TEAMWORK IN TRANSIT TO JESUS
Text: Mark 2:1-12
Mark 2:1-12 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. (2) So 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. (3) Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. (4) And 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. (5) When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (6) Now 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?" (8) At 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? (9) Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? (10) But 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." (12) And 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!" (NRSV).
Mike and Jerry were life long friends who grew up together, worked together, and even hunted together. One day Mike went scuba diving while Jerry had gone hunting alone. It was unfortunate that Jerry fell from his tree stand and his pants leg got caught by a rail road peg that had been used in making a ladder on that tree stand. Jerry landed upside down on his head as his pants leg had been caught by that rail road spike. Jerry was a paraplegic as a result of that accident.
In all that time, Mike was a friend who went the extra mile for Jerry for 17 yrs. Mike would carry Jerry to the Church of God church for the next seventeen yrs. Mike would come by to pick Jerry up and take him to the kitchen where Jerry’s wife would wash his hair. Mike would help Jerry to dressed for church religiously every Sunday. Mike even helped Jerry in his wheelchair into the baptismal fountain when he got baptized, helping the preacher Brother Ron to lean Jerry back so he could be completely immersed for his baptism. Mike would go and get lunch for him and Jerry after church as they would eat in Mike’s truck. Mike’s devotion went beyond just taking Jerry to church, he took Jerry for to the dentist, the barber and to his doctor’s appointments. Proverbs 18:24 says, “Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin” (NRSV). Mike helped Jerry for 17 yrs. until Jerry’s health made it too hard for him to go anymore. Brother Ron, who was the pastor at the church Jerry attended was amazed at Mike’s devotion for his friend Jerry.
Jerry even lived longer than the average life span of a paraplegic. Mike passed away last year. Mike’s wife Jean told me about Mike’s friendship with Jerry. Brother Rob, who preached Mike’s funeral also shared story in Mike’s Eulogy.
In Mark 2:1-12, we have a miracle story about a paralyzed man whose "conscience" seemed to be "troubling him". In the days of Jesus' earthly ministry, it was not uncommon for people to connect suffering with sin. The paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 had paralysis that was obviously caused by his sin. His suffering and his sin were somehow connected. That is why Jesus enables the paralyzed man to experience healing as forgiveness. Today I want to share with you three things about today’s miracle story, conviction, friends and the Savior.
Today we will explore conviction, friendship and forgiveness.
CONVINCTION
Can sin effect us in such a way that it cripples us with conviction?
1) Fill in the blank: Someone has said that the paralytic is a representative of the human race who was paralyzed and helpless in his own strength. (Leslie B. Flynn. The Miracles Of Jesus. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1990, p. 69). We are not told what sin the paralytic was guilty of in this miracle story. The only information that we are given is that he was paralyzed because of his sin.
2) Guilt: Guilt can become paralyzing in a number of ways. It can cause unrest in one's spirit leading to ulcers, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, insomnia and so on. In one way or another guilt can become a prison for the "consciences of those sinners who continue to be troubled by their misbehavior".
3) Contrition: There is the story of a taxpayer who needed to ease his conscience. "A taxpayer wrote to the Internal Revenue Service, "I have not been able to sleep well for two years. Here is my check for $1,200 for back taxes." He even signed his name, then added a short P.S. "If I don't sleep better in a week, I will send you another $1,200. He had to do something to relieve his guilt, but he didn't want to do too much". (Roy B. Zuck. The Speaker's Quote Book. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, pp. 182-183). Satan tries to use our guilt against us because as long as we are prisoners of our own guilt, we are fugitives who cannot experience the liberating power of God's grace!
Do you know of any who are slaves---fugitives because of sin?
1) Accuser: Sin becomes confining when guilt oppresses a sinner. It is obvious that guilt is one of Satan's greatest weapons that he uses to discourage people. Satan accuses God’s people day and night (Revelation 12:10). This is one of Satan's most subtle tactics!
2) The Blood of Christ: Satan wants to accuse us to keep us oppressed as fugitive sinners with no hope. I John 1:7 says “If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (NRSV). Jesus wants to set you free from both the guilt and the power of sin! “What can wash our sin away? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”!
FRIENDSHIP
What would the paralytic in today’s miracle story have done without friends?
1) Fair weather friends: Proverbs 18:24 says, "There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (RSV). Were Job’s so called friends “fair weather friends”? They stuck by Job until his calamities struck---losing his children and his livestock and suffering from illness. Not long after bad things happened to Job, they wanted to blame Job for causing his own problems.
2) Pain: Clean pain versus dirty pain. Years ago a friend of mine by the name of Rev. Billy Carter was preaching during an Easter sunrise service where he mentioned that there are two types of pain. He said “Clean pain is pain that came to you without your doing something to provoke it. Dirty pain is pain that comes from things that we brought on ourselves”. A true friend is a person who is there through both the thick and the thin---in spite of whether it is clean pain or dirty pain!
3) Isolation: A friend is a person that you can depend on. The paralytic was a lucky man because he had four friends. On the contrary, as someone has said, "I am convinced that being on a stretcher is not what destroys people. Rather, it is being on the stretcher and believing no one cares". (Michael Slater. Stretcher Bearers. Ventura: Regal Books, 1986, p. 46). It is the people who do not have friends that face hard times without any one to offer any kind of help.
There is the story of a man who was fixing to go on a cruise. He noticed that everyone had someone to see them off except him. This made him feel lonely since there was nobody to see him off. He saw a young boy and called him over and asked him if he would like to earn some money. The boy answered yes and asked what he had to do. The man told him to wave at him as the ship began to pull away. As the ship began to set sail, the little boy was waving with all of his might. (Robert H. Spain. How To Stay Alive As Long As You Live. Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1992, p. 91). Do you know anyone like that?
There is another story that I once read about where a man was facing life-threatening surgery. Since he did not have any family or friends to be there for him, he did not care if he made it through the surgery or not. Then a hospital chaplain came by to see him and heard how he felt---alone and discouraged and facing life-threatening surgery. The chaplain restored his hope when he said to the patient, "I will be your family. I will be waiting for you and looking for you after your surgery". The patient was touched and made it through the surgery because of this chaplain that God had sent his way.
How far would you go for a friend?
1) The extra mile: These four friends went the extra mile in making sure that their paralyzed friend got to Jesus. These friends brought the paralytic to Jesus because he could not bring himself. Those who were paralyzed in that time in history did not have the luxury of a wheelchair. These friends had obviously heard about Jesus and his ability to heal. That is why the friends of this paralytic carried him to Jesus because he could not carry himself.
2) Overcoming obstacles: They had great compassion for their paralyzed friend because when they saw that there was no way that they could get into the house where Jesus was, they found a way around that obstacle. They overcame the obstacle by lowering their friend on his mat through a hole that they made in the roof where he would be right in front of Jesus. As someone has said houses in Palestine back then had a staircase that would lead to the roofs of houses which were usually flat because they were used as a "place of rest and quiet". (William Barclay. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel Of Mark. Revised Edition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975, p. 47). These four friends had teamwork in getting their friend in transit to Jesus! They even made sure that their friend got to Jesus in spite of the obstacle of the crowd. Mike’s bond of friendship was like that for his friend Jerry.
FORGIVENESS
One of the things that Jesus was always delighted to see was faith. When Jesus saw the paralyzed man being lowered from the roof on his mat by his friends, He did not get angry at the interruption. Jesus was delighted to see their faith. In fact, when Jesus saw the faith of the friends, He said to the paralyzed man on the mat, "My son, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5 RSV). At that moment, the paralyzed man experienced healing through forgiveness! He became a free man.
One cannot truly appreciate his/her freedom unless he/she has experienced freedom as having the boundaries of his/her bondage removed. There is a story of a big brown bear that was locked up for most of its life in Germany in a cage that was 12 x 12. The water the bear drank was stagnant slop, and its food was rotten garbage. Cruel people tossed cigarette butts into the bear's path to burn the pads of its feet and halt it's march. But the bear plodded on, 12 feet forward and 12 feet back.
"One day the famous Heidelburg Zoo bought this bear. Here bears did not live in 12-foot cages but had the run of plush grass with trees to climb, pools of clear water, the best of food, and other bears for company. However, when they opened the doors to freedom, the big bear just kept on walking inside his cage, 12 feet forward and 12 feet back. Zoo workers had to scare the bear out. Outside his cage with almost unlimited space, he again began to pace the same distance, 12 feet forward and 12 feet back. Had they released him in vast prairie wilderness, he undoubtedly would have acted in the same manner". (Leslie B. Flynn. The Miracles Of Jesus. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1990, pp. 69-70). This bear obviously had a hang-up from which he needed to be delivered. The paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 unlike the bear in this story received freedom and healing through forgiveness as Jesus forgave him of his sin and set him free. The friends of the paralytic could not stand the thought of their friend being paralyzed.
Jesus still honors the faith of stretcher bearers who bring others to Him. The chances are that we know Jesus because somebody else carried us to Jesus where we met Him for the first time when we experienced forgiveness and healing. If we thought about it hard enough, then we could trace those "stretcher bearers" who first introduced us to Jesus. Those same stretcher bearers who introduced us to Jesus were themselves introduced by stretcher bearers who introduced them to Jesus. Someone has noted that all the stretcher bearers who carried us to Jesus make up a "spiritual genealogy". (Bruce Larson. The Presence. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988, p. 73).
"Every believer has a spiritual genealogy, whether he or she is aware of it or not….. If Billy Graham led you to Christ, you can trace your genealogy back well over one hundred years to Mr. Kimball, the Sunday school teacher. Actually, every Christian has a genealogy that goes all the way back to Pentecost from person to person.
Friends, there are people all around us who need the love and compassion of their friends to be their "stretcher bearers". The work of being a "stretcher bearer" does not end with our introducing others to Jesus. The witness of Mike’s friendship Jerry illiterates this very well. The work of "stretcher bearers" continues beyond conversion within the Body of Christ: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (I Corinthians 12:26 RSV). How is our teamwork in helping others that we carry to Jesus for healing and forgiveness?
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
