In Mark 2:12, the crowd reacts to a miraculous healing of a paralytic by exclaiming: "We have never seen anything like this!" And yet the truly significant event that took place was not the healing, nor the unusual property damage (i.e. the removal of the roof over Jesus' head); it was Jesus saying to the young man: "Son, your sins are forgiven" (v. 5). The scribes who heard Him say this didn't like this at all: "Who can forgive sins but alone?" they thought. Blasphemy! Indeed, only God can forgive sins.
And there's the rub: if Jesus -- who should know better -- can dare to forgive a man his sins, and if only God can forgive sins, then it follows that Jesus is God. In v. 9 Jesus asks, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?" Most would say that healing a man would be more difficult, but in fact it's far more difficult to forgive. For Jesus, healing was relatively simple; the same Word through Whom God created the universe can easily restore health and life. But to forgive sins involved crucifixion and death. Perhaps that's what was on Jesus' mind as He responded. "We've never seen anything like this," the crowd says. They haven't seen anything yet.
