Chapter 2
The following commentary is taken from verse-by-verse notes of Chuck Smith, Andrew Womack, and John Wesley. Also used at the notes of The Passion Translation and the New English Translation.
Verses 1-12.
And Jesus having returned to Capernaum, after some days it was rumored about that He was in the house (probably Peter’s). And so many people gathered together there that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door; and He was discussing the Word. Then they came, bringing a paralytic to Him, who had been picked up and was being carried by four men. And when they could not get him to a place in front of Jesus because of the throng, they dug through the roof above Him; and when they had scooped out an opening, they let down the thickly padded quilt or mat upon which the paralyzed man lay. And when Jesus saw their faith - their confidence in God through Him - He said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven you and put away - that is, your sins’ penalty is remitted, the sense of guilt removed, and you are made upright and in right standing with God. Now some of the scribes were sitting there, holding a dialogue with themselves as they questioned in their hearts, Why does this Man talk like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins, who can remove guilt for sins, who can remit the penalty for sins, and who can bestow righteousness instead of all these things - except God alone? And at once Jesus, becoming fully aware in His spirit that they thus debated within themselves, said to them, Why do you argue, debate, and reason) about all this in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about and keep on walking? But that you may know positively and beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has the right, the authority and the power on earth to forgive sins—He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your sleeping pad or mat, and be going on home. And he arose at once and picked up the sleeping pad or mat and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and recognized and praised and thanked God, saying, We have never seen anything like this before!
NET notes. *Capernaum was a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region with a population of about 1,500. Capernaum became the hub of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1). Archaeologists have uncovered what is thought to be Simon Peter’s house as well as ruins of the first century synagogue beneath the later synagogue from the fourth or fifth century A.D.
* A house in 1st century Palestine would have had a flat roof with stairs or a ladder going up. This access was often from the outside of the house.
* The plural pronoun their makes it clear that Jesus was responding to the faith of the entire group, not just the paralyzed man.
* NT Blasphemy is more than utterances. It could also involve claims to divine prerogatives (in this case, to forgive sins on God’s behalf). Such claims were viewed as usurping God’s majesty or honor. Jesus’ words raised directly the issue of the nature of Jesus’ ministry, and even more importantly, the identity of Jesus himself as God’s representative.
* The term Son of Man, which is a title in Greek, comes from a pictorial description in Dan 7:13 of one “like a son of man” (i.e., a human being). It is Jesus’ favorite way to refer to himself. Jesus did not reveal the background of the term here, which mixes human and divine imagery as the man in Daniel rides a cloud, something only God does. He just used it. It also could be an idiom in Aramaic meaning either “some person” or “me.” So, there is a little ambiguity in its use here, since its origin is not clear at this point. However, the action makes it clear that Jesus used it to refer to himself here.
Wesley. But certain of the scribes — See whence the first offence cometh! As yet not one of the plain unlettered people were offended. They all rejoiced in the light, till these men of learning came, to put darkness for light, and light for darkness. Wo to all such blind guides! Good had it been for these if they had never been born. O God, let me never offend one of thy simple ones! Sooner let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!
They were all amazed — Even the scribes themselves for a time.
Scribes- were doctors of the law and could draft legal documents. Much more than copyists.
TPT note. Anyone can say that “your sins are forgiven” because you cannot see that happen normally. But if someone tells a paralyzed man to walk and the man did not walk, it will prove the speaker a fraud. So, when Jesus healed the man, and he walked, He proved that He could also forgive sins. Both healing and forgiveness of sins flow from Jesus.
*When the crowds were “shocked or amazed at the healing,” the word for shocked in TPT means to “be shocked into wonderment” or “to be out of their minds with amazement. “Salvation not only involves the forgiveness of our sins but gives us the power to rise up and walk.
Smith. The religious leaders develop a critical mindset against Jesus, and it grows. They are going to be finding fault with everything that Jesus does. They’re going to be challenging and questioning everything, and thus, in chapter two, he shows us in each one of the little vignettes that we have in chapter two. We see the fault finding, the criticism of the religious leaders.
Womack. If examined chronologically, this was the seventh of Jesus’ healings. It is also recorded in Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke 5:17-26. In Luke 5:17, “the power of the Lord was present to heal THEM” (emphasis mine). Everyone there could have been healed. That was God’s will, but only this paralytic man received his healing. Why? The simple answer is that this man and his friends were the only ones who reached out by faith and took what was rightfully theirs.
The crowd came because of the previous ministry of Jesus in which He cast a demon out of a man in the Capernaum synagogue (Mark 1:21-27). He also healed Peter’s mother-in-law and then cast many demons out of the townspeople and healed their diseases (Mark 1:28-34). Miracles drew the crowds.
This took place in Capernaum. In the previous chapter, as Jesus left the synagogue in Capernaum, He entered Peter’s house. The healing of the paralytic may also have taken place in Peter’s house.
Notice that Jesus preached the Word before he performed miracles. Jesus was constantly ministering God’s Word and used miracles to confirm the Word He taught. Likewise, the Lord works with us and confirms His Word with signs (Mark 16:20). No Word, no signs.
Look at the men’s determination. The crowd would not keep them from Jesus. Nothing can keep us from Jesus if we want to experience him in His fulness.
All five of the men had faith.
This man needed healing, but Jesus forgave his sins. Jesus may have discerned this man’s heart and gave him what he really wanted. Forgiveness of sins may have also covered the sickness. The only reason anyone gets sick is because of the corruption sin brought into the world. Therefore, forgiving his sins was equal to freeing him from sickness. If only people had this revelation today.
This is unusual for Jesus to refer to this man as “son.” It’s the only time in the Gospels that He referred to anyone as “Son.” It could also speak of the man’s relationship to God.
Faith can be seen. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:8, faith is like the wind. Faith itself is invisible, but saving faith is accompanied by visual corresponding actions (James 2:17-26).
The scribes came to hear Jesus, but their reaction shows their hearts were not right. They were at the meeting to find something wrong, and they pounced on Jesus telling this man his sins were forgiven.
God gave us the mental faculties to reason. In Isaiah 1:18, He invited the nation of Israel to come and reason together with Him. Paul reasoned with people using the Scriptures (Acts 17:2; 18:4, 19; and 24:25). So, we see that rational thought or logic in itself is not wrong. However, in Matthew’s account of this incident (Matthew 9:4), Jesus called these people’s reasoning evil thoughts. Reasoning becomes evil when people fail to consider God’s revealed wisdom (the Word of God - Proverbs 2:1-2 and 5-6). The scribes would have been correct in their thinking if they had been dealing with anyone but Jesus. The Scriptures taught that the Messiah would take away people’s sins (Isaiah 53:5 and 10-12), and they should have used God’s Word as the basis of their reasoning (John 5:39). This is where science and psychology today go astray, because they are trying to find the truth yet reject the source of all truth (John 14:6, 17:17; and Colossians 2:3). Anyone who tries to comprehend God’s creation without taking God and His revealed wisdom into account is operating in evil reasoning and is a fool (Psalms 10:4 and 14:1). “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22, see also 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 and 2:11-16).
The religious leaders took great offense that Jesus forgave the man’s sins. They claimed only God can forgive sins, and they were right. Their theology was correct. But they didn’t recognize Jesus as God. Jesus perceived their thoughts in His spirit, not His mind. He wasn’t operating out of His human ability, although He was sinless; He was operating in the supernatural spirit realm (John 4:24) through the gift of a word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8).
Which is the easiest to say? Well, it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven.” Both are humanly impossible to do, but it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” because there isn’t any way to discern if that happens. Therefore, it would be harder to say, “Be healed,” because all can immediately see whether or not it came to pass. So, Jesus did the thing that was the hardest to say in order to prove that He had the power to do that which was easier to say. If you can do the greater, then certainly you can do the lesser (Luke 16:10).
Jesus healed this paralytic man to prove that He had the power to forgive sins too. We can’t see forgiven sins, but we can see healed bodies. Therefore, the healing of our bodies is a proof of God’s power to do the unseen (Hebrews 2:3-4). If Jesus needed to prove His power to heal hearts, who do we think we are that we can get people to believe without physical miracles? This is one big reason the church isn’t having a greater impact today. We have quit using miracles to confirm God’s Word (Mark 16:20). Jesus didn’t grab this man by the hand and lift him up. He didn’t even touch him. This man and his friends had already proven their faith by their actions in getting to Him. Jesus did tell him to do something that he was totally incapable of doing unless he was healed. This man had to try and move to comply with Jesus’ command. As he did what Jesus said, his healing came. Sadly, most people today have never seen anything like this, because the followers of the Lord aren’t representing Him the way He commanded us to by performing miracles (Matthew 10:7-8 and Mark 16:17-20).
Verses 13-17.
Jesus went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. As Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Wesley. All the multitude came to him — Namely, by the seaside. And he as readily taught them there as if they had been in a synagogue. Many publicans and notorious sinners sat with Jesus - Some of them doubtless invited by Matthew, moved with compassion for his old companions in sin. But the next words, For there were many, and they followed him, seem to imply, that the greater part, encouraged by his gracious words and the tenderness of his behavior, and impatient to hear more, stayed for no invitation, but pressed in after him, and kept as close to him as they could. And the scribes and Pharisees said — So now the wise men being joined by the saints of the world, went a little farther in raising prejudices against our Lord. In his answer he uses as yet no harshness, but only calm, dispassionate reasoning. I came not to call the righteous — Therefore if these were righteous, I should not call them. But now, they are the very persons I came to save.
NET notes. V. 14. While “tax office” is sometimes given as a translation, this could give the modern reader a false impression of an indoor office with all its associated furnishings. The tax booth was a booth located at a port or on the edge of a city or town to collect taxes for trade. These taxes were a form of customs duty or toll applied to the movement of goods and produce brought into an area for sale. As such these tolls were a sort of “sales tax” paid by the seller but obviously passed on to the purchaser in the form of increased prices. The system as a whole is sometimes referred to as “tax farming” because a contract to collect these taxes for an entire district would be sold to the highest bidder, who would pay up front, hire employees to do the work of collection, and then recoup the investment and overhead by charging commissions on top of the taxes. Although rates and commissions were regulated by law, there was plenty of room for abuse in the system through the subjective valuation of goods by the tax collectors, and even through outright bribery. Tax overseers and their employees were obviously not well liked. There was a tax booth in Capernaum, which was on the trade route from Damascus to Galilee and the Mediterranean. It was here that Jesus met Levi (also named Matthew [see Matt 9:9]) who, although indirectly employed by the Romans, was probably more directly responsible to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee appointed by Rome. It was Levi’s job to collect customs duties for Rome and he was thus despised by his fellow Jews, many of whom would have regarded him as a traitor. The tax collectors referred to in the NT were generally not the holders of these tax contracts themselves, but hired subordinates who were often local residents. Since these tax collectors worked for Rome (even indirectly), they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked.
TPT Notes. *The name Levi means “joined,”” united,” and Levi is the same person as Matthew who wrote the first gospel Alphaeus means “changing.” Matthew’s allegiance is changing from being a servant of Rome to being joined to Jesus as His future disciple.
Womack. We focus on Jesus’ miracles and forget He was constantly teaching the people, usually before performing miracles. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). His teaching prepared the people to receive the miracles.
This Levi is Matthew (Matthew 9:9) who wrote the Gospel of Matthew. He was a tax collector, and tax collectors were despised people in the sight of the Jews. They collected taxes for the Roman government. Not only that, but the Romans allowed the tax collectors to overtax the people and keep the difference. So, tax collectors were thieves as well as traitors. Yet Jesus chose a tax collector for one of His closest men.
Matthew’s call is also recorded in Matthew 9:9-10 and Luke 5:27-29. These publicans and sinners had been shunned by the religious establishment and probably hated religion as much as religion hated them. But Jesus had chosen one of them to be in His inner circle. Therefore, the publicans and sinners came to check Him out. Matthew brought his friends to see the One who had impacted his life. This verse concludes by saying they (the many publicans and sinners) followed him. The Pharisees’ criticism of Jesus eating with publicans and sinners was also recorded in Matthew 9:11-17 and Luke 5:30-39.
This Pharisaical attitude is alive and well today. The antidote to this arrogance is to recognize that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are all in the same boat without Christ. Who wants to be the best sinner who was ever sent to hell? Those who despise others don’t really know themselves. Unless we acknowledge that we are sinners, we can’t be saved. Jesus came to save sinners (Romans 4:5). Only sinners need apply. Those who are self-righteous will never come to the Lord, just as those who don’t know they are sick don’t go to the doctor.
Smith. So many of Jesus’ disciples came from the Capernaum area. According to their whole cultural concept, if you would sit down and eat with someone, you were becoming one with that person. Because you see, you had a common sort of a soup and a loaf of bread on the table, and they didn't have knives and forks and that kind of stuff. You just picked up the bread and you pulled off a hunk, and then you dip it in this common bowl of soup out there and you eat it. So, you'd hold out the bread to me and I'd take and pull off a chunk, and you'd pull off a chunk, and we'd both dip together in the soup out there. And then we would eat the bread. But we are both eating from the same loaf of bread; we are both dipping in the same soup. And we know that as we eat that bread, our body is assimilating it, and it's becoming a part of my body; it's becoming a part of me. But that same loaf of bread is becoming a part of your body and becoming a part of you. So, mystically, we are becoming a part of each other. We're becoming one with each other when we eat with each other. I'm becoming one with you as I eat together with you.
Now, that is why the Jew would never eat with a Gentile. They didn't want to become one with a Gentile. And so, when Jesus was eating with these publicans and sinners, in their cultural mind He was becoming one with the sinners, identifying and becoming one with the sinners. "But God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him" (II Corinthians 5:21). He identified with us in order that He might redeem us. And so, they were amazed, they said, "Hey, how is it He's eating with publicans and sinners?"
Verses 18-22.
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskin.”
Smith. Now, the flesh is warring against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And so often the flesh is overcoming the spirit. Well, that's quite obvious. Why? Because I am so faithful in feeding the flesh, and so negligent in feeding the spirit. So, fasting and prayer are a reversal of the normal. I begin to neglect the feeding the flesh and take the time to feed the spirit. And as the result, as my spirit is warring against my flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, my spirit begins to become strong and overcome, and I become victorious. And so that's really where fasting comes in and the purpose of fasting.
What is Jesus saying? He's saying that the religious systems get so set that to revive or to restore them is next to impossible. That when God desires to do a new work, He usually moves outside of the boundaries of the established religious systems because they can't handle the new wine. They can't handle that new work of God. And how true this is. And how we have seen the truth of this in personal observation. How God, when He desires to move with a new work of His Spirit in the hearts of people, unfortunately, has to move out beyond the boundaries of the organized religious systems and has to start up something new to contain that new work of His Spirit, that fresh work of God that He is seeking to do in the world.
Womack. Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast. And at least two of Jesus’ disciples (Andrew was the only one named [John 1:35-40]) were also disciples of John who did fast. Therefore, at least Andrew was accustomed to fasting, and yet he quit doing it when he followed Jesus. We can suppose this was because of the Lord’s leading. The purpose of fasting is not to manipulate God, as is commonly thought. It is to deny self for the purpose of making our souls less dominant and becoming more sensitive to our spiritual man. There is a time to fast and a time not too fast. These disciples were in the presence of God manifest in the flesh. It was a time for rejoicing, not fasting. Jesus didn’t lead His disciples to fast while He was with them. There was no need. They were already in the manifest presence of God. After He rose from the dead and ascended back to His Father, then His disciples did fast (Acts 13:2). Also, Jesus taught that the only way to get rid of certain types of unbelief is fasting and prayer.
The wineskin parable is about how the Old Covenant rituals cannot contain the New Covenant realities. A new wineskin stretched during the fermentation process. Once the wineskin stretched, it became brittle, and to let wine ferment in it again would cause the skin to burst. Likewise, the Old Covenant Law had reached its limit and could not contain the New Covenant grace. There is a new way of relating to God.
Verse 23-28.
Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way. 24 So the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry— 26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. 28 For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
NET notes. V. 23. It means “heads of wheat.”
Wesley. In the days of Abiathar the high priest — Abimelech, the father of Abiathar, was high priest then; Abiathar himself not till sometime after. This phrase therefore only means, In the time of Abiathar, who was afterward the high priest (1Samuel 21:6). The Sabbath was made for man — And therefore must give way to man’s necessity. Moreover, the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath — Being the supreme Lawgiver, he hath power to dispense with his own laws; and with this in particular.
Smith. Human need takes precedence over the law. They're hungry; now, according to the law, when you went through a man's wheat field, you could pick the wheat and eat it. But you couldn't carry any out. If you were going through an orchard, you could pick the fruit and eat it, but you couldn't carry any fruit out. Human need, hunger. God had made provision for hungry people to go in and to take what they needed to satisfy their hunger. And so, the disciples were doing that. They were walking through someone's wheat field, and they just began to pluck the little kernels and eat them. And it was the Sabbath day.
Now, to the Pharisees and the scribes, that constituted a violation of the Sabbath day law; you're not to do any work. But Jesus said, "They're hungry. They're only taking care of their needs; their hungers. David, whom you admire, don't you remember how he, turning the time when Abiathar was the high priest, went in and he and his men were hungry? They were fleeing from Saul, and they went in, and David said, 'Do you have anything?' He said, 'No, I don't have anything, but the showbread here.' David said, 'I'll take that.' And he took the showbread, and he fed his men and all. And that was against the law; only the priests, according to the law, were to eat that showbread." But again, human need, hunger is a higher law.
And then He announced Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. Making that statement that we need to remember, "Sabbath was made for man." It's for man's benefit. Really, we would all be wise to observe the Sabbath, to give our bodies a chance to recuperate. If you spent every Saturday in bed, you'd be a healthier person. Just kick back. Spend the day in bed; do nothing. But we are so geared up, that we press and push all the time. But God made it for you, take advantage of it. Kick back.