"one Mat For Sale, Cheap!" Series

“One Mat for Sale, Cheap!”

Mark 2:1-13

As Jesus began to go public with His ministry he was about 30 years of age. People were beginning to realize He was the Messiah and it became more and more difficult for Him to remain private. Now you may ask, why did He remain private anyway? The answer is actually simple. His time had not come yet. He still had a great deal of work to do before he would pay the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for your sins and mine. Many of his teachings were accompanied by a sign or a miracle and when, others witnessed these things he was then pushed more and more into the public eye.

At this point, Jesus has already performed numerous miracles. In the first chapter of Mark the text says that whole city had gathered at Peter’s house to see Jesus---large crowds surrounded Jesus to the point he couldn’t publicly enter the city. This is still taking pace in our passage for today. Jesus is in the home of one of his followers; since Capernaum was the home of Simon Peter we can assume this takes place in his home. Jesus is speaking and the crowd is so large there is standing room only.

Homes in Palestine were small of course. One story homes. Fairly low to the ground. It was also common for there to be a ladder outside the home in case you did need to go to the roof to make a repair or to even relax. Obviously we don’t do that but apparently they did. The roof was tiled and covered with what we would call thatch. Stems, leaves and roots all twined together and covered with grass. These 4 men would have to drag the cot up the stairs, tear up the tiles and dig through the thatch. Then the hole would have to be big enough to get the cot and the man through it. This must have been a bit annoying to the people below---they’re trying to listen as Jesus is teaching and now all this debris is falling on them from the ceiling. On top of that the owner is probably not very happy; no mention that anyone asked for permission; I mean has anyone out a new roof on your home recently? It’s not cheap. Now, the home doesn’t belong to Jesus but once He sees their faith it’s like an episode of the Pride is Right, “come on down!”

The text says “He sees their faith.” (Others do see our faith when we exercise it by the way) Seems this is referring to the 4 men who were lowering the man down but I have to think that also He saw the faith of the paralytic. The man on the mat. Think about it. Paralysis in his legs. Can’t control his movement. Life is hard when you cannot completely care for yourself. 4 men hauling you on a mat up a flight of stairs then lowering you through the roof and you have zero control of the whole process. On top of that sometimes we struggle with asking others to help us right? There’s an element of pride; we have to put away and realize you know what, I’m just not in control of my life and by allowing his friends to take him to Jesus, he was admitting he had a need. It takes a lot of faith and a lot of humility to do that.

There are scores of programs that help addicts; those struggling with alcohol or drug addictions; we should all be aware also that there are dozens of kinds of addictions; not just those two. Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Food addicts, individuals with eating disorders. I read through a list of 42 groups this week----guess what they all share in common in these groups? The first thing you must do in every group is this---you must admit that you have a need. And it’s difficult because…

• We have to let our pride down

• We don’t like to be seen as needy

• Makes us feel like we’re not enough, not as good; as though we don’t have it all together. Or maybe you have it all together, but you don’t know where in the world you put it. And you know what? None of us have it all together. We just don’t.

The first step in getting help in AA is this--- we admitted we were powerless over alcohol --- that our lives had become unmanageable. CR, a Christian based program words it this way---Realize I’m not God---admit I am powerless and life is unmanageable. That’s the first step. In all of these groups and in life there comes a point when we must realize we are not God and without Him we can do nothing. The paralytic in this story knew this better than anyone in the room. So he’s like, get me to the one who can help. It takes a lot of faith to do that. Jesus speaks to the man with compassion---the Greek word he uses here is child. Jesus is claiming a special, personal relationship with this man. That’s the first thing Jesus claims. Then He claims the authority to forgive sin. Mow, we looked at this last week’ physical illness is not necessarily the result of sin but in this case it seems that it was. Jesus knew the man was a paralytic but he looks past his disability and sees a deeper need. There are worse conditions that a physical disability. He is a sinner. It’s what the scripture recorded 2000 years ago in the book of Romans.