bringing others to healing

from my message on 6/24/12, from Mark 2:1-12

Bringing others to healing:  that's the title I decided on for this message.  I went online to see what other preachers had entitled their sermons.  Here are some of them:  Paralytic on a platter, Digging down to a healthy understanding, Raising the Roof, Lame excuse, and Twice Healed. 

Bringing others to healing places the focus on the actions of the 4 persons who help the paralyzed person.  This message is the second in a series of 3 on Healing, or understanding Jesus as our Great Physician.  You can help me in this message by imagining yourself as one of the 4 who carry the paralytic.  You can also help me by engaging in a response.  Several times I will say the lead in line, "And they said," and your response is "Oh, my aching arms!"  Let's practice it once now.

So in this scene, Jesus is at home.  That has a comfy feel to it...rest and quiet and doing crossword puzzles, watching TV and eating popcorn...But NO!  There are crowds surrounding Jesus.  I can hear the buzz, "Jesus is back in Capernahum....did you here Jesus is at home....Remember how Jesus healed all of those people last time....Let's go see Jesus."  Word of mouth is still the most effective form of evangelism.  Gospel and Gossip come from the same root word.  There can be a kind of holy buzz that invites others to Jesus.  Jesus is speaking the word to them.  Crowds have gathered around Jesus.  The 4 who are carrying the paralytic see the crowds, "and they said,"  "Oh, my aching arms!"  I wonder church if we are ever the crowd.  I wonder if we keep people from getting near Jesus.  We got our Jesus.....tough for you.  No room in the inn.

The 4 carrying the paralytic are talking among themselves.  Listen in.  One of them says, "There are some stairs here that go up to the roof.  We could climb them, cut a hole through the roof, and lower the paralytic down."  "And they said," "Oh, my aching arms!"

But they did this.  They removed a section of the roof.  Now this was not a Habitat for Humanity house.  They didn't do through asphalt shingles and plywood decking.  They didn't go through metal roofing held down by self-tapping screws.  It was more like our adobe.  Probably the roof was reeds and weeds and brush covered by mud that dried in the sun.  Imagine the homeowner as clumps of roof fell on your head.  "Thanks a lot for the new skylight!" 

The 4 lower the paralytic down in front of Jesus.  "And they said,"  "Oh, my aching arms!"  They lower him down on a pallet.  Do you remember going to your grandmother's house?  There were not enough beds for all of the grandchildren.  You slept on a couple of quilts that had been laid on the floor.  That's like this pallet.  Some version of this story is told in all 4 Gospels.  Only Mark has this particular word for pallet.  It is the word for the cheapest version of bed used by the poorest of persons.  One would sleep on it at night, and during the day roll up one's few belongings in it to carry as a pack by day.

Jesus sees their faith.  The paralytic's faith?  Maybe, but at least some of those who carried him, their faith.  We bring people to Jesus, carried on the arms of our faith.  There is a book I read by Harold Koenig called The Healing Power of Faith, that talks about studies done on the power of praying for others.  There have been studies done at Duke University, with double blind protocols, control groups, and other research standards.  People who were prayed for, even if they didn't know it, even if the pray-ers didn't know the person, got better faster than those who didn't get prayed for.  Our faith makes a difference.  I heard the story of a pastor visiting a man in the hospital.  "May I pray with you?"  the pastor asks.  I always ask permission too.  The man responds, "Oh, I don't believe in all of that stuff." "Well, I have faith enough for both of us," the pastor replies.  With the man's permission, he prays with him.  We bring people to healing through our prayers.  This is one of the most powerful ministries we have:  bringing people into the presence of Jesus.

And Jesus says to the paralytic, "Child" or "Son."  The Greek word is a term of endearment, but it is also used for a young child.  We don't know how old the paralytic was.  He could have been a child.  Is there anything harder to bear?  To see a sick child?  Have you been to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit?  It breaks your heart.

Jesus says to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven."  The 4 who had carried the paralytic, when they heard Jesus pronounce forgiveness,  "and they said," "Oh, my aching arms!"  What was Jesus supposed to say?  "Rise, take up your pallet and walk."  Jesus goes off script and pronounces forgiveness.  I can hear the 4 carriers saying, "This is just great.  His sins are forgiven, but he is still paralyzed.  We get to carrying him back home."  "And they said,"  "Oh, My aching arms!"

Listen carefully.  Is there a relationship between sin and sickness?  Absolutely!  But sometimes in Old Testament thought and even today, sickness meant that somebody had sinned.  Remember in John's Gospel in a similiar healing story, that question is raised, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"  Jesus says, neither.  You miss the point.  God's works might be shown in him through blindness and healing.  There are 12 healing stories in Mark. Not once is sickness linked to sin.  Sometimes sin will lead to sickness.  There can be a cause and effect relationship.  But not every sickness is caused by sin.  Here Jesus forgives the sin first in the paralytic person because that may have been the biggest need for healing first.  The person may have been cut off, separated from God through guilt and lack of forgiveness.  Jesus addresses that first.  It is possible to be physically healed and not forgiven.  It is possible to be forgiven and not physically healed.  I believe that Jesus wants complete wellness for us...in our bodies, minds, spirits, memories, and relationships.  Jesus wants for us wholeness and holiness.  Sometimes that complete healing is not possible.

Here Jesus gets into trouble with the religious leaders by offering forgiveness.  They charge him with blasphemy.  Only God can forgive sins.  I wonder church if we are ever in that role of being judgmental and narrow leaders.  We try to limit what God can do or who can be forgiven.  Jesus has the authority to forgive sins and proves it by doing the easier thing of calling the paralytic to rise up and walk home.

Sometimes, we may the paralytic.  We may need to be carried.  We may need to accept help.  That may be who you are today.  But I hope you can see yourself as one of the 4 who carried the paralytic to Jesus.  They were persistent.  Everytime they met an obstacle, "and they said," "oh, my aching arms!", they did not give up.  They were creative and patient.  They kept bring the paralytic to Jesus.  What are their names?  We don't know.  It could be you and me.  I hope so.  What is their gender?  I looked it up in the Greek.  It is simply the number 4.  It could be male or female, of any age.  It could be you and me.  I hope it is.  May we be those who are bringing others to healing.  That's the good news I have to share.