Jesus would just command the miracle to be
done, then it would be so.
In Matt 9:22 Jesus told the woman who touched him that he faith had brought her healing.
In Matt 9:29 He told the blind man that according to his faith he would get his miracle.
5. Notice what He said to the man. “Your sins are forgiven.” He forgave his sins. Why?
“Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’
s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Two reasons:
a. Sickness is a result of sin in the world. Sin came in when Adam sinned. Before that everything was perfect.
Sickness is part of the curse upon sin. But sin has brought sickness into our world.
Possibly this man’s sickness was related to a personal sin, because Jesus forgave his sin in order to heal his
illness. Sometimes sickness is a punishment from God or a way to get our attention. Maybe this man was sick
because he was overcome with guilt or anger or some other sinful emotional condition. These things can make
us sick and cause serious physical problems.
Actually healing the body was the easy part for the Lord of the universe. Forgiving sins is a much larger issue.
b. The spiritual issue was the first priority. Physical healing is good, but spiritual healing is more vital. God
addresses the spiritual issues first.
“Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them,
"Why are you thinking these things? 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…."He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
Notice:
a. Jesus knew what they were thinking. “…for who knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in
him? (1Co 2:11)…”
b. He confronted their lack of caring for the individual. They were more concerned about their religious rules
than people’s needs.
c. He proved his position as God by knowing their thoughts and by forgiving sins.
d. He stated that He did indeed have power to forgive sins ‘on earth’.
The inference also is that we can forgive one another and that can be healing. We don’t have God’s authority
to forgive sin, but we have the power to set people free from the prisons of guilt we hold them in.
Illus. When the gospel was being translated into the Icelandic language, they did not have a word for
forgiveness. So they created a long word by putting the words of a phrase together. It was “not-being-able-to-
think-about-it-anymore”.
6. So, to prove his power to forgive sins, he told the man to pick up his bed and go home.
“He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,
saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"”
7. Now, I want us to think about this man. What did this healing do for him?
Think about this. This kind of change in life can have serious results.
- The man had been in bed for some time.
- He had grown accustomed to others taking care of him.
- He had adapted to a new lifestyle of disablity.
Now, things would change. His social standing had become based on his disablity. Now that is was gone,
people would relate differently to him. Now he would have to work instead of beg. Now his family would depend
on him instead of him depending on them.
Make no mistake – this healing would cost this man something. Would he be willing to pay the price?
Application: How about you? Are you willing to allow God to take away your dependencies and your excuses?
Are you willing to have your life drastically changed by a drastic healing? It make be a physical healing or some
other kind of miracle that will make you a whole person and will take away those earthly props you have been
leaning on.
Many people will go back to their previous conditions because they were more comfortable with their problems,
sickness, or disability than they are with their freedom and resposibility.
Jesus says, “Take up your bed and walk.”
In other words, “whatever it is that is keeping you down, get over it and get on with life.”
It seems that most people would rather moan about what is not right – whine about why they can’t overcome life’
s problems, than to do something about it and move on. It seems that complaining is more popular than prayer,
although the two are very similar.
- Prayer is telling God about your problems.
- Complaining is telling everybody else.
- Prayer is stating the problem and expecting a miracle to solve it.
- Complaining is stating the problem and expecting sympathy.
- Prayer is positive and encouraging.
- Complaining is negative and destuctive.
God will help to relieve your problems and remove your obstacles, but you have to be willing to move forward
when he does.
These men could have whined about their friend’s handicap and gotten everyone to feel sorry for him. But how
much better it was to take him to Jesus and get him a new start on life.
Illus. A man was walking in a graveyard late at night and fell in an open grave. Though he tried for hours, he
could find no way out, so he just laid in one end of the grave and waited for daylight. Later, another man fell
in. He tried and tried and could not get out. Then the man laying in the other end said, “There is no way to get
out of this grave.” But suddenly, the second man found the inspiration to get out and was gone.
I will tell you what kind of religion I believe in. I believe in a religion that works. People all over the world have
been disillusioned with church because, too often, church hasn’t changed anything.
Too often, the church becomes just a club where believers can go to escape the stresses of everyday life and
make each other feel better. Now that can be a good thing. We need that. but if that is all it is, we are missing
the vital reality that we are to be agents of change and of hope in this world. You are the "salt of the earth".
When faith becomes a formality – just something you say you believe in – instead of being a life giving and life
changing force, then that faith becomes useless and irrelevant.
If your religious conviction is no more than a set of rules and beliefs, and that is satisfying to you, allright. But if
you need something more than that, then take a good hard look at Jesus. He was never satisfied to leave
people the way he found them. He always left them better than he found them.
Let’s look at this verse by verse:
“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.”
1. When God works miracles, people will gather. Miracles are a great crowd gatherer.
But the miracles are not the main purpose. Miraculous relieve suffering and that is good. God wants to help us
and make our lives better. But the main purpose is to heal the soul – the spirit – the eternal part of man.
Spiritual matters are primary.
The house where Jesus was teaching was full of people expecting miracles.
2. I believe when we come together in His name, we should expect miracles.
Illus. Prayer meeting called to pray for rain…”where are your umbrellas?”
“Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.”
3. Friends bring friends to Jesus. Do you know someone who has problems? Do you know someone who
needs a miracle? These friends actually carried their friend to the meeting so he could get his needs met.
“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 paralysed man was lying on.”
This was a drastic measure. They tore up someone’s roof to get this man to the front of the line. (I’ve seen
people do many things to get to the front of the line, but never that drastic.) They considered the man’s need
more important that the roof. The roof could be repaired, but the man needed a miracle and no obstacle could
prevent them from getting to Jesus.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
4. God honors faith. Without faith nothing happens.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Look through the gospels. Jesus always commended faith.
In Matt 8:10 a Roman centurion (high ranking officer) said that if Jesus would just command the miracle to be
done, then it would be so.
In Matt 9:22 Jesus told the woman who touched him that he faith had brought her healing.
In Matt 9:29 He told the blind man that according to his faith he would get his miracle.
5. Notice what He said to the man. “Your sins are forgiven.” He forgave his sins. Why?
“Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’
s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Two reasons:
a. Sickness is a result of sin in the world. Sin came in when Adam sinned. Before that everything was perfect.
Sickness is part of the curse upon sin. But sin has brought sickness into our world.
Possibly this man’s sickness was related to a personal sin, because Jesus forgave his sin in order to heal his
illness. Sometimes sickness is a punishment from God or a way to get our attention. Maybe this man was sick
because he was overcome with guilt or anger or some other sinful emotional condition. These things can make
us sick and cause serious physical problems.
Actually healing the body was the easy part for the Lord of the universe. Forgiving sins is a much larger issue.
b. The spiritual issue was the first priority. Physical healing is good, but spiritual healing is more vital. God
addresses the spiritual issues first.
“Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them,
"Why are you thinking these things? 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…."He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
Notice:
a. Jesus knew what they were thinking. “…for who knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in
him? (1Co 2:11)…”
b. He confronted their lack of caring for the individual. They were more concerned about their religious rules
than people’s needs.
c. He proved his position as God by knowing their thoughts and by forgiving sins.
d. He stated that He did indeed have power to forgive sins ‘on earth’.
The inference also is that we can forgive one another and that can be healing. We don’t have God’s authority
to forgive sin, but we have the power to set people free from the prisons of guilt we hold them in.
Illus. When the gospel was being translated into the Icelandic language, they did not have a word for
forgiveness. So they created a long word by putting the words of a phrase together. It was “not-being-able-to-
think-about-it-anymore”.
6. So, to prove his power to forgive sins, he told the man to pick up his bed and go home.
“He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,
saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"”
7. Now, I want us to think about this man. What did this healing do for him?
Think about this. This kind of change in life can have serious results.
- The man had been in bed for some time.
- He had grown accustomed to others taking care of him.
- He had adapted to a new lifestyle of disablity.
Now, things would change. His social standing had become based on his disablity. Now that is was gone,
people would relate differently to him. Now he would have to work instead of beg. Now his family would depend
on him instead of him depending on them.
Make no mistake – this healing would cost this man something. Would he be willing to pay the price?
Application: How about you? Are you willing to allow God to take away your dependencies and your excuses?
Are you willing to have your life drastically changed by a drastic healing? It make be a physical healing or some
other kind of miracle that will make you a whole person and will take away those earthly props you have been
leaning on.
Many people will go back to their previous conditions because they were more comfortable with their problems,
sickness, or disability than they are with their freedom and resposibility.
Jesus says, “Take up your bed and walk.”
In other words, “whatever it is that is keeping you down, get over it and get on with life.”
It seems that most people would rather moan about what is not right – whine about why they can’t overcome life’
s problems, than to do something about it and move on. It seems that complaining is more popular than prayer,
although the two are very similar.
- Prayer is telling God about your problems.
- Complaining is telling everybody else.
- Prayer is stating the problem and expecting a miracle to solve it.
- Complaining is stating the problem and expecting sympathy.
- Prayer is positive and encouraging.
- Complaining is negative and destuctive.
God will help to relieve your problems and remove your obstacles, but you have to be willing to move forward
when he does.
These men could have whined about their friend’s handicap and gotten everyone to feel sorry for him. But how
much better it was to take him to Jesus and get him a new start on life.
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