thoughts on Mark ch.2

2:1-5 Jesus honored the faith of the paralytics friends by forgiving his (the paralytics) sins.

2:5-12 Saying "your sins are forgiven" is easy, there's no way to prove that it has been done or not done, but to HEAL the paralytic? The proof (in this case) or lack thereof is instant. It is likely the same level of difficulty to heal as to forgive sins, so Jesus proving that He had authority to do one also proves He has authority to do the other.

2:17 In the law, a sick person was cast out, an unbeliever or foreigner was outside the promises and could not be allowed in. Jesus is breaking down their ideology and replacing it with love, love that reaches out and pulls toward the broken, the hurting, the foreigner, the sinner.

2:18-20 Jesus' ministry was a 3-1/2 year mission trip. The disciples were feasting in the presence of the messiah, but when He left, they would mourn and fast for 40 days until they received the promised helper, the Holy Spirit.

2:23-28 The whole of everything God created is for us. To nourish and provide all our needs
after the need for God himself. The plants, the animals, all the earth is to feed and nourish us so we can turn around and praise the one who created it all. The sabbath was created to fill man's needs, not God's. It is a day of healing. Repairing or replacing what has been used up. If we are being down-trodden, or hurt, or broken by way of the sabbath, then the sabbath has no meaning, or worse really, we have reversed God's plan for it, for us.