“HAVE YOU HAD A ‘SON OF MAN’ SANDWICH YET?” (Mark Chapter 2)
By Jeremy B. Stopford
TODAY’S “SPECIAL”: “A Trick Funny”
“What’s your father’s occupation?” asked the school secretary on the first day of the new academic year.
“He’s a magician, ma’am” said Little Johnny.
“How interesting. What’s his favorite trick?”
“He saws people in half.”
“Wow! Now, next question. Any brothers or sisters?”
“One half brother and two half sisters.”
INTRODUCTION
So, have you read the title? “Have you had a ‘Son of Man’ sandwich yet?”. What kind of crazy title is that? Pastor, you need a break! Well it is like this: I was reading through this passage every day these past couple of weeks when suddenly a certain phrase struck me, “Son of Man.” It’s use is not limited to the Gospel of Mark. In fact, it appears in the gospels 82 times, with a unique emphasis in each one. In Matthew, with 31 uses, the Holy Spirit tells how the Messiah has become man. In Luke, with 26 uses, the Spirit shares how the Lord Jesus is involved with the intricate details of the human person. In John, with seemingly only 11 uses, the amazing story of the Son of God becoming the Son of Man. And in Mark, with 14 uses, the Son of Man is the Servant of the Lord.
In this chapter alone “Son of Man” appears twice: v. 10, He has authority to forgive sins. That is the bottom layer of bread for our sandwich. In v. 28, He is Lord even of the Sabbath, the top layer of bread. And the fillers? V. 17, where He has not called the righteous, but sinners. That’s the meat. And v. 22, “He pours new wine into new wineskins”, that’s the cheese and lettuce. Good stuff. A “Son of Man” sandwich. Have you had one today? You better hope so, or else you might not belong to the Savior! PRAYER
# 1 OUR TIMING AND CHARACTERS
Another thing which is striking in this brief account are the many characters involved! But first, did you notice the timing? Verse 1 says, “a few days later”. Later than what? Later than 1:45 where the man who had been healed from leprosy was telling the whole world what Jesus had done!
Entering Capernaum, the Son of Man finds another group of people with whom to share His being their Servant. What people?
V. 2: “So many”! V. 3: “some men”, then limited to four of them. Also: a paralytic man carried on a mat. V. 4: the crowd. V. 6: some teachers of the law. Finally, v. 12: “everyone”.
Here’s the point, at any given moment you do not know what kind of people over whom you are being an influence. They could be your best friends – like the ones who carried the paralytic on a mat. They could be the unnamed crowd, and ultimately many people. You don’t know their names, but they are watching what you do. And finally, the religious leaders. You think they are spiritual leaders of your town, but in reality they are simply what the Savior calls in John 10, “hired hands”. They don’t care about the sheep. They simply like the money that they milk from those they supposedly are serving.
But Who is the most important Character in this scene? The Son of Man, of course! He is the One Who is ever present, the One Who alone is worthy of both our worship and of our lives. Look for Him – He has never left you nor forsaken you.
# 2 HIS DEITY AND SERVANTHOOD
The deity of the Son of Man is expressed several times in this brief passage. Did you catch them? Let’s see if we can pinpoint them directly:
1. Obviously, He healed the paralytic man. Did you notice HOW He healed him? Look at verse 10, “He SAID to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He didn’t touch the man. He didn’t lay hands on the man. He didn’t place clay on the man. He didn’t spit on the man. He did nothing physical. BUT He spoke! “I tell you”. I like that. Remember Genesis 1:3, “And God SAID, let there be light.” God is in the speaking business! The Bible shares that near the end of earthly time the Battle of Armageddon will take place, where the forces of God meet one last time with the forces of the enemy of the faith. And how will this battle end? Through might? No! Through greater armor? No! Through General Schwarzkoff-like intelligence? No! No! No! Well, then, how? The description of the Commander of the Lord’s armies, named as the “King of kings and Lord of lords”, is quite vivid: “out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations” (Rev. 19:15) and later, “The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse.”
He spoke, “I tell you.” Has He spoken to you today? WHAT? He hasn’t? Has Facebook spoken to you today? Has ESPN spoken to you today? And HE HASN’T SPOKEN TO YOU TODAY? Why not let the Psalms speak to you? And Proverbs? And maybe a chapter in the gospels? And perhaps a chapter from one of Paul’s letters? And maybe a chapter from one of the prophets? Before you know it, you’ll have had the entire Word of God speaking to you this year! “He SAID, take your mat and go home”.
2. Oh yes, let’s not forget those wise teachers of the law. Jesus says to the paralytic man, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Now please, do NOT go home and say, “the Pastor said, the man was paralyzed because of some terrible sin he committed in his life.” Don’t forget Job. God allowed terrible things to happen to him in order to show to Satan and to the world that Job was a man of faith and integrity. So what is the Son of Man showing by being a servant to this paralytic man? He is showing that the greater need of this man was not the ability to walk, but the grace to have his sins forgiven.
So these self-proclaimed keepers of the law have right before them the Son of Man Who is about to serve them with an amazing God-thing. Rather than bring glory to God, they discuss among themselves their personal ownership of the Lord and what He can and cannot do.
Yet did you catch what the Son of Man did? A simple word: “Why are you thinking these things?” Jesus knew what they were thinking! He knew what they were discussing even if they were completely out of His hearing! By the way, there is no idle word we say that He doesn’t hear, either. But as the Old Testament man of God could hear what the king was saying even in his bedroom, even so the Son of Man could hear the plans of the evil heart in the very place they were.
One of the guidelines of the cults is that they say that Jesus never admitted to being God; He never recognized it; He never said that He is God. Yet here is a perfect example where the Scriptures hone in on an incident which shows Jesus’ deity. IF only God can forgive sins, and to prove it Jesus heals this man, then…Jesus is God!
3. Oh and yes, by that healing the Son of Man also showed that He serves man by forgiving sins. The paralytic’s paralysis was more than just physical. It was of the heart! And the Son of Man sees the heart! Perhaps you memorized Jeremiah 17:9 in Vacation Bible School: “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”. But did you learn verse 10? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” The Son of Man could see the hearts of these wicked self-proclaimed keepers of the law. But He could also see the heart of the paralytic, and knew what hurt was greater. And He took care of both hurts! He forgave the sin! And He raised him up! If we come unto Him, He’ll forgive our sin! And He’ll raise us up, place us on a rock and put a new song in our mouths, even praise to our God! Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord! (Isaiah 40:1-3, Stopford paraphrase).
CONCLUSION
There is one small yet major detail which perhaps is the overlooked amazing part of this story. Before we close for today, let’s look back at the first few verses of this account. A couple of days after the Son of Man healed the man with leprosy, He goes to a different town. Many people. A crowd gathers. A group of very good friends want to bring their friend, a man who is completely paralyzed, to Jesus. But they can’t because of the crowd. So they get on the roof, remove the thatches and other pieces holding the weather out, and lower their friend so that the Son of Man will see him and perhaps even heal him. But what does verse 5 say? Does it commend the paralytic’s faith in his good friends? No. Does it commend the muscles of the 4 friends who were able to carry this completely dead weight friend up to the roof and lower him down? No. But the Son of Man commends the friends’ faith! “When He saw their faith…” then He drew His attention to the paralytic and healed him both inside and out! Wow.
Which leads to the question – who is there around you who needs God’s touch today? But their lives are empty, shells of what God designed them to be. So who can be their faith? You can. I can.
We can bring our friends to Jesus! When the Son of Man sees your faith, He may do great things in the real world in which He has wisely placed you.
May the faith of these who carried this paralytic draw us this week to an intimate walk with the intimate Son of Man.
Close in prayer
Rev. Jeremy B. Stopford, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Earlville, NY
Email: [email protected], Phone: 315-691-4321