GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 2:12
Do As I Say
It is likely that every parent has said to their children, “Do as I say.” Implied in this parental declaration is the idea that “I’m bigger than you,” or “I pay the bills here,” or “I put your food on the table,” or maybe, “I’m smarter than you.” Though I can’t remember a particular instance of making this statement to any of our three sons, I am reasonably sure that I did. Then one day, I distinctly remember walking down the hall and facing our youngest son and realizing that I had to look up to meet his eyes. It was at that moment that I realized there needed to be a change in parental strategy. “Do as I say” was doomed as a child-rearing tool.
I was reminded of that parental practice as I worked on a translation of Mark 2:12. Four men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus, who pronounced his sins forgiven, to the scorn of some of his orthodox observers. Then, to show his authority, Jesus told the paralytic to get up. “And he got up, and took the mat, and went out before all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”
For parents, “Do as I say” is based on some tenuous parental authority. For Jesus, the “Do as I say,” was based on his divine authority. There was no calculus by which the forgiveness of sin could be measured, but the authority to command a paralytic to stand, take his mat, and leave as the amazed crowd looked on was indisputable. There is no record of the orthodox grumblers’ reaction, but the crowd was amazed, for they had never seen anything like this before.
The divine “Do as I say” is still true. There are so-called “guardrails”—the Word, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and the community of believers. A faithful child’s reaction is “Yes, Father, speak.”
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