What does Mark 2:12 mean?

Jesus' miracles, as with all of God's supernatural interventions, are each for a specific purpose. Some are to validate His message as having come from God. Some are to challenge the authority of the manmade laws the scribes had placed on the Jews. In John 5:1–17, Jesus heals a paralyzed man on the Sabbath and orders him to get up, take his mat, and walk. The incident in John 5 is a challenge to the dozens of laws the scribes have added regarding what Jews can and cannot do on the Sabbath. In this occasion in Mark 2, however, Jesus uses a miracle to validate His authority to forgive sins.

A hardened skeptic might argue that demons could leave a person when their work is done (Mark 1:23–26). They might claim that some skin conditions, even leprosy, could self-heal (Mark 1:40–42). Skeptics might dismiss a fever which breaks (Mark 1:30–31). If someone is particularly astute, they may be able to make a close guess of what someone else is thinking, leaving the skeptic room to doubt Jesus' omniscience (Mark 2:8). But even today, it is rare to watch someone so lame they must be carried suddenly stand up, pick up his cot, and walk out of the room. In other words, this is a miracle not easily—or even possibly—dismissed out-of-hand. The crowd understands this. Their worldview is shaken, and they rightfully praise God for it, "glorifying" God in their response (Luke 7:16). But still, the scribes and Pharisees aren't convinced.

This is a comfort here for those of us who try to be a witness for Christ but come up against faces as set as stone walls. If a person's heart is hardened and their perspective is prideful and rigid, there is nothing we can do or say that will move them. Jesus performs an amazing miracle right in front of the Jewish scholars who should recognize Him as Messiah, but they are unmoved. Instead, they continue to call Him a blasphemer (Mark 2:7), criticize His ministry (Mark 2:16, 18, 24), and seek to destroy Him (Mark 3:5–6), starting the long road to the crucifixion. Like Jesus, our job is to do the will of our Father (Matthew 12:50) and leave the results to Him (Mark 6:11).