| Mark 1-5 Continued...
"Friends and Faith"
Mark 2:1-12
Mark 2:1-12. "A few days later when Jesus
again entered Capernaum the people heard that he had come
home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even
outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men
came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd,
they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging
through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son,
your sins are forgiven."
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking
to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's
blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they
were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are
you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the
paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take
your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...."He said to
the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them
all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We
have never seen anything like this!'"
Quite an interesting account here in the pages of Mark. Many
times people want to know by whose authority am I preaching.
Someone said to me recently, "What authority do you have to
say those things to me?" Now, while I'm not taken aback by
some questions, because I realize that sometimes people just
want to know the truth. Sometimes people like to put you on
the spot as they did with Jesus, so it's nothing new. I can't
tell you how many times I've heard people say "I don't like
the way the church is organized now. In fact, I don't trust
anything that any man does under the name of religion."
Well, brethren, let me tell you something. It's God the Father
who is our authority, period. No matter what we do in this
life, no matter what line of work we're in, no matter what
type of background we have, no matter what race or culture
we are or come from, it is God the Father who is our authority--God
the Father. Now while that may sound simple enough, it's not
understood readily, is it? In today's gospel message we focus
on that very same principle, the principle of authority. It
is only God who has authority. And he extends that authority
to Jesus Christ. Jesus seemed to provoke, almost deliberately,
the teachers of the law, by saying to the paralytic, "Son,
your sins are forgiven." And as a result this required them
to look at the issue of authority from which Jesus spoke.
Now this particular lesson in Mark 2 focuses on a number of
things. It focuses on the divinity and authority of Jesus
Christ. Mark quotes Jesus as saying "Your sins are forgiven."
And we just sang a hymn--what was that hymn we sang this morning?
It dawned on me when we were singing this, I read the subtitle
where the Scripture it says under "Cleanse me" "If we confess
our sins He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
And here Jesus said "Your sins are forgiven" to this paralytic
man. In the time of Christ, and all of the time before Jesus
Christ, and all of the time after Jesus Christ, it is agreed
that only God can forgive sin. Only God can do that. One would
have to wonder then if Jesus was almost baiting those teachers
of the law who were within earshot, because the Scripture
does tell us they were nearby and were listening to what Jesus
was saying. We wonder if Jesus was saying something by his
statement to address this very subject. And we know that the
Jews of his day were struck by that fact that Jesus spoke
with authority--with authority. Jesus didn't have to wonder
what he was going to say or say it and hope that they wouldn't
be offended by it. In fact, his authority allowed him to say
things that people would be offended by--religious people.
It's not like a lot of the lessons that other teachers of
Jesus' day were saying. This particular text is but a selection,
one selection of an account of Jesus that demonstrates the
controversy with which Jesus spoke and his words created in
an already established area of religion. And so what we find
is that Jesus speaking delivered controversy. He claimed,
Jesus did, to have the authority to forgive sins. That claim
in and of itself was one to ruffle the feathers of those that
were listening. He also claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath.
He also claimed that he was the one who could heal, and he
also proclaimed that it was only by his authority over disease
could this example of healing take place. And he even healed
on the Sabbath day. I think by seeing how Jesus handles himself,
and the devotion that he had to his Father, we can understand
the piety that was associated with him and as a result us.
In order for us to receive the new wine that Jesus was bringing
we had to become new containers. We had to become new wineskins.
And so he proclaimed freedom to those whom he wanted to associate
with. We also see by this short account here in Mark 2 that
this particular text focuses on the authority that Jesus had
over sin and over disease. Jesus had authority over those
two elements. To the local people who were witnessing this,
this was a new thing. It was more than a new thing, it was
a shocking thing. Before their very eyes a paralytic man,
his sins were forgiven, and he was healed by someone of authority--someone
willing to take on the educated religious leaders that were
standing there nearby. What made it even more complicated
was that Jesus was just a regular man to them. Walking in
the flesh, yet claiming to have the authority of God--so much
so that he said he was able to forgive sin. He was able to
forgive sin. (We're going to talk about that in just a moment.)
And he was able to heal diseases. This isn't what the vision
that the Jews had of the Messiah was all about. You see they
envisioned the Messiah coming to overturn a political system.
They pictured the Messiah as bringing in, ushering in an era
of peace. They didn't envision the Messiah coming to forgive
sins, or to heal the sick, or to reach out to the lonely.
Rather, they looked at the restoration of Israel and their
national greatness. To complicate matters, Jesus happened
to be the son of unwed parents, the son of a carpenter walking
and claiming authority given to him by his Father to forgive
sins. This to many, was preposterous, especially to the society,
to the people and culture that saw Jesus. They thought he
was blaspheming because he was proclaiming to possess authority.
Jesus never stood behind anything else other than his Father.
And he boasted his Father's authority in his ministry. Yet
their judgment about Jesus Christ was incorrect. Because he
was God in the flesh. He is God in the flesh [cf. John 1:1-11].
The title that I have for this sermon today is "Friends &
Faith", and I want to go through this account again with that
little bit of a background and look at what we have going
on in this particular account, because I think it's quite
fascinating. Mark chapter 2, "A few days later" verse 1, "Jesus
again enters Capernaum." Now we read last week where the man
with leprosy had fallen on his knees before Jesus and was
healed and Jesus asked him not to go and tell anyone. And
so the man, listening to Jesus, goes and tells everyone. And
from that point forward wherever Jesus went, the cities he
entered into, large throngs of people surrounded Jesus because
they wanted to be healed. And so a few days later when Jesus
enters Capernaum the people heard that he had come to them,
or come home. So many people gathered that there was no room
left. Now Capernaum was a small town. And yet it appears by
these simple words that were given here, that word of Jesus
return to Capernaum spread rapidly through the city, so rapidly,
that when Jesus finally entered Capernaum there were so many
people waiting there for him that there was no room left,
it said, not even outside the door. And Jesus began to preach
to them. That's what he did. He preached to them. Some men
came. And this is where we're going to have to start identifying
some characteristics. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic
carried by four of them. Now this paralytic in this account
is well known to us. We never learned this paralytic's name.
We never will. In fact, in this whole little section here,
the paralytic man never says one word to Jesus Christ. We
don't know what he's thinking. We don't know why he became
paralytic. Was it as a result of an accident? Was it a result
of birth? We don't know, really, anything about the man other
than the fact that he's paralyzed. We don't know how he feels
about these men bringing him there. Did they bring him against
his will? We don't know that. We would like to think that
this man came to Jesus for healing, because he heard of the
great powers that Jesus held. But what we find is that some
men came bringing to Christ this paralytic, four of them.
Four because we could think there is one on each side [corner]
of the stretcher as they carried this man to Jesus. These
four men bring this paralytic to Jesus. Next verse, "Since
they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd they
made an opening in the roof above Jesus." And so here we find
that Jesus was surrounded by people. A lot of times, you and
I, when we try to go to Jesus we think that there's just too
many people for Jesus to see us right now, or for me to pray
to him. But his friends here saw that there were way too many
people in front of them for Jesus to even notice this paralytic
man. So his friends pick him up and they carry him outside
of the building to, it appears to be the side of the house,
and up a back staircase. Now these are his friends. And then
what they do, is says they begin to dig a hole in the roof.
Now if you know anything about adobe construction, which is
this type of housing materials, it's brick and mud and straw
and wood. And they're digging at it and they don't have their
dust-busters with them, so they're not siphoning up the lose
gravel as it's being unearthed here. Jesus inside the house
and those who were around Jesus, immediately wherever this
hole appeared, no doubt, look up and they see the ceiling
beginning to crumble above them. Debris is now falling on
a lot of folks. I don't know which one of them stuck their
head through the opening first, but someone sticks their head
through and says "It's only us. We'll be right there." They
make the hole wide enough so they can lower this paralytic
man through the hole. Jesus, I'm sure, is watching this with
an incredible amount of empathy towards their scenario. Others
are probably wondering "What in the world are they doing?
The roof is going to cave in. They're going to fall. What
are these guys doing?" O.K. They made an opening in the roof
above Jesus and after digging through it, lowered the mat
the paralyzed man way lying on. Now at this point the man
is before Jesus Christ. He still hasn't said anything. He's
before the healer. Jesus, it says here, saw their
faith. He doesn't tell us he saw the faith of the paralytic
man. He saw the faith of those men who brought this paralytic
to Jesus and left him in front of Jesus. Jesus looks at the
man, seeing their faith, he looks at the man and says, "Son,
your sins are forgiven." Now some teachers of the law were
sitting there, thinking to themselves "Why does this fellow
talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but
God alone?" Their immediate reaction to what's taken place
is problematic. This man has just said 'Sin's are forgiven'
to this man on the mat. Jesus knew in his spirit that this
is what is what they are thinking in their hearts. And he
says to them, "Why are you thinking these things?" and then
he kind of throws a riddle to them. "Which is easier to say
to this paralytic man? 'Your sins are forgiven' or to say
'Get up, take your mat and walk'?" Which was easier to say?
There have been times when someone has hurt me deeply, and
there are times when I have hurt people deeply. And people
have come to me or I've gone to someone and I've said to them
"I'm sorry. I apologize." And they've said to me "I forgive
you." And I said, "Thank you." And we go on. You see, it's
possible, it is quite possible for humans to forgive one another's
sins, as they effect us, isn't it? There are times when someone
has sinned against another person. Case in point, a man and
woman are married, and one of the two makes a grave mistake
and sins. The partner is crushed, devastated. But when that
individual comes and is truly repentant, and recognizes the
error of their sin and sees how it has hurt the other individual,
and apologizes probably a thousand times and that other person
is able to say to them and mean it, "I forgive you", that
is an overwhelming human ability to forgive sin. Now, before
you say "Whoa, what is he saying?", only God can forgive the
ramification of sin. Only God can remove the sin as though
it never existed. Only God in his divine authority has the
right to forgive sin. We as human beings have the ability
to forgive one another. We as human beings have the ability
to forgive one another's sins as they effect us. We nowhere
can provide authority or salvation to an individual. You know
that's through Jesus Christ. Jesus says your sins are forgiven.
Which is easier to say? "Your sins are forgiven" or to say
"Get up, take your mat and walk"? "But that you may know that
the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins..."
This is the first time Jesus uses the phrase "Son of man",
and he refers to himself as that. And he says "to show you
that I have authority to forgive sins and to heal on this
earth, he says to paralytic 'I tell you, get up and take your
mat and go home.'" He got up and he took his mat and he walked
out of the place. Now, let's draw some analogies here. The
paralytic man was frozen by his sins into a state of helplessness,
whatever those sins may have been. His friends realize his
helplessness and they carried him to Jesus Christ. We don't
know if this man wanted to go to Jesus, but his friends took
him before Christ. And that's where we intervene and we bring
our friends before Christ. Those who are hurting, those who
need forgiveness of sins, those who need Jesus Christ in their
life. Jesus freed this man by declaring that he was forgiven.
And as a result Jesus was stating that he has the power to
relay God's forgiveness on earth. And therefore we in the
church have been entrusted with the power and authority through
Jesus Christ to tell others that they don't have to be paralyzed
by sin anymore. That it is through Christ's forgiveness and
grace that their sins can be removed. And so we bring our
friends to Christ. The paralytic man could not reach Jesus
because the door was jammed with people. But his friends were
not willing to let this deter them. They didn't see it as
an obstacle, they just saw it, "It's going to take a little
more effort to help our friend out." So in their zeal they
were willing to do something that took a lot of energy and
strength, and it took a lot of courage to do--that is to break
through the roof of a home to help this man out [and this
home was fiery Peter's house!]. What are some obstacles that
you and I face when we try to help one another out? When we
try to help those people out that can't help themselves there
are a lot of obstacles that we will face. There may be relatives,
family or friends who will stand in the doorway and not allow
you to bring that friend to Jesus Christ. That's when we have
to take the back staircase. That's when we have to punch a
hole through the roof. That's when we have to not give
up, as this paralytic's friends didn't. You know,
people shouldn't have to commit acts of desperation to have
access to Jesus Christ. They shouldn't have to do this. Christians,
you and I, are commissioned to make it easy for others to
have access to Jesus Christ, by how we live, and how we include
others in what we do for them. We need a faith that won't
quit. The faith of these friends of the paralyzed man tell
us a compelling story. We don't know any of their names. Yet
the thing that we remember about them is the moment that they
carried their friendship through, because of Jesus Christ.
Many times people are remembered for all the wrong reasons.
There was one mistake that we could make that people will
remember us by forever, no matter how much we apologize or
overcome that mistake. That's unfortunate. That really is
unfortunate. But these particular men, their faithfulness,
has been preserved for 2000 years because of this act of kindness
that they extended to someone who needed it. They wouldn't
take "No" for an answer, or let any obstacles stand in their
way--because they had passion and determination. They also
must have really believed without any hesitation at all that
Jesus Christ could heal the man. Now I know there will be
times when we stumble across people that are our friends who
are hurting, or maybe strangers that will come up to us and
begin a conversation, and it's hard to keep that conversation
going. It's hard, sometimes, even if the conversation is "Christian"
oriented, to sometimes even bring up the name of Jesus Christ.
I know. And I know that we all feel this and go through these
things. But you know what? That's when we need to have the
faith of a friend, and bring up Jesus' name because we believe
in his name. We believe in his authority. And to show us how
much this means to us, Jesus, not knowing anything necessarily
about this paralytic man's faith (or I shouldn't say that--I
should say) we don't read about the paralytic man's faith,
Jesus sees their faith. I can't tell you how
many times in my life, when I thought to myself concerning
my own mother, that things were going to work out for me,
because I knew my mother was praying about it. I trusted in
her faith. I knew she had faith. And I knew she was praying
for me. And I knew, I had no hesitation, to feeling that whatever
the situation was, was going to work out because my mother
was praying about it. I can't describe that, but I can tell
you that I've felt it a million times. So Jesus responded
to the faith of those men. And thus we realize that faith
can move mountains. I have no hesitation in realizing that
our prayer for a piano player is going to be answered. I know
it is, partly because I've asked my Mom to pray for it. I
know she is, I know God's going to answer that prayer.
The stretcher bearers had a faith that wouldn't quit. And
there wasn't an obstacle that they allowed to get in their
way to derail them. And then we realize that we can bring
about examples of moving mountains by having faith. And that's
what it's all about. And Jesus gives us faith, but we have
to exercise it. Again I tell you about my stories in gym,
and working out for this past month has been eye-opening in
so many ways. It's made me realize that the more I put into
practice, and it's only the three times a week that I go there
for an hour or an hour and a half, those three times a week
are yielding results physically for me, and mentally, and
emotionally, and even spiritually, because I'm feeling better.
And while I'm working out I think, you know, this is exactly
how the Christian life is. We have to exercise it, we have
to put it into practice, we have to strain sometimes to take
it to the next level. We have to endure the pain sometimes
because we know it's going to be beneficial. And the whole
time we're exercising we have to drink lots of water to stay
refreshed. We need a lot of the Holy Spirit to stay refreshed,
otherwise our exercise is going to fatigue us more than it
should.
Jesus Christ is our redeemer. Only he can forgive our sins.
Only he can do that, because he's purchased them by is own
blood, satisfying the penalty of death with his life on the
cross once and for all. And as a result he guarantees us eternal
life, salvation. Isaiah said, "I am doing a new thing." Consequently
it's important for us to forget the former things. Our salvation
will be, (in Isaiah 43)'our salvation will be unlike what
the Lord did for Israel. The Lord saved them from Egypt and
became their king. Now the Lord says that it is He who blots
out your transgressions, for my own sake and remembers your
sins no more. This is the new thing that I the Lord will do.'
Paul teaches that believers are given the Lord's of ownership,
to show that he is our Master and that God, who is our gift
of comfort and strength, guarantees that we belong to him.
And it's only as a result through these gifts that our salvation
is achieved.
And so we take another look at this passage because it's so
unique that the faith of this paralytic man is just never
discussed, it's never expressed, and he is healed with an
incredible healing. You know, Jesus usually says when he heals,
"Your faith has healed you." And in this account he doesn't
say that. He says "Take up your mat and go home." We don't
even know if this man ever followed Jesus again. We don't
know if this man ever became a Christian. But what we do know
is that the faith of his friends was something that Jesus
saw and responded to.
"A few days later when Jesus entered Capernaum, the people
heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was
no room left, not even outside the door. And he preached the
word to them..." Jesus, surrounded by throngs of people, always
preached the truth, the gospel message of salvation, the message
of healing, the message of forgiveness of sins. "And while
he was preaching, since they could not get to him because
of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus
and after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed
man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith,
he said to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven.'" Now
you and I would recognize this as a miracle. The teachers
of the law sitting there thought to themselves, 'This doesn't
mix with our religion. Why does he talk like this? He's blaspheming
God.' "Jesus, immediately discerning what they are thinking"--because
he knew what their religion was. He knew that their religion
was not centered on faith. He knew that their religion was
centered on something different. He knew that their religion
had become a matter of laws, and that their religion had become
a matter of routine, and that their religion had become a
matter of legality. "Jesus, knowing what they were thinking
in their hearts, says to them, 'Why are you thinking these
things? What is easier to say to this paralytic man you've
just seen lowered from the roof of this building before me,
'You sins are forgiven', or to say, 'Get up, take your mat
and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority
on earth to forgive sins" he looks again to the man and he
answers the question by saying, "Pick up your mat, and walk
out of here" indicating that it was much easier to say to
the man "You are healed"--much easier to say that, than to
recognize the forgiveness of sins--easier to say that. And
as a result, this man gets up and he leaves. But the undenying
emotion that we leave this particular passage with is that
Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, your sins and my
sins. That's the hardest thing it seems to do. And as a result,
he in order to be able to do that, will sacrifice his life
so that your sins and my sins are forgiven. And the healing
is easy from that point on.
Well, we're going to talk more about this next time. So please
join me in prayer: "Eternal God we thank you for allowing
us to share this particular passage of Scripture with one
another--your teaching us of your authority over not only
our lives, but your authority to forgive sins, and your authority
Father over healing. And we petition you many days for healing.
We know that your authority to do so is there. Father, we
have learned today that our faith can be of benefit to others,
just as it was for this paralytic man who by his friends faith
was healed. Help us to demonstrate that faithfulness Father,
by coming to you and building our faith stronger every day,
our faith in you...the faith that can move mountains. We ask
that you continue to demonstrate that faith in this congregation.
We ask for your presence always in our lives. We ask for your
protection as we travel home this afternoon, and for all those
Father, especially the elderly, whom we know will have difficulty
with this weather, we ask that you be with them, and protect
them. And Father, we thank you for all you do for us, through
the name of your Son Jesus the Christ. Amen." [This is a transcription
of a sermon given by Pastor Al Ebeling of the Waltham Congregation
of the Worldwide Church of God, meeting in the First Congregational
Church of Waltham, Massachusetts]
|
