7th Sunday after the Epiphany
Mark 2:1-12
Sermon
"Four Good Friends"
2:1 ¶ And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.
3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ’Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ’Rise, take up your pallet and walk’?
10 But 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, rise, take up your pallet and go home."
12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
“What is your favorite Bible story, papa?” the little girl asked her father as he tucked her under the sheets.
“Let me see,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “There are so many that I love. The story we read tonight at supper of the four men who carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus, lowering him through the roof, is one of my favorites because it reminds me so much of how your uncle Hans was healed.”
“I don’t know that story,” the little girl said hopefully. “Please tell it to me, papa.”
“Many years ago,” the father began, “Hans and his wife, Enid, escaped the war in Europe so that he could continue his life of teaching in the seminary. At first things were difficult because his English was not good, but soon he became one of our seminary’s most beloved teachers. The students loved him because he was warm and gentle and when he spoke the Scriptures came alive.
“Hans and Enid were very much in love. Nearly every day they took long walks together, holding hands. It warmed the hearts of students and faculty alike to see them sitting close to each other in church.
“Then one day Enid died. Hans was struck with sorrow. For weeks he would not eat or take walks. The seminary president, along with three other friends, visited him regularly, but he felt lonely and depressed. He was experiencing the dark night of the soul.
“On one of their visits, Hans said to his friends, ‘I am no longer able to pray to God. In fact, I am not certain I believe in God.’
“After a moment of silence, the seminary president said, ‘Then we will believe for you. We will make your confession for you. We will pray for you.’
“The other friends looked bewildered by their president’s words, but not knowing what else to say, they agreed.
“In the days ahead the four men met daily for prayer. They made confession on behalf of Uncle Hans. They asked God to restore the gift of faith to their dear friend and they continued to visit him in his home.
“Then, after many months, the four men all gathered in Hans’s living room. He smiled before he spoke. ‘It is no longer necessary for you to pray for me. Today, I would like you to pray with me.’
“The dark night of the soul had passed.”
There was a long silence before the little girl spoke. “Uncle Hans was just like the sick man in the story, wasn’t he, papa? Only instead of a pallet to carry him to Jesus, his friends used prayer.”
The father nodded and kissed his daughter. 1
Four good men helped their friend over the loss of his wife. Four good men, prayed, confessed, offered up to God the heartache of their friend. Four good men prayed and stood by their friend till the peace and grace of God would be in their friend’s heart again. they stood by their friend till he could say, ‘It is no longer necessary for you to pray for me. Today, I would like you to pray with me.’
Four good men did what was necessary to bring their friend back into emotional and spiritual health.
Four good men brought their friend to Jesus. Four good friends found a way for Jesus to interact with their friend. That is what our gospel lesson is about four good friends, Jesus and the man on the pallet.
The four good friends were indeed extraordinary in their care of their friend.
Four good men are at the heart of this gospel lesson. Jesus had returned to Capernaum and was probably in Peter’s house. He began to preach to the people and people gathered all about the house inside and outside to hear him preach.
Then it happened. The four good men want into action. Four men brought their friend who was paralyzed to Jesus. They got to the door and saw that they could not get in that way, so they came up with an unique idea. They would carry their friend to the roof, then remove some of the roofing and lower the paralyzed man down to Jesus.
These four men were really good friends of the paralyzed man. First of all they had to decide they would put their friend on a stretcher and carry him to Jesus. Second, when they saw the way was blocked, they came up with an ingenious idea of how to get their friend to Jesus, they carried him to the roof, removed part of the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus.
Four good men indeed. I marvel at their friendship. I marvel at their faith, their belief that Jesus could do something for their friend. And when obstacles got in the way, their faith in Jesus allowed them to proceed, to carry on.
Their faith in Jesus is like the faith shown in the following:
"A group of small boys were playing sandlot baseball. One was asked the score, "ninety-eight to nothing in their favor," replied the breathless youngster.
"You are getting beat pretty badly, aren’t you?" said the bystander.
"No, no," the boy said with emphasis, "our side hasn’t even been to bat yet."
These four good men had faith that if they could only bring their friend to Jesus, somehow, some way, Jesus would do something to help him. So their faith, their hope, their conviction, that if only Jesus could see their friend, something could be done. So no matter the difficulty, they were willing to do their level best to get their friend to Jesus.
And they did get their friend to Jesus. And notice something very special in the text. It says:
they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.
5 And when Jesus saw their faith,
They let down the pallet. The text does not say that they shouted to Jesus, heal our friend, it does not say that they asked Jesus to do anything. They just let down the stretcher, period.
This was faith in the utmost. They did not ask Jesus to do anything, they did not beg, they did not persuade Jesus to act. They just lowered down their friend in front of Jesus and let what would happen, happen, period.
These four good men believed in the power of grace of Jesus Christ. They believed so they acted. Somehow, somewhere inside of themselves, they found the power to come up with the idea to go to the roof, remove some of it and lower their friend to Jesus. They did this hoping and believing Jesus would act, but with the courage of not demanding that Jesus act, just the faith to allow Jesus to act.
We have spoked of the four good men, but what of the man who lay on the pallet? What of him? Did he have faith? Was he a willing participator? The scripture says nothing of what he thought or said.
The text says: "And when Jesus saw their faith" whose faith, the four men or all five of them, the four friends and the man lying on the pallet. We just don’t know the answer to these questions.
And then comes the act of Jesus. The text says: And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Your sins are forgiven? Not you are healed? Jesus said this because he wanted the man to know he was part of the god’s family. His sins were forgiven now, not in the future after he did something but now, in this moment. Jesus knew that sinfulness was the cause of the brokenness of this world. Sin caused us to be less than what God created us to be. so Jesus begins with the basics. "My son, your sins are forgiven."
These words made the scribes upset in their hearts. they were thinking to themselves that only God could forgive sins. Jesus asks why do they question in their heart.
Then he says
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ’Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ’Rise, take up your pallet and walk’?
10 But 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, rise, take up your pallet and go home."
Jesus is saying that for Him to say your sins are forgiven is just as easy as saying take up your pallet and walk. Both words and ideas bring God’s grace into people’s lives.
Did Jesus say this because he was the one who was victorious over sin and saw sin not as something that caused this condition, but was conscious of the condition of sin in the world which causes the perfection of this world to be less than God intended it to be.
I would like to believe that Jesus saw sin as the consequence of a broken world, a world that is less than prefect. So paralysis, sickness, and all the brokenness we see in this world will keep happening till the final coming. I do not think Jesus acquainted this man’s sin to his illness. Jesus saw forgiving his sins and telling him to take up his pallet and walk of the same work. Forgiving sins and healing illnesses are the work of the Saviour.
Jesus showed His grace and forgiving power that day. He saw faith and he acted. He saw sin and He acted. He saw illness and He acted. Jesus acted the only way He could.
He would like us to act in the same way. We cannot forgive sins, but we can act to bring a measure of God’s grace into their lives.
A little girl sums this up for us in the following:
Laurie was about three when one night she requested my aid in getting undressed. I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and ... well. “You know how to undress yourself,” I reminded. “Yes,” she explained, ‘but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.”2
"But sometimes people need people anyway," people do need people when they are hurting, or just to have another person around to talk with.
Those four good men knew what that little girl was saying, people need people. They acted for their friend.
"But sometime people need people anyway," can you be like those four good men and be the helping person.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale February 13, 2006
1 Cited from: Wm. R. White, Stories For The Journey (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988), pp. 47-49.
as found in a sermon by Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson in SermonCentral
2 William C. Schultz, in Bits and Pieces, Dec. 1990
