Let’s turn in our bible to Mark Chapter 2 verse 1 and then when we have found that keep your finger in there and then turn to Luke 5:17
OK, let’s read the Mark passage first:
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since 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. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
And now the same story in Luke Chapter 5 starting at verse 17.
17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
When I started praying and thinking about what I should bring this morning and this came out, I must confess that I was a little disappointed – after all, I thought, this is one of the Sunday School passages – you know like Jonah or Zechariah up the tree that you learn about as a child - and because they are so familiar seem to have nothing left for us – oh boy – how wrong could I be?!
This is actually an account of astonishing relevance to us sitting here this morning.
So come on, let’s dig in. Let’s look at it. Word gets round Capernaum that Jesus has come back. He’s back at his house (that’s what it says) – it says that word was out that he had come home.
So people come and see him, because by now his reputation is growing and people are beginning to recognise that here is someone very, very different. But so many people come that his house fills to capacity where there is simply no room left for anyone.
Imagine the scene, the squat square house in which Jesus was staying completely filled with people to hear what he had to say – perhaps pushing and shoving, trying to squeeze into the house from the outside – perhaps even squabbling outside while they try and get inside to catch a glimpse of this famous preacher.
And somewhere else in the municipality four men hear that Jesus is back in town and they decide that they would pick up and carry a fifth man who was completely disabled to Jesus. So they put him on a stretcher and they lift him, one at each corner.
Now I’ve been to Capernaum and even now the place is a nightmare on foot. Dusty and hot - With incredibly steep streets, completely uneven and narrow – and if it rains the streets are just awash with mud – and that’s 21st century Capernaum – what it must have been like at the time of Jesus, I can barely imagine.
We don’t know anything of the relationship between these four men and the paralytic man, but there must have been some strong bond between them to even begin to do this – perhaps friends – perhaps family.
And for me, it is here, where the whole perspective of this story actually becomes altered.
For me, the first and most important point is that this account of healing of the paralytic man actually has very little to do with the healing of the paralytic man. This account is less about him and much more about the four men who were carries that man to Jesus.
The first thing is that these men were willing. Despite knowing the steep and uneven streets – the heat of the day and the distance they would have travel – those men decided that they would get off their behinds and they would carry this man.
The next thing is that when they eventually got to the house what scene were they confronted with? A pushing crowd – seething mass of people trying to get into the house to see Jesus – the dust, the noise – the seemingly impossible task of getting this man before Jesus. I mean think about this – how many of us, tired and hot and bothered would have tried maybe to get through the door with the stretcher but then after trying and failing to do so would have just given up?
But they didn’t! They thought of a preposterous solution. They decided to climb to the roof – to completely destroy the integrity of that roof by literally putting a man-sized hole in it and then lowering him down.
Can you imagine hatching that plot? “We can’t get him in – but he has to see Jesus – because Jesus is his only hope – we cannot give up on this on him – we can’t.”
This is the same commitment that we are going to need – the same commitment that drives us on – even when the evidence of our eyes tell us that it looks hopeless – we have to believe that if we struggle on, we will find a way.
These men struggled through the streets and then when they got there they struggled with what they saw – but then they became innovators – they took him to the roof and they pulled that roof apart with their bare hands – they had toiled and sweated in the sun and then they toiled and sweated some more and then as a final push they toiled and sweated to break open that house so they could get this man to the feet of Jesus.
And that is what we should be prepared to do. For all those we know who need to be saved – we should be prepared to toil in prayer and effort. We should get on our knees and yet – even when the evidence of our eyes tells us that this person will never come to Jesus – we must get on our knees some more – we must be prepared to break down those barriers – smash through the roof of that house to get that person there.
Because what will be the outcome?
The outcome will be – someone saved.
Let’s look at the Mark scripture first Chapter 2 Verse 5.
5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
And now the Luke version Chapter 5 verse 20.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
Now this is the most astonishing aspect of this Scripture. Although Jesus spoke directly to the paralytic man and forgave him his sins – He only did so as a consequence of the faith of those that brought him there.
You notice it had nothing at all to do with the faith of the man himself.
So how can we interpret this for ourselves?
Let’s go through it.
Here we have an account of ordinary men – who have decided to take Jesus at his word.
And they act with a singularity of purpose – in total unity with the singular objective of bringing the paralytic man to Christ.
If anyone of those men had decided this wasn’t for them – the whole endeavour would have failed – because there were four men for the four corners of the stretcher – there is simply no other way that the paralytic man could have been carried through the streets of Capernaum.
And then went they got to the house – the four men would have seen the same obstacles – but again – in one mind – unified in purpose – they took the man to the top of the house, smashed through the roof and lowered him to the feet of Jesus.
The only way that this man came to Jesus is because believers acted together in faith – were entirely united in faith – and had the courage to act in that unity.
I say courage – because it takes courage and determination and an incredible level of belief to decide to break down someone’s house.
But these men were also obviously emboldened by their faith in what Jesus could do.
There is no other explanation. They weren’t gong to sit outside the house and wait politely for the crowd to die down. They didn’t see the house and the crowd as too big an obstacle saying, “well we’ve done what we can – can’t do anymore”. They weren’t going to finish by giving up and returning home with their tails between their legs - giving it up as a lost cause.
It looked like they couldn’t do anymore – but they did more – nonetheless – they actually did the unthinkable. They went to Jesus’ house, disregarded all hi s guests, then pulled apart his roof and then unceremoniously lowered this guy into the house. Can you imagine the pandemonium in the house?
But, you know, that didn’t seem to deter these men.
I’m sure the people in the house would have been shouting for them to stop – because bits of roof and muck and stuff would have been falling on them – When they were lowering the paralytic man – people would have had to squeeze out of the way – perhaps even leave the house altogether to make room – remember the house was packed full.
But you know – this whole outcry didn’t deter these men at all.
They had to get this man to Jesus – and that was the end of it.
How many of us have acted with that same singular determination? That same clarity of purpose when it has come to bringing someone to the Lord?
And the other point to consider when considering that question is – if this man had been left to his own devices where would he be?
If those men carrying him had given up and laid this man outside the house what would that man have been able to do on his own?
I believe there is a very good reason that this account is about a paralytic man – about a man who is completely paralysed – unable to move – unable to fend for themselves – completely fixed as if bound and tied.
Is that not the same picture as that person out there living without Jesus and completely bound by sin.
Here is a man incapable of meeting Jesus in his own strength so four others picked him and brought him to Jesus – and let me tell you – make no mistake – this is what we will come this as a church. That we will come across people just like this – people who are completely paralytic from their life experience – completely disabled by sin – people who are completely unable to lift their head because of the blackness and burden upon them.
And when we come across such a need as this - the test will not be of their faith – but of ours.
And it is a test that we can fail.
And finally – in this account I find a question for our church – a question for our own house.
And the question is one of balance.
As a church we have a growing understanding of the vision that is revealing itself before us – and that vision involves touching the hearts and minds of every single person who sits today lost behind the front doors and living-room windows of every house around us.
That this place is to become not a community centre but the "Jesus-centre" of this community.
That this is to be a sanctuary – when the wind, when life, when the enemy scorches the lives of people outside of this place their instinct should be to run here and find Jesus.
Just as in Capernaum - people need to hear the news….that Jesus has come home
But – and this is the question for our church – for our house. Here is the question of balance.
Will our church become so full of ‘the people’ that no-one can get to Jesus?
So, for us this morning – we have been set a challenge.
And the challenge is how we measure up against the account of these four men.
Do we recognise that that person who needs to hear about Jesus is completely paralysed and simply cannot do anything on their own? That we need to pick them up and struggle with them through the uneven streets, the dust and the heat and that even when we get there and it may look like it is simply impossible – that is when we need to become extraordinary – and break through the roof of the house – whatever it takes - to bring that man to Jesus.
But remember it was not person who carried that man to Jesus – it was only possible because there were four of them – and those believers acted in complete unity.
We are going to take communion today – but we’re going to do it slightly differently.
Because if there is an underlying message here it is that this man was saved only because of the faith and unity of the believers around him.
So as an act of faith and unity this morning, instead of being served communion by one or two people, we are going to serve each other.
As the cup and bread pass between each of us, also pass on a word, or a blessing. If you can’t think of what to say, just say this -
“bless you, in the Name of Jesus” – because that’s enough.
