Sermon at Springridge Mennonite Church February 19, 2006

Scripture: Mark 2: 1-12

Title: With a little help from my friends

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- Where would we be without friends and the opportunity to make new friends?

- It is hard to say.

- In our culture, especially here in Alberta we take a fair bit of pride in being independently minded.

- But then on the other hand there is also that rich tradition of helping the neighbor.

- Does that make it any easier to accept help? Does it make it any easier to be a true neighbor or even a friend?

- Possibly. But there is still a certain leeriness which can get in the way. Especially when we meet people who might become friends but are yet unknown.

- Leaving this thought aside, in today’s scripture reading four friends successfully helped a fifth friend who could not help himself.

- Even though the word “friend” is not used in the text, if they weren’t friends before the cure then they likely were after it.

- This fifth friend was bed ridden and so he was brought on a stretched out mat.

- Jesus had recently returned to Capernaum where earlier it was described that the whole city had gathered around the door of Peter’s mother-in-law.

- The scene was similar this time with the description “that there was no longer room for them (for the people), not even in front of the door.” (v.2)

- These friends knew that Jesus could heal their friend but how were they going to maneuver the mat and their charge through the packed jam of people?

- The solution was to lower him from above.

- William Barclay describes in his commentary on Mark that:

The roof of a Palestinian house was flat. It was regularly used as a place of rest and of quiet, and so usually there was an outside stair which ascended to it. The construction of the roof lent itself to what this ingenious four proposed to do. The roof consisted of flat beams laid across from wall to wall, perhaps three feet apart. The space in between the beams was filled with brush wood packed tight with clay. The top was then marled over. Very largely the roof was of earth and often a flourishing crop of grass grew on the roof of a Palestinian house. It was the easiest thing in the world to dig out the filling between two of the beams; it did not even damage the house very much, and it was easy to repair the breach again. So the four men dug out the filling between two of the beams and let their friend down direct(ly) at Jesus’ feet. (p. 47)

- This act of conviction, of faith if you will, made an impression on Jesus and so he healed (or cured) the paralytic.

- I find this interesting that it was the faith of the four friends which spoke to Jesus and so he seemingly cured the paralytic on their behalf.

- But it might have been not only their faith, think of the man on the stretcher. It took faith from him to agree to the plot. (assuming that he had a say in the matter)

- I remember listening to the late Henry Ens who worked with MCC’s disability concerns for many years.

- Whenever a church told him that they did not need a lift or ramp because they would just get a bunch of strong people to lift the wheelchaired person into the building, Henry would reply “That’s great if you are the one doing the lifting. It is not so great if you are the one who is being lifted.”

- I gather that Henry (who was in a wheelchair) had some close-call episodes where more faith in the strength of his friendly, well-meaning lifters was required of him than he really wanted to give.

- And so let us not forget that the paralytic had to have some faith in order to see this scheme through to its end as well.

- Jesus’ choice of words are most interesting, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (v. 5)

- As I mentioned last week when illness strikes it upsets any balance which we might have had in our lives.

- This balance is clearly physical but it can also be mental, spiritual and relational.

- True healing reestablishes the balance which has been affected by the evil of disease and of dis- ease.

- When Jesus healed the paralytic by saying the words: “...your sins are forgiven.” Jesus was likely healing more than what physically paralyzed the man.

- Jesus was also healing the man’s soul.

- But interestingly enough he was also disquieting other people’s souls at the same time.

- There in that crowded room were some of his critics: the scribes. Likely they were there to keep an eye on him.

- When they heard Jesus use the words “your sins are forgiven” they were ready to let their incredulity loose.

- "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (v. 7)

- This was more than just an academic question. They were down right galled at what they heard and Jesus knew it as evidenced by his words:

"Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?” (v. 8b)

- There is a two fold dynamic at work here.

- On the one hand we have a display of faith and a healing going on.

- On the other hand we have a confrontation where Jesus is displaying his authority to those who would desire to keep it from him.

- Freedom and liberation verses binding authoritarianism.

- Jesus cuts deeply on this authoritative issue.

- The scribes of Jesus’ day were among the elite who had the gift of literacy.

- They could write down and keep thoughts!

- We take this type of data storage notion for granted but in the New Testament age it was an important and highly regarded skill. The scribes were the repositories of a lot of knowledge. This was amazing.

- But it was a dry and dusty knowledge of what had happened long ago.

- And perhaps it was because of this preoccupation of being keepers of the written word, that the scribes were so word and law obsessed.

- The scribes were trained to look back, interpret and most of all to preserve and rigidly follow.

- They were also concerned with having others follow as well.

- Jesus in this regard was not a follower. For him religion (which comes from the Latin word meaning “obligation” or “to bind”) was not something which bound as much as it freed.

- And so Jesus led the scribes into a trap.

- As Timothy Geddert notes in his Believer’s Church Bible Commentary on Mark:

“A pronouncement of forgiveness produces no objective proof of its effectiveness. (Who can prove whether the forgiveness was real or not?) A pronouncement of healing does. If the man is unable to move, the pronouncement is a fraud. .... If Jesus can now heal the man, he demonstrates that his words have effect, and that their charge that he claims an authority he doesn’t have will fall to the ground.” (pp. 63,f)

- Jesus proved his authority and silenced his critics because: “What could they say?...

- The man had his sins forgiven in public and now he was walking around.....

- The scribes could have been Jesus’ friend but instead they chose to be his judge....

- They could have worked with him, but instead they desired to keep him in line......

- As mentioned earlier, the house was so full that the four men and their friend could not get in.

- I find this makes for an interesting description of the church.

- Not that the church is crowded and people can’t physically get in, as much as sometimes we too have gatekeepers who prevent certain people from entering.

- Gatekeepers who (like the scribes) are highly concerned with right practice or orthodoxy.

- People who, for example, would not want young heavy metal enthusiasts to be in attendance on a Sunday morning ....or only if they left their leather and piercings at home....

- Gatekeepers such as Mennonite ethnicity.

- I remember one person saying to me, “Schilk? That isn’t a Mennonite name is it?”

- My response was: “It is now.”

- What other barriers does the church have to keep people from coming in and developing a relationship with Jesus?

- In some churches the one generation is loathe to give up control to a younger generation especially when this older generation is the one which controls the purse strings of the church budget.

- As a consequence the younger generation is less inclined to become involved in church affairs and soon a preponderance of aged people fills the church pews wondering where all of the young people went.

- A similar dynamic was more problematic years ago when males were reluctant to share power with women in leadership.

- That too squashed a lot of talent within the church.....

- Another gatekeeper is that of the class status of the church.

- If the church tends to have well-to-do professionals in its membership, then it will tend to be a church which attracts other well-to-do professionals.

- If the church is full of farming families then it will likely attract other farming families.

- While none of this is bad, what can be done when someone dissimilar starts attending Sunday worship?

- Is common ground searched out for discussion?

- Are attempts made at inclusion? Or does the level of discussion stay on the topic of what’s new at the country club or what’s new in the barn?.....

- Economics can be another barrier.

- If many of the church events require a fee does this not exclude those whose budget cannot accommodate such expense? ( Personally I like donation events where those who have more can put in more and those who can’t can still come and enjoy the event)

- No doubt there are other barriers which we in the church put up intentionally or most likely unintentionally.

- The challenge which remains for us is how can we become friends to those who are on the outside?

- How can we put aside leeriness and make room for them?

- How will we react when all of a sudden the ceiling crumbles and entrance to our church is sought in a most unconventional way?

- How will we react once the new people are inside?

- Will we be like Jesus who chose forgiveness over judgment?

- Will we be aghast?

- Or will we clamber up to the roof ...or head to the floor below eager to help receive the new arrival safely in the arms of Christian fellowship and friendship?

- Amen.