Mark 2:1-12 A Hole in the Roof
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 2, 2018 Mark 2:1-12
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Several days later, Jesus returned to Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. Such a large crowd gathered that there wasn’t room for them, even in front of the door.
(Understanding the Passage) There were large crowds following Jesus after He healed the leper so that He had to stay outside the cities and towns. That means that many times He was camping out, sleeping on the ground. When Jesus warned the scribe “Just then, a scribe came up and told him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest.” (Mat 8:19-20), He was simply stating the truth. Thus, after a certain amount of time they had to go into the town to get supplies and to wash and rest in a house. They went back to Capernaum which made sense as at least 4-5 of the disciples were based in this town and had family there.
When news got around that Jesus was in Peter’s home, lots of people came there. It is interesting that even though there was such a large crowd that the paralyzed man couldn’t get through, the scribes were inside, near to Jesus. I doubt that they were there because they arrived first. It is more likely that they arrived fashionably late and pushed their way in based on their position in society.
Jesus was speaking his message to them when some people came and brought him a paralyzed man being carried by four men. Since they couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof over the place where he was. They dug through it and let down the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.
(Understanding the Passage) Jesus was preaching to the crowd when four men approached the house carrying their friend the paralytic. Jesus had been in Capernaum before and healed people. Probably, after He left, the paralytic told his friends that he wished he could have gone to Jesus and been healed or at least know that his sins were forgiven, but there was no way that he could get there. It may be that he had wasted away enough that he was nearing death and thinking about facing God in judgment. He may have lamented his past sins and wanted to go to a rabbi to repent but knew it would be useless to approach the rabbis in town.
His friends had probably been thinking about how they could move him if Jesus ever came to Capernaum again. When one of them heard that Jesus was in Peter’s house again, he would have run to tell the paralytic. Maybe, the paralytic begged his friend to take him there. The friend rounded up three or more friends, and together they lifted the man and carried him to Peter’s house. It’s a lot slower to carry a man than to simply walk, and it would have taken time to gather everyone together, so they arrived late, and the house was already packed. The paralytic might have started despairing which would have made his friends more determined to find a way to Jesus, or in desperation, the paralytic himself may have been the one to suggest the next move. Anyway, one of them was not going to give up and came up with the idea of digging through the roof. From Jesus’ comment about forgiving sins, it would seem that this man had a sinful past. Usually birds of a feather flock together and these men seem to not be bound by society’s restrictions, so I wonder if the group had sometime in the past dug through a roof in some kind of escapade.
F. F. Bruce’s Commentary says, “The roof of the house where Jesus was teaching would probably consisted in matting, covered with earth and twigs, suspended over rafters, and would be reached by an outside staircase.” (page 1159). However, in the account in Luke it tells of taking away tiles, so Bruce’s commentary may be wrong.
I imagine that when the first sounds of digging came, no one paid attention because the crowd’s noise and Jesus’ talking covered up the sound, but when the first pieces of ceiling began to fall, people might have started to look up, and as more fell, they all pushed back away from the falling ceiling creating an empty space. They had to create a hole big enough for the man lying on a mat to be lowered through, so the hole was pretty big. As the big pieces started to fall, I imagine that Jesus stopped talking and looked up. Did He know what was happening and who was up there yet? If He did, I imagine that He was either smiling or trying to hide a smile as He watched the events unfold. Peter, on the other hand, was probably frowning and getting angry.
When Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some scribes were sitting there, arguing among themselves, “Why does this man talk this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. “Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?” he asked them. “Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he told the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!” So the man got up, immediately picked up his mat, and went out in front of all of them. As a result, all of the people were amazed and began to glorify God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
(Understanding the Passage) Jesus looked on what they were doing as faith. They had to totally believe that Jesus could solve the problem in order to go to that much work and destroy property. They were focused on one thing. If they could get to Jesus, their problem would be solved. At this point, Jesus knew what the biggest concern of the paralytic was and met that need by telling him that his sins had been forgiven. The paralytic believed him and felt relief.
The scribes, on the other hand, revealed their true attitude which was the opposite of faith. They started muttering to their neighboring scribes (like I do when I totally disagree with a point made in church). “That’s wrong. Who does He think He is? Only God can forgive sins. He’s putting Himself in God’s place. That’s blasphemy against God!” By this time their mutterings had probably gotten louder and attracted the attention of the crowd away from the paralytic and the roof. Jesus addressed their problem and stated that He had authority on earth to forgive sins and that He would prove it. Then, He told the paralytic to get up and take his mat home. The paralytic followed Jesus’ command immediately. The people praised God and believed in Jesus’ authority.
I imagine the paralytic’s friends watching everything through the hole in the roof, and when they saw their friend leaving, they raced down and met him on the outskirts of the crowd. I’m sure they did the equivalent of high fives and pounding each other on the back. I’m sure there were tears of joy and hugging and talking “Did you see . . . ? And can you believe it?” Sometime, either that evening or the next day, I’m pretty sure at least some of them went back and repaired the roof. If they had done something like this before, they had probably had to fix the roof also, so they may have already known how to do it.
I’m sure Peter and his family were not too thrilled to have a hole in the roof but were amazed at everything that happened. If the paralytic’s friends did not come back to repair the roof, the 12 disciples had a big job to do when the crowd left.
Capernaum seems like a redneck town, a factory city. It seems to be a place that fits Jeff Foxworthy’s definition of redneck, “a glorious absence of sophistication.” The people of Capernaum, including Peter, seem to be more direct, to-the-point, gitt’er-done, forget-society’s-rules-if-they’re-not-practical type of people. In other words, they seem to be the rednecks of Jewish society. In Bethany and Jerusalem, people seem more held back and controlled. We do not hear of them swamping Lazarus’ house, but in Capernaum, the whole town sees nothing wrong with invading Peter’s home.
(Revelation of God) God looks at the motives of our hearts that direct our actions. When an action is based on the need to be close to God and the belief that everything will be okay if Jesus is with us, God sees our faith and smiles. He approves of us even if we do not express our desire to be with Him in socially acceptable ways.
(Application and Prayer) I need to look beyond people’s outward actions to the motivation inside, and if that motivation is of faith, I need to overlook behaviors and words that might seem rude or “bad” by my social standards. Please help me to see the heart of people and to bring healing to their hearts regardless of their observable behavior. Give me the patience and love that I need to speak to their hearts and bring them Your comfort and peace.