Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-february-26
Mark 2:1-12
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . .” He said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
In my mind, this story stands out among the healing stories of Jesus. It has a couple of twists that lead to important lessons for us. And those two lessons are probably especially worth thinking about in this season of Lent.
It seems that this story took place at an early stage of Jesus’ ministry. He had been traveling around the towns and villages of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons. Today’s reading starts out by telling us that Jesus has now “again entered Capernaum.” We think of Jesus as being from Bethlehem, or from Nazareth where he was raised. But the New Testament scholars say that Capernaum is where Jesus made his home as an adult, so it seems to me that we’re meant to understand that this story takes place at Jesus’ own house.
Apparently, Jesus had already gained a following as a preacher and teacher, because a big group of people turns out, filling the house and crowding around the doors and windows to hear him.
As Jesus is teaching, four men come bringing a paralyzed friend in hopes that he can be healed. When they can’t get close to Jesus because of the crowd, the men climb up on the roof and make an opening. Then they lower the man into the presence of Jesus to be healed. Jesus first declares the man’s sins forgiven, then heals his paralysis and directs the man to take up his mat and go home.
It seems very significant to me that Jesus takes action in the man’s life because he noted the faith of his friends. There are several cases where Jesus acts to heal a child because of the faith of the child’s parents, and at least one where he heals a servant because of his master’s faith. But unless I’m mistaken, this is the only healing story in the gospels where a person is healed because of the faith of his friends.
It strikes me that this is an appropriate lesson for Lent, because we are approaching one of the two seasons of the year in which people are statistically most likely to respond positively to an invitation to church. Holy Week and Christmas are apparently times when some unchurched people sense a calling from God to re-engage with the faith. So this story holds out to us the possibility that our faith might be used by Jesus to make his love known in the life of our friends, as he did for this paralyzed man.
It’s no great insight to say that mainline followers of Jesus like Presbyterians are poor at sharing our faith with unchurched people. That’s probably because of our distaste for the aggressive spiritual bullies who evangelize by telling others they’re going straight to hell unless they repent and “get saved.” It probably also has something to do with the fact that our highly intellectualized version of the faith makes us think we have to be able to give a detailed explanation of Christian theology to be effective witnesses.
But effectively sharing faith can be as simple as telling a troubled person that you’ll pray for them, and then following up later to let them know you’ve been doing it. To a struggling person, just showing that you care and that you believe God does too can be a powerful witness in its own right. And so can just mentioning something good that goes on in church during this season, like making candy to raise money to feed the hungry, or handing out our deacons’ Easter food baskets. That kind of Christian service can open a door to a person who feels the need to be involved with the cause greater than their own self-interest.
The other wrinkle in this story that I find particularly interesting is that when Jesus sees this paralyzed man, the first thing he does for him is to forgive his sins. So in the mind of Jesus, it’s the man’s sinfulness, not his paralysis, that takes priority when it comes to healing.
I can’t help thinking that most of the things Christians think of as ‘serious sins’ would be hard for a paralyzed person to commit. Judging by the issues we talk about the most, apparently lots of us think first about sexual sins when the subject of sin comes up. And things like violence and stealing are probably the kinds of sins we’d think about next – obviously, they have physical aspects to them.
But the central figure in our reading for today is a guy who can’t move. So what does it say that when Jesus looks at him, and what draws his attention is the man’s sinfulness? To me, it says that Jesus considers sins like bitterness, envy, resentment and gossip as just as serious as the “big sins” we talk about so much.
During Lent, we’re supposed to be reflecting on our lives and confessing and repenting our sins. So maybe this story suggests that we should be opening our hearts and minds to be shown what things about ourselves seem like sins to God. What is it we really need to be healed of? We might come into God’s presence thinking it’s paralysis that’s our big problem, while he sees something that seems much more in need of his healing power.
Let’s pray. Lord, in this season of Lent, help us to be agents of your healing grace in the lives of our friends who do not know you now. And as we pass through this season, show us those things about us that you most want to heal, and open our hearts and minds to receive that healing. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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