Versions of this sermon were preached in Upton, Welland, Hanley Swan, Hanley Castle, Ripple, Earls Croome, Hill Croome and the Hook Churches during 2018 and 2019
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’
8 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? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk”? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the man, 11 ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ 12 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!’ (Mark 2:1-12)
What’s one thing in your life, if it were fixed, would transform everything else?
Perhaps it’s your marriage, or perhaps its money, or maybe that thing that if fixed would transform everything, is your career. Or your relatives. Or your health
We all have problems – even the most successful people have problems. They’re often just better at hiding them.
Now our reading from the gospel of Mark has something rather challenging to say to our problems. It’s going to tell us that all our problems are merely symptoms of a larger problem, our broken relationship with God. And if we can find a way to fix that, that’s when everything can change.
Let me show you what I mean, and you may want to follow along in the reading on the noticesheet. Let’s start in v1, as Jesus returns to his Capernaum, and as soon as word gets round crowds of people cram themselves into the house of his friend Simon Peter, to hear him speak. Then something surprising happens. V3,
Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, 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 by digging through it”
It’s the church warden’s nightmare. The roof opens up!
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a room where the roof caves in. Nearest I had was 3 days of heavy rain on a camping expedition in Dorset. At 2am in the morning, I’m woken by a loud crack. Seconds later there’s another, as the second of the five poles holding up our tent snaps. Cue: wet tent fabric, total darkness, screaming kids, distressed wife and total confusion. All I can say is Praise God for duct tape!
But it was a man on a stretcher, not water that came through the roof in Capernaum, and that’s when we get our next surprise. V5,
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘”Son your sins are forgiven.”’
And I dare say the room falls silent. I mean, it’s Glenn Hoddle sized gaffe isn’t it? Here’s a man with a debilitating medical condition, and does Jesus heal him? No, instead he does that typical Christian thing and starts going on about sin. How awkward. How insensitive. I mean, can’t he see the man’s paralysed?
Well if you’ll forgive me a momentary diversion into that typical Christian thing of going on about sin, this is actually the whole point of the story. What Jesus is saying here is that the paralysed man has a bigger problem than just not being able to walk. In fact we all do.
Picture yourself on that stretcher, with your wrecked finances, or that husband you would trade in for a dog, and Jesus looks you in the eye and says,
Son or daughter, your sins are forgiven.”
And your first thought is probably,
Sins? What did I ever do wrong?”
This is actually one of the things people misunderstand about God.
We think that sin – evil – whatever you want to call it –only matters if it is serious enough to get the police interested. You know, sin is Murder. Rape. And parking in the child spaces at Tesco. And even then it only really matters if you’re caught.
But in God’s eyes – everything we do matters. Every time we ignore the God who made us. Every time we fail to love our neighbour, every time, no matter how big or small, it all matters to God. As it says in James 2:10,
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
It all matters to God… And the reason it matters is not because he’s vindictive or mean but because it creates a barrier between us and God. Barriers matter. Just ask Donald Trump about his wall. We build walls to break relationships don’t we? And each of us, whether intentionally or not, has built a wall of sin to cut us off from God, and therefore from all hope and life, both in this world and the next.
And that’s why Jesus’ biggest concern for the paralysed man, and for us, is to deal with the barrier of sin. That’s why Christians go on about sin so much. Because the single biggest more exciting thing that Jesus came to give us is the gift of a new beginning with our loving heavenly Father. That’s why Mark’s one-sentence summary of Jesus message isn’t,
go and do social action”
though this is important. Nor is it,
be kind to one another”
though this also is important. But before Jesus gets to any of that, he says first of all
The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Jesus came to give us the gift of a new beginning – paid for by his own life, given freely on the cross.
Son your sins are forgiven.”
Let’s see what happens next. V6,
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there
Any teachers in today? In Jesus’ day, the teachers of the law are a bit like a snap Ofsted inspection. They’ve come down from Jerusalem, to see if Jesus is teaching to their standard… You can tell from their reaction that he’s off-message, can’t you?
‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming – who can forgive sins but God alone?’”
In Ofsted terms that’s like being put into special measures.
This fellow is blaspheming, who can forgive sins but God alone?
And they’ve sort of got a point. How can Jesus forgive sin? After all, God is the one who is offended by sin, so how can Jesus forgive people for offending God? Well he can’t, can he? Unless – and this is why they call it blasphemy – Unless Jesus is subtly dropping a hint about who he is. He’s claiming to be God.
Sometimes people say
Jesus never claimed to be God.”
But he did. Lots of times. He just never said it in so many words because we tend to kill people for that.
There’s an example from John’s gospel, chapter 10, where Jesus tells the crowd,
I and the Father are one.”
So the crowd try to stone him, and he asks them why they’re trying to stone him, and they reply,
For blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:33)
That’s what’s going on in Capernaum too. Jesus is accused of blasphemy for claiming to be God. And then Jesus does something to prove his claim is true: V8, he says,
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?’”
Well surely it’s
Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Because let’s face it, how can you disprove the statement?
And then with every eye in the room on him, Jesus says, v10,
But that you may know that the Son of Man [that was a title he often used] 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.”
Wouldn’t you like to have seen the faces of the teachers of the law at this point? A severe case of slack-jaw syndrome? This is like the school in special measures producing perfect exam results. And they’re shocked not just because of the miracle – but because of the logic of Jesus’s argument. If he can heal the man, he can also forgive the man’s sin. And if he can forgive the man’s sin, well they’re standing in the room with God.
So what does all this mean for us today? Two things.
First, today is a day in the church calendar we call Christ the King, it’s a reminder to us that it’s not parliament or prime minister or emperor or president that has authority over us. It’s Christ, who is God, and who is therefore our King. He’s the one ultimately in charge of us. He’s the one who ultimately decides what’s best for us.
And second, well, it means that that biggest problem I asked you to think of earlier; it probably isn’t your biggest problem. You see, our biggest problem in the eyes of our King, isn’t work, or money, or relationships, or sickness, it’s our broken relationship with him. Fix that, and it begins to change everything else. If you’d like to know more about fixing it, let’s talk afterwards.
But in the meantime, let’s finish in song by praising our King, who died on the cross for us, to fix our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Let’s pray.