Unfortunately, there was no such reaction here. Soon these men were complaining that Jesus’ disciples were not fasting as they were, and as John’s disciples were (2:18–22). Jesus’ answer struck at the heart of what separated His followers from those bound by the Pharisees’ teachings: His disciples did not fast because they were not sad! There is no point in performing outward religious rituals that bear no relation to what is in the heart. That principle cuts religious formalism at the very roots.
The Pharisees and teachers did not say anything to Jesus in Capernaum, but they found their voices in the next incident that Mark records (2:13–17). When Jesus calls Matthew to be one of His disciples, they take heart. They are sure they have something on Him now.
Jesus’ promise to forgive this man’s sins provoked a response from another part of the room. We turn our eyes and see the committee of investigators, ruthless, godless, and having a form of godliness but denying its power. This is the group that would later instigate Jesus’ crucifixion. In Mark 2:7 we find them muttering angrily to one another, “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” You can almost see these men coming to trap Jesus, never taking their eyes off Him, hating the interruption and the unpleasant sight of the paralytic. Suddenly they are energized when they hear Jesus say, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The phrase they use, “this man,” is a derogatory term in Greek. They had come to trap “this man.” They knew that the crowd didn’t hang on their words as it did on Jesus’. They knew they had never attracted a crowd so large that it blocked all the entrances to a building.
What these men had to do—let their friend down through a hole in the roof—was inconvenient, but they did it. It was unconventional, but they did it. It destroyed some property, but they did it. It may have caused bits of debris to fall on the notables, but they did it. They weren’t stopped by the difficulties. Their friend was in need and had to be brought face–to– face with Jesus Christ. And when Jesus saw them, He acted immediately in His love and power.
Mark exposes the evil of their hearts with a vivid contrast between them and the friends of the paralyzed man in the account beginning at verse 3. Notice that neither the Pharisees nor the paralytic and his friends spoke a word to Jesus. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts.
