Greek
1
ΚΑΙ εἰσῆλθε πάλιν εἰς Καπερναοὺμ δι᾿ ἡμερῶν καὶ ἠκούσθη ὅτι εἰς οἶκόν
ἐστι.
2 καὶ εὐθέως συνήχθησαν πολλοί, ὥστε μηκέτι χωρεῖν μηδὲ τὰ
πρὸς τὴν θύραν· καὶ ἐλάλει αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον.
3 καὶ ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτὸν παραλυτικὸν φέροντες, αἰρόμενον ὑπὸ
τεσσάρων.
4 καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι προσεγγίσαι αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον,
ἀπεστέγασαν τὴν στέγην ὅπου ἦν, καὶ ἐξορύξαντες χαλῶσι τὸν κράβαττον, ἐφ᾿
ᾧ ὁ παραλυτικὸς κατέκειτο.
5 ἰδὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ·
τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου.
6 ἦσαν δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων ἐκεῖ καθήμενοι καὶ
διαλογιζόμενοι ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν·
7 τί οὗτος οὕτω λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι
ἁμαρτίας εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός;
8 καὶ εὐθέως ἐπιγνοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ πνεύματι αὐτοῦ ὅτι οὕτως
αὐτοὶ διαλογίζονται ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τί ταῦτα διαλογίζεσθε ἐν
ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν;
9 τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν τῷ παραλυτικῷ, ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ
ἁμαρτίαι, ἢ εἰπεῖν, ἔγειρε καὶ ἆρον τὸν κράβαττόν σου καὶ περιπάτει;
10 ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε ὅτι ἐξουσίαν ἔχει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
ἀφιέναι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἁμαρτίας —λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ.
11 σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε καὶ ἆρον τὸν κράβαττόν σου καὶ ὕπαγε εἰς
τὸν οἶκόν σου.
12 καὶ ἠγέρθη εὐθέως, καὶ ἄρας τὸν κράβαττον ἐξῆλθεν ἐναντίον
πάντων, ὥστε ἐξίστασθαι πάντας καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν Θεὸν λέγοντας ὅτι
οὐδέποτε οὕτως εἴδομεν.
English
2:1 And when he
returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at
home.
2And many were gathered together, so
that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he
was preaching the word to them.
3And they came, bringing to him a
paralytic carried by four men.
4And when they
could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above
him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on
which the paralytic lay.
5And when Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
6Now some of the
scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
7"Why does this man
speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8And immediately
Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within
themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts?
9Which is easier,
to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise,
take up your pallet and walk'?
10But that you may
know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he
said to the paralytic--
11"I say to you,
rise, take up your pallet and go home."
12And he rose, and
immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that
they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything
like this!"
Larger Thought Unit
The larger
unit for this reading seems to be Mark 1:14-3:12. After the baptism of
Christ and his sojourn in the wilderness, Christ begins his ministry by
announcing the kingdom of God and calling disciples. In 1:21, the scene
shifts to Capernaum on a Sabbath day in the local synagogue where Christ
will heal a man with an unclean spirit. The section ends with a similar
scene in 3:1-12, where Christ is again in a synagogue on the Sabbath and
heals a man with a withered hand. The entire unit is marked by controversy
and tension between Christ and his disciples on one hand, and the scribes
and Pharisees on the other. When one looks closely, the hostility begins
slowly in the reading today with the religious authorities ‘questioning in
their hearts’ Christ’s behavior and teaching. By the end of the unit (3:6),
they have left the synagogue and are plotting with the Herodians on how they
might destroy him. One can see here in Mark’s gospel that the stories are
more condensed and, by the third chapter, the stage has been set for the
final events of Jerusalem and Christ’s crucifixion.
Notes
Just
as the ‘son of man’ Ezekiel, although a priest (Ezek 1:3), preached God’s
word not in the temple, but outside it in Babylon, here also the ‘Son of
man’ Jesus preaches God’s word in an undetermined ‘house’ (RSV is misleading
in that it translates
εἰς οἶκόν as
‘at home.’) This is a clear reference to the house-churches of Paul:
wherever God’s word is proclaimed, there God resides. Consequently, one does
not need to go to the Jerusalem temple to be healed from one’s bodily
ailment as well as sin against God. It is God himself who goes out in his
word to meet us wherever we are and to heal us should we put our trust in
his word. Once healed, we are not to go to the temple, but to our own
‘house’ with our own bed, to glorify God. The word of God is not bound to
Jerusalem and its temple. Indeed, the essential function of the temple,
which is the place where sacrifices are offered for the expiation of our
sins, is now carried out fully outside the temple through the ‘word.’ The
reason is that the true sacrificial worship is a ‘word(y) worship’: “I
appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship (the Greek has
λογικὴν λατρείαν)”
(Rom 12:1).
Further resource
Sharyn
Dowd, Reading Mark, Smith & Helwys Publishing, Macon, GA, 2000.
Paul Nadim Tarazi, New
Testament Introduction, Vol.1: Paul and Mark, St Vladimir’s Seminary
Press, Crestwood, NY, 1999; pp.146-48.