The five incidents vividly recorded in Mark 2:1-28; 3:1-6 form one particular group, showing how the Slave-Savior as the Slave of God carried out His gospel service to care for the needs of fallen people, who had been captured by Satan and carried away from God and the enjoyment of God, that they might be rescued from their captivity and might be brought back to God as their enjoyment.
1) As God with divine authority, He forgave the sins of the victim of sickness that He might release him from Satan's oppression (Acts 10:38) and restore him to God. The scribes considered this to be against the theology of their religion (vv. 1-12).
2) As a Physician to the sick and miserable people, He feasted with the tax collectors, who were disloyal and unfaithful to their race, and with sinners, who were despised and isolated from society, that they might taste the mercy of God and be recovered to the enjoyment of God. This was condemned by the self-righteous yet merciless scribes of the Pharisees (vv. 13-17).
3) As a Bridegroom with the sons of the bridechamber, He caused His followers to be merry and happy without fasting. Thus He annulled the practice of the disciples of John (the new religionists) and the Pharisees (the old religionists) so that His followers could be delivered from the practices of their religion into the enjoyment of God's Christ as their Bridegroom, with His righteousness as their outer clothing and His life as their inner wine in God's New Testament economy (vv. 18-22).
4) He allowed His followers to pick the ears of grain in the grainfields on the Sabbath so that they could satisfy their hunger. Thus, apparently they broke God's commandment concerning the Sabbath, but actually they pleased God because the hunger of Christ's followers was satisfied through Him, as the hunger of David and his followers had been satisfied with the bread of the presence in the house of God. This indicates that in God's New Testament economy, it is a matter not of keeping the regulation of religion but of enjoying satisfaction in and through Christ as the real Sabbath rest (vv. 23-28).
5) On the Sabbath He healed a man who had a withered hand, caring not for the keeping of the Sabbath but for the health of His sheep. Thus He indicated that in God's New Testament economy it is a matter not of keeping regulations but of imparting life. For this He was hated by the Pharisees, the religionists (Mark 3:1-6).
All five merciful and living ways taken by the Slave-Savior to carry out His gospel service contradicted the formal and traditional religion and were therefore abhorred by the fleshly, stubborn, and lifeless religious leaders.

Or, in the house.

Signifying a sinner paralyzed by sin, one who is unable to walk and move before God.

Their zeal in seeking the Slave-Savior's healing compelled the seekers to break through the proper barrier — a wild act. See note Matt. 9:2¹.

A small mattress or pad. So in vv. 9, 11, 12.

Faith here, which issues from hearing the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17), indicates that the seekers had heard of the Slave-Savior.

This loving word spoken by the Slave-Savior implies kindness; in this His human virtue was expressed.

Sins are the cause of sickness. The Slave-Savior's word here touched the cause of sickness so that a healing effect could come. Once the sins had been forgiven, the sickness was healed.

The scribes and Pharisees, as the religionists of the old and dead religion, were motivated and used by Satan, the enemy of God, to oppose, resist, and frustrate the gospel service of the Slave of God throughout His ministry (vv. 16, 24; 3:22; 7:5; 8:11; 9:14; 10:2; 11:27; 12:13, 28). They thought that they were worshipping God and were zealous for Him, not knowing that the very God of their forefathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — was immediately in front of them in the form of a Slave who desired to serve them. Blinded by their traditional religion from seeing Him in the divine economy, they plotted to kill Him (Mark 3:6; 11:18; 14:1); and they actually did kill Him (Mark 8:31; 10:33; 14:43, 53; 15:1, 31).

The reasoning scribes, who considered themselves to be according to the Scriptures and theology, acknowledged the Slave-Savior merely as a man, even a despised Nazarene (John 1:45-46), not realizing that the One who forgave the sins of the paralytic was the very forgiving God incarnated in the form of a lowly man (see note Matt. 9:3^2a), who came as a Slave to serve them with His salvation.

The Slave-Savior knew the seekers' faith, the sick one's sins (v. 5), and the scribes' inward reasoning; this indicates that He was omniscient. Such omniscience, which manifested His divine attribute, unveiled His deity, showing that He is the omniscient God. See note Mark 11:2¹.

See note Matt. 9:5¹.

The Slave-Savior was the very God incarnated. As such, He did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped. Outwardly, He was in the likeness and fashion of man, even in the form of a slave, but inwardly, He was God (Phil. 2:6-7). He was the Slave-Savior, and the God-Savior as well. Hence, He had not only the ability to save sinners but also the authority to forgive their sins. In this incident, although He as God forgave people's sins, He asserted that He was the Son of Man. This indicates that He was the true God and a real man, possessing deity and humanity. In Him men could see both His divine attributes and His human virtues.

See note Matt. 9:5². This was the healing of the paralytic. See note Mark 1:31¹.

This is the fulfillment of the Slave-Savior's word, "Rise, take up your mat." It was easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," than to say, "Rise and take up your mat and walk." Since the latter word was fulfilled, surely the former also, the easier one, had been fulfilled. This is strong evidence that the Slave-Savior has authority to forgive sins on earth.

See note Matt. 9:6^2c.

See note Matt. 9:6³.

See note Mark 1:21².

For vv. 14-17, see notes in Matt. 9:9-13.

A tollhouse, where taxes for the Romans were collected. Matthew was one of the tax collectors (Matt. 10:3), probably in a high position. Tax collectors were condemned, despised, and abhorred by the Jews (Luke 18:11; Matt. 5:46 and note 2). Yet Matthew was called by the Slave-Savior and was later chosen and appointed as one of the twelve apostles (Mark 3:18). What mercy!

As an answer to the Slave-Savior's call, this action implied that he was abandoning his dirty job and his sinful life.

See note 6¹. The scribes were self-righteous in condemning the Slave-Savior for His feasting with tax collectors and sinners.

This indicates that the Slave-Savior considered Himself a Physician to the people who were sick with sins.

This indicates that the Slave-Savior, as the Savior of sinners, came to save only sinners.

For vv. 18-22, see notes in Matt. 9:14-17.

For vv. 23-28, see notes in Matt. 12:1-8.

See note Mark 1:6¹.

Implying that the Slave-Savior is the real David, the King of the coming kingdom of God.

Man was not created for the Sabbath; rather, the Sabbath was ordained for man that he might enjoy it with God (Gen. 2:2-3).

This shows the Slave-Savior's deity in His humanity. He, the Son of Man, was the very God who had ordained the Sabbath, and He had the right to change what He had ordained concerning the Sabbath.