After a few days, Jesus went back to
Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. So many gathered there that there was no
longer space, not even near the door.
Jesus was speaking the word to them.
Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was
paralyzed. They couldn’t carry him
through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus
was. When they had made an opening, they
lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Some legal experts were sitting there,
muttering to themselves, “Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.”
Jesus immediately recognized what they
were discussing, and he said to them, “Why do you fill your minds with these
questions? Which is easier--to say to a
paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your bed,
and walk’? But so you will know that the
Human One [the Son of Man] has authority on the earth to forgive sins” - he
said to the man who was paralyzed, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.”
Jesus raised him up, and right away he
picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying,
“We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Today, we are continuing in a
series of messages called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Grace.” Just as a hitchhiker is dependent on the
generosity of someone else to make their journey, so too are we spiritual
hitchhikers, dependent on the generosity of God to make our spiritual journey. We have been deepening our understanding of
grace as the free, undeserved gift of God’s presence in our lives. But how do we get grace, how do we experience
grace in our lives? That’s a good
question, and that question is at the heart of these messages.
I have asked us all to keep an
image in our mind, of God driving around in a great big bus full of grace, and
making periodic stops where people can hop aboard the grace bus for the ride of
their lives. In order to experience the
grace promised, God asks us to do two things - those of you who have been here,
do you remember what they are? Say them
nice and loud for the rest of us: the first thing is to-----show up, and the
second is to-----have an open and willing heart. So you’ve all shown up today - good job - and
I hope your hearts are willing and open to what God might do.
The grace bus has already made two
stops in our series: holy communion, and baptism. God gives us grace in both. The more frequently we receive Communion with
an open and willing heart, the more frequently we receive God’s grace in our
lives. Likewise, though we are baptized
just once in our lives, the more frequently we remember the covenant and
promise God makes with us in our baptism, God’s grace becomes active and real
in our lives. Today, we are invited,
with open and willing hearts, to climb aboard the grace bus as it pulls into
its next stop - healing. May we pray.
We’ve never seen anything like this
Jesus said to the man who was
paralyzed, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” They were all amazed, saying, “We’ve never
seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:10-12).
You think? It is only the 2nd
Chapter of Mark’s Gospel, and Jesus’ reputation is already such that as soon as
he gets to town, a crowd forms to see him, hear him, and be close to him. At the house where he was staying, we are
told that “so many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the
door” (Mark 2:2).
Four men, bearing their paralyzed
friend on a stretcher, come to the house in hopes of getting him close to
Jesus. I am struck by the insight of those
determined friends who know instinctively that healing and wholeness is related
to proximity to Jesus. They arrive,
and the crowd of people is so large and so dense that there’s no way they can
get their friend to Jesus. Yet, this is
only a minor inconvenience & temporary setback.
We know from archeological
evidence that homes in this time and place often had stairs from the ground
leading to a flat roof. The roof was
considered living space, and often used in the early morning and late evening,
away from the heat of the day. And so,
the four men bear the stretcher up the stairs to the roof, lay their friend
down, and literally start tearing the house apart; this is the magnitude of
their determination in getting their friend to Jesus.
You can just picture the
scene. Jesus is standing in the middle
of the house - speaking, teaching, talking, laughing - with the crowd that
gathered. His lunch, interrupted hours
ago, is sitting on the table and has long gone cold. Suddenly, bits of plaster, and wood, and
straw begin to fall from the ceiling onto Jesus, those around him, the floor,
and even onto his lunch. A spectre of
sunlight pierces the cool shadow of the house, and the crowd looks up as the
hole above their heads gets wider and wider.
They are astonished to see four men tearing chunks of the roof away with
their bare hands, and when the opening is finally wide enough, they take the
corners of their friend’s stretcher, and gently lower him down through the roof
to the feet of Jesus (Mark 2:3-4).
This story often elicits the
response - usually from someone on trustees - “What about the building? Did the insurance cover the damage? Did these guys pay to get it fixed?” And yet in the story, the state of the
building is far less important than doing what it takes to get people close to
Jesus.
Faith, child, forgiveness
Verse 5 tells us, “When Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Let’s hit the pause button there.
The word “faith” comes from the
Greek, pistis. Used in conjunction with miracles in Mark, it
implies perseverance - overcoming obstacles in order to get to Jesus. In our text, there are several barriers to
overcome - the crowd blocking the normal and obvious way to Jesus, and the roof
blocking the abnormal and not-so-obvious way to Jesus. The four guys demonstrate their faith in
their perseverance in overcoming barriers to get their paralyzed friend to
Jesus.
When Jesus sees the faith of the
friends, he forgives and heals the paralytic.
Jesus commends their faith, the faith of those
roof-destroying friends. Notice
that is is not the faith of the individual that Jesus commends, but the faith
of his friends - his community. He
didn’t ask for healing or forgiveness, he didn’t confess his sin or profess his
belief. He isn’t what we might call
“deserving,” he’s done nothing himself to receive this gift from Jesus. In other words, it’s about grace. The story is more about the character of God
- who freely gives through Jesus, and the community - who overcomes obstacles
in order to get someone to Jesus - than about the response of the man.
Now, what about the paralyzed man
himself? Jesus calls him, “Child.” The Greek is teknon, which means “child” or “son.” When Jesus addresses him as teknon, he is addressing him with
affection and endearment and a closeness that was reserved for members of the
family.
Jesus hasn’t said word one about
the paralyzed man’s faith. The paralyzed
man hasn’t done anything to deserve any of this, and honestly, how could he,
he’s paralyzed. And yet, according to Jesus, he is a teknon, a child, a son, a precious
member of the family, and according to Jesus, that’s enough.
Reaction of scribes and Pharisees
In every generation, there will
always be those who want to make it more complicated. There will always be some who protest, “It
can’t be that simple!” But it is! At the end of our passage, in verse 12, it
says that “everyone was amazed and praised God, saying, ‘We’ve never seen
anything like this!’” I love that Jesus
seems to elicit two responses that sound very similar, yet are very
different. One group responds
positively, saying, we’ve never seen anything like it – wow! But another groups responds negatively,
saying, we’ve never seen anything like it – whoa!
In the stories of Jesus, this
nay-saying group is sometimes represented by the Pharisees, sometimes by the
scribes, or the experts in the law.
There are found in our story in verses 6 & 7. Whereas others saw what was happening and
were amazed and praised God, the scribes and Pharisees said, “We’ve never seen
anything like this—and we don’t like it one bit!” They didn’t say “Wow,” they said, “Whoa!”
because God wasn’t acting how they expected God to act.
Throughout the Gospels, the
scribes & Pharisees tended to be full of themselves. Whereas the Old Testament prophets had
written “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” (Nehemiah 8:10), the scribes and
Pharisees found their strength and power in knowing the right answers,
following the right rules, and honestly believing they were better than those
around them.
This is the group that is always
opposed to the work of God that is happening through Jesus. Whether in Jesus’ time or in ours, they are
always easy to pick out in a crowd. They’ve
never been known to smile, and they are paralyzed by the fear that somewhere,
someone is getting better than they deserve – which is sorta funny, because we all get better than we deserve! You can see why they don’t like grace very
much, which is why they take such an issue with Jesus, who has the gall to eat
with tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners. Heaven forbid God should move in a way other
than what they expect, let the muttering and grumbling begin. This is exactly what happens when Jesus
pronounces forgiveness for the paralyzed man.
Even so, they’re not fooling
anyone, especially Jesus. He says in
verse 8, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions?” (Mark 2:8). They fancied themselves experts in God’s law,
yet they couldn’t discern the work of God’s spirit in front of their very eyes. The irony is that the scribes and Pharisees
were the ones suffering from paralysis - spiritual paralysis - such that the
transforming grace of God in their midst left them grumbling amongst themselves
and completely unmoved.
What a contrast to those who were
amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!” One group said, “Whoa.” The other said, “Wow.”
Where do we fit in?
Friends, what I want you to
consider this morning is this: where do you fit into this story? Who do you identify with here? You can actually be anyone in this story you
want, except for Jesus. That position
has already been filled. None of us is
Jesus. No one here needs a savior
complex, so let’s go ahead and rule that one out!
But, who do you identify
with? Are you that paralyzed man, lying
on your stretcher? Are you simply part
of the crowd, standing around not really doing anything, but sorta blocking the
way to Jesus? Are you one of the scribes
or Pharisees, whose heart has hardened and become spiritually paralyzed,
casting judgment and grumbling, all because God has the nerve to act however
God wants without having to consult with you?
Or, are you one of the stretcher-bearers - stopping at nothing and doing
whatever it takes to get people to Jesus?
What I have come to realize is
this: at some point in our lives, if we’re honest with ourselves, each of us
probably spends some time being each of these characters.
The scribes and Pharisees and the
man on the stretcher have more in common in this story than they realized. They were both paralyzed. There are a lot of things in life that can
leave us paralyzed - illness, weakness, anger, fear, addiction, circumstances
completely beyond our control. And yet
the good news for today is that Jesus heals the paralytic - physically,
mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
If you’re the paralyzed one in
this story, get some stretcher-bearers.
Find some people in your life who will carry you when your own strength
isn’t enough, who will stop at nothing to get you to Jesus. If you’re not the paralyzed one in this
story, be a stretcher-bearer for someone else. Have compassion, and stop at nothing to get
those around you to Jesus.
Worship today is going to conclude
with the ministry of healing. At various
points in our lives, we all need healing.
Healing comes in many forms - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual,
relational. James 5:14 says, “If any of
you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders
should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” So that’s exactly what we’re going to do
today. If you are in need of healing
this morning in any form, in a few minutes I will invite you to come forward,
where I will anoint your forehead with oil in the mark of the cross, and pray
for the Holy Spirit to work within you to bring healing and wholeness in all
areas of your life. If you would like to
stand in and be anointed for someone else, that’s fine. Others who wish to come forward with anyone
else for prayer and laying on of hands are welcome to do so. If you can’t come forward, but need to remain
in your seat, and you desire anointing and prayer, we’ll come to you. This is an opportunity for all of us to
practice being stretcher-bearers for each other.
Four men brought a man who was
paralyzed to Jesus. Grace was made real
in life through the faith of his friends who stopped at nothing to get him to
Jesus. No obstacle was too great, no
barrier was too high. They just knew
that they had to get their friend to Jesus, whatever it took. Good thing they did, because in the presence
of Jesus, the wounded are healed and made whole. They were all amazed, [as are we], praising
God and saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this” – Wow!
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