Year B Epiphany 7
Mark 2: 1-12 / Isaiah 43: 18-251When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7″Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— 11″I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2: 1-12
© The New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 198918Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
22Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 23You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. 24You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. 25I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 43: 18-25
© The New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989In the name of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
For those of you who follow the prescribed readings for the week you will be thinking that today we are to go up the mountain with Jesus and a few of his disciples. But I’d prefer to stay on the ground this week, amongst the people, and rather than skip all of chapter 2 of the gospel of Mark, for us to hear a little more, as Jesus begins and goes about his Ministry. Sometimes a passage from one Gospel can be found in another Gospel; and here is an interesting little fact I discovered this week when I was comparing the Gospels; at least I think it’s interesting. Chapter 2 of Mark, which both Matthew and Luke used when they wrote their gospels, is found in both Gospels, but Luke has used the whole chapter, in sequence, in his gospel, with a few words having been changed. These days we’d call that plagiarism! We’ll also hear from Isaiah 43 which has a theme, reflected in or reading from Mark.
There were so many people gathered around on that day in Capernaum at his house. So many in fact, that not only was it impossible to get into the house, it was difficult to even get near. Yet even with all this crowd there was a hush and a silence as the men and women all turned their ears to try and hear what Jesus was speaking about. Then there was a murmur, then a commotion, as four men came along carrying on a rough rickety stretcher a man who had been begging in the streets for years. They had heard Jesus was there and that he had already healed a woman with fever and a man with leprosy and so they brought their friend who couldn’t walk; perhaps he couldn’t move at all. Of course, confronted by the crowd, they realised there was no way in through all the people. So the four men, with their paralysed friend, climbed the clay stairs that led to the roof where clothes were aired, food dried, and people slept when it was hot; there they put the stretcher with the paralysed man down and began to chip away through the roof. Within minutes large chunks of mud and clay mixed with sticks and grass were being torn away. Dust and sandy crumbs falling on those below in the house. The crowd erupted into chaotic chatter and before long, tied to the stretcher, the paralysed man was lowered down into the house like a spider falling from its web. Very rough, very dangerous, but landing the man into the middle of the crowd where Jesus had been talking and was still sitting. When Jesus saw the faith of the four men; bold enough to scrape a hole in a man’s house to lower down their friend believing that Jesus would heal him, he turned to the paralytic and said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
“Blasphemy”, the Scribes sitting there mumbled and thought to themselves. “No one, but God, can forgive sins.” So Jesus knowing the spirit of their discussion, their outrage, asks them, “which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’, Jesus turned to the man on the stretcher who had been lowered down by his friends and said, “Get up, take your mat, and go to your home.”
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? Which is easier, to forgive, or to heal the paralysed?
We know the saying, “seeing is believing.” To see is to believe. When I see it, then I’ll believe it. It sort of flows on a bit from, “Out of sight, out of mind”, whereby the things we see, we might believe. The things in sight, can then be in our mind.” But if they’re out of sight, it’s hard to believe.
Think about climate change, the impact of alcohol and smoking, healthy and nutritional eating, the location of poverty, domestic violence, aboriginal conditions, and how hard it has been and is to raise people’s awareness to the problems concerning these issues. Out of sight, out of mind. Seeing is believing, and if we can’t see…. It’s similar to our global financial crisis which has vast amounts of people asking “where did that come from”.. because our debt, greed, and financial mismanagement has been so terribly out of sight.
You can imagine the scribes sitting against a wall, in amongst all the people, there in the house with Jesus all day, listening to what he had to say; a pretty unmovable bunch of men, there not so much to listen but to report, ready to pick the eye out of anything suspicious that Jesus might have said. And when Jesus tells the paralysed man that his sins were forgiven, they remain unmoved, emotionally empty except for a touch of theological anger, and ready to call upon righteousness and Godliness; at least in their own eyes. “Blasphemy”! they cry, only God can forgive sins. Yet when the paralysed man is healed, and when he stands up, picks up his mat and goes off home, all of them were amazed and glorified God saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” What a contrast. The forgiveness of sins is so ho hum raising the bleat of “blasphemy”, but the curing of a man is enough so that they were all amazed and such an act is worthy of praise. Out of sight is hard to believe. But when they see something, then they believe, and yet the greatest act is not the healing by Christ, but the forgiving. Better the man remains a paralytic and knows forgiveness, than to be able, and not know the forgiveness of God. I have been with people suffering and dying whose faith is as deep as the oceans, and have been with the able, capable, and wealthy whose days are full of emptiness. “Which is easier to say to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “stand up and take your mat and walk?” It is forgiveness which is the greater, the harder, and ultimately for Christ, the most costly gift.
Each person, each community, each country and nation carries with them the scars of sinfulness, as unpopular that word might be, which are in many ways binding and hindering and the cause of suffering. All people carry the need to be forgiven and carry the need to be able to forgive. The scars of sin and the need for forgiveness affects our guilt, our self-worth, our outlook, our hope, our relationships, both with others and with God. Some people know this and others don’t. Some people suffer openly, while others manage to hide their unforgiven emotion away pretending that it doesn’t matter. But it is without a doubt, the greatest healer of emotional life, and sometimes the physical life, to be able to discover forgiveness, and to be able to offer forgiveness. It is, and would be, for many people. It is, and could be, for communities, as it could also be for the nations, the greatest healer of emotional life, and sometimes the physical life, to be able to discover forgiveness, and to be able to offer forgiveness. The greatest gift Christ gave to the paralytic was forgiveness.
It is almost a tragic moment when Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sins and there is only the misguided grumble of ‘blasphemy’, while when the man picks up his mat, then the rejoicing begins. It is a tragic event when the crowds are absent or turn against Jesus at the moment of his forgiving act upon the cross while they all freely gathered around when he was healing or feeding them. And it still is a tragic reflection to see the weight we carry around in unknown, unaccepted, or unwilling forgiveness, while we gather and use all the good gifts God has given us to the point of exploitation, and so only rejoice in, if at all, and are moved by, if at all, the things we see before us.
Jesus Christ, lived, died, and rose again to free humanity from darkness and sin. Let us remind ourselves of the cost, and let us hear Christ’s words of grace, and the assurance of pardon, our sins are forgiven. Thanks be to God.
Amen.