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Mark 2:1. A few days later He came again to Capernaum; and it was heard that He was in the house. Mark 2:2. Many immediately gathered, so that there was no longer room at the door; and He spoke the word to them. Mark 2:3. And they came to Him with the paralytic, who was carried by four; Mark 2:4. and not being able to approach Him due to the crowds, they opened the roof of the house where He was, and, having dug through it, lowered the bed on which the paralytic lay. Mark 2:5. Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: child! your sins are forgiven you. After the Lord’s ascension to Capernaum, many, hearing that He was in the house, gathered in the hope of convenient access to Him. Moreover, the faith of the men who brought the paralytic was so great that they broke through the roof of the house and lowered him. Therefore, the Lord gives him healing, seeing the faith of those who brought it or the faith of the paralytic himself. For he himself would not have allowed himself to be taken if he had not believed that he would be healed. However, the Lord often healed for the sake of faith one offerer, although the offerer was not a believer, and, on the contrary, often healed for the sake of the faith of the offerer, although those offering did not believe. First of all, He forgives the sins of the sick person, and then heals the illness because the most difficult illnesses mostly arise from sins, just as in the Gospel of John the Lord causes the illness of one paralytic from sins. This paralytic mentioned in John is not the same as the one mentioned now; on the contrary, they are two different people. For the one mentioned in John did not have a helping person, but the one now has four; the first was at the sheep's font, and this one was in the house; that one is in Jerusalem, and this one is in Capernaum. You can find other differences between them. But it must be said that the one mentioned in Matthew (Matthew 9:2–7) and here in Mark are one and the same. Mark 2:6. Some of the scribes sat there and thought in their hearts: Mark 2:7. Why does He blaspheme so much? who can forgive sins except God alone? Mark 2:8. Jesus, immediately knowing in His spirit that they were thinking this way in themselves, said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts?” Mark 2:9. What's easier? Should I say to the paralytic: your sins are forgiven? or should I say: get up, take your bed and walk? Mark 2:10. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he says to the paralytic: Mark 2:11. I say to you: get up, take up your bed and go to your house. Mark 2:12. He immediately got up and, taking the bed, went out in front of everyone, so that everyone was amazed and glorified God, saying: we have never seen anything like this. The Pharisees accused the Lord of blasphemy because He forgave sins, since this belongs to God alone. But the Lord gave them another sign of His Divinity - knowledge of their hearts: because God alone knows everyone’s heart, just as the prophet says: “You alone know the heart of all” (1 Kings 8:39; 2 Chronicles 6:30). Meanwhile, the Pharisees, although it was revealed by the Lord what was in their hearts, remain insensitive, and they do not yield to the one who knows their hearts so that He can heal their sins. Then the Lord, through healing the body, confirms that He also healed the soul, that is, through the obvious, He confirms the hidden and through the easiest, the most difficult, although it seemed otherwise to them. For the Pharisees considered healing the body, as a visible action, to be the most difficult, and healing the soul, as an invisible action, the easiest, and they reasoned as if like this: here is a deceiver who rejects the healing of the body, as an obvious matter, and heals the invisible soul, saying: “Your sins are forgiven.” If He really could heal, He would probably heal the body and not resort to the invisible. Therefore, the Savior, showing them that He can do both, says: what is easier to heal, the soul or the body? Without a doubt, the body; but it seems to you the opposite. So, I will heal the body, which is really easy, but only seems difficult to you, and thereby I will assure you of the healing of the soul, which is really difficult, and seems easy only because it is invisible and undeniable. Then he says to the paralytic: “Get up, take up your bed,” in order to further assure the reality of the miracle, that it was not dreamy, and at the same time show that He not only healed the sick man, but also gave him strength. This is what the Lord does with spiritual weaknesses: he not only frees us from sins, but also gives us strength to fulfill the commandments. So, I, who am relaxed, can be healed. For even now there is Christ in Capernaum, in the house of consolation, that is, in the Church, which is the house of the Comforter. I am relaxed because the powers of my soul are inactive and motionless for good; but when the four evangelists take me and bring me to the Lord, then I will hear His word: “child!” For I become the son of God through fulfilling the commandments, and my sins will be forgiven. But how will they bring me to Jesus? - Having broken the blood. What about shelter? The mind is the top of our being. On this roof there is a lot of earth and tiles, that is, earthly affairs; but when all this is thrown off, when the power of the mind is broken and freed from heaviness, when I then go down, that is, I humble myself (I should not ascend as a result of the relief of my mind, but after relief I am obliged to descend, that is, humble myself), then I will be healed and take up my bed, that is, my body, stirring it up to fulfill the commandments. For one must not only rise from sin and recognize one’s sin, but also take a bed, that is, a body, to do good. Then we can achieve contemplation, so that all our thoughts will say: “We have never seen anything like this,” that is, we have never had such understanding as we do now, having been healed from relaxation. He who is cleansed of sins truly sees. Mark 2:13. And Jesus went out again to the sea; and all the people went to Him, and He taught them. Mark 2:14. As He passed, He saw Levi Alpheus sitting at the toll collection, and said to him: Follow Me. And he got up and followed Him. Mark 2:15. And as Jesus reclined in his house, his disciples and many publicans and sinners reclined with him; for there were many of them, and they followed Him. Mark 2:16. The scribes and Pharisees, seeing that He was eating with publicans and sinners, said to His disciples: How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? Mark 2:17. Hearing this, Jesus said to them: It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. After performing a miracle on the paralytic, the Lord went to the sea, probably seeking solitude, but the people again flocked to Him. Know that the more you avoid fame, it will chase you; and if you chase after her, she will run away from you. The Lord had just retired to the sea when the people again ran after Him. However, He left from here too, and caught Matthew on the way. Now called Levi in ​​Mark is Matthew, since he had two names. Therefore, Luke and Mark, hiding his real name, call him Levi. But he himself is not ashamed; on the contrary, he openly speaks about himself: Jesus saw Matthew the publican (Matthew 9:9). So we will not be ashamed to reveal our sins. Levi sat at the collection of duties, doing, according to his duties, either collecting taxes from someone, or drawing up a report, or whatever else tax collectors usually did in the places of their work. But now he turned out to be so zealous for Christ that, leaving everything, he followed Him and in great joy called many to dinner. And the Pharisees begin to blame the Lord, presenting themselves, of course, as pure people. But the Lord said to this: “I came to call not the righteous,” that is, you who justify yourself (he speaks in the form of mockery of them), “but sinners,” however, not so that they remain sinners, but “to repentance,” that is, so that they turn. “To repentance,” he said, “so that you do not think that, calling sinners, He does not correct them at all.” Mark 2:18. The disciples of John and the Pharisees fasted. They come to Him and say: Why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast? Mark 2:19. And Jesus said to them, “Can the sons of the bridal chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?” As long as the groom is with them, they cannot fast, Mark 2:20. but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. John's disciples, as still imperfect, adhered to Jewish customs. Therefore, some of those who came to Christ presented them as an example and blamed Him for the fact that His disciples did not fast equally with those. And He said to them: Now I, the Bridegroom, am with them, and therefore they should rejoice and not fast; but when I am taken from this life, then, being exposed to adversity, they will both fast and mourn. He calls Himself “The Bridegroom” not only because He betrothed virgin souls to Himself, but also because the time of His first coming is a time of no crying and grief for those who believe in Him, and not a difficult time, but one that calms us down with baptism without the works of the law. Indeed, what kind of work is it to be baptized? And yet in this easy task we find salvation. “The sons of the bridal chamber” are the apostles, because they were worthy of the joy of the Lord and became partakers of all heavenly blessings and consolation. You can also understand that every person, when he commits virtue, is “the son of the bridal chamber,” and as long as he has the Bridegroom-Christ with him, he does not fast, that is, he does not perform works of repentance; for why should one repent who does not fall? When the Bridegroom-Christ is taken away from him, when, that is, he falls into sin, then he begins to fast and repent in order to heal sin. Mark 2:21. No one puts patches of unbleached fabric on old clothes: otherwise the newly sewn garment will be torn away from the old one, and the hole will be even worse. Mark 2:22. No one puts new wine into old wineskins: otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will flow out, and the skins will be lost; but new wine must be put into new wineskins. Just as an “unbleached”, that is, a new patch, due to its hardness, will only tear apart old clothing if it is sewn to it, and just as new wine, due to its strength, will tear old wineskins, so My disciples have not yet become strong, and therefore, if we burden them, we will harm them through this, since in the weakness of their mind they are still like old clothing. So, one should not impose the heavy commandment of fasting on them. Or you can understand this way: Christ’s disciples, being already new people, cannot serve the old customs and laws. Mark 2:23. And it happened on the Sabbath that He passed through the sown fields, and His disciples began to pluck the ears of corn along the way. Mark 2:24. And the Pharisees said to Him: Look what they do on the Sabbath, what should not be done? Mark 2:25. He said to them: Have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and those who were with him? Mark 2:26. How did he enter the house of God in the presence of Abiathar the high priest and eat the showbread, which no one was to eat except the priests, and gave it to those with him? Mark 2:27. And he said to them: The Sabbath is for man, and not man for the Sabbath; Mark 2:28. therefore the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. The Lord's disciples pluck ears of corn, as if they were accustomed to live outside the law. When the Pharisees began to be indignant at this, Christ stopped their mouths, pointing to David, who out of necessity broke the law under the bishop Abiathar. Fleeing from Saul, the prophet David came to this bishop and deceived him, saying that he was sent by the king out of dire military necessity. Here he ate the showbread and took back the sword of Goliath, which he had once dedicated to God. There were twelve loaves of bread; They reclined at the table every day, six on the right and six on the left side of the table. Some ask: why did the evangelist call the bishop Abiathar here, while the book of Kings calls him Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21)? We can say to this that the bishop had two names: Ahimelech and Abiathar. It can be explained differently, namely: the book of Kings speaks about the then priest Ahimelech, and the evangelist about Abiathar, the then bishop, and therefore their testimonies do not contradict one another. The priest at that time was Ahimelech, and Abiathar was then the bishop. In the highest sense, understand it this way: Christ’s disciples go on Saturday, that is, in peace of mind (Saturday means peace); Consequently, when they have gained freedom from passions and from the attacks of demons, then they complete the journey, that is, they become guides to virtue for others, plucking and uprooting all earthly and low dreamy growths. For whoever does not first free himself from passions and adjust himself to a quiet way of life cannot guide others and be a leader for their good.