Mark 2:1-12

Mother’s day prayer:

Loving God, thank you for the love of our mothers, by birth, by adoption, and by baptism. Thank you for their care and concern, for the joys they have shared with us; thank you God for the pains they have borne for us, for all that they give us.

A visit to Jesus’ house

Today our text leads us to Jesus’ house.

The house on Jesus corner.

What does a trip to Jesus house bring?

Jesus is preaching to a group of people who came to hear him talk.

Imagine going to hear a TED talk and the speaker ends up ruining your life.

Or saving it.

Either way, you just came to listen, you didn’t exactly want crowd participation.

And if this story has anything, it’s crowd participation.

This is going to be the most powerful sermon illustration of all time.

He’s been on tour. SLIDE

So far everything has been pretty dandy in Galilee and he hasn’t made any enemies.

First of 5 conflicts with religious leaders.

Warning:

Conflicting with religious leaders is not an essential part of the Christian walk.

Rather,

Religious leaders conflicting with Christ is a reality of our world.

And where does the conflict lie?

In talking about sin, and in shifting authority.

Jesus does 2 things that gain him enemies.

He speaks boldly about sin,

and he shifts ultimate authority away from evil people to himself.

Let’s look at the story from two different points of view.

First, the 4 friends.

Heard Jesus was at home.

They know he’s been healing people all over, not least their whole hometown.

This guy missed the initial wave of healing in Capernaum.

Who are his friends?

I doubt the paralytic was a wealthy man,

so he didn’t hire them.

They’ve heard that Jesus

Jesus’ point of view

He was speaking the message to them.

He’s preaching the kingdom of heaven.

He is announcing that the day of redemption that the people have been waiting for is here.

We don’t have his sermon written down,

but we know lots of what Jesus liked to say to people when he was talking about the kingdom,

which was all the time.

Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom is marked by a repeated emphasis on HOW someone was to enter this kingdom.

So imagine that you can hear people walking around on the roof...

And maybe Jesus was saying something like,

“If any one wants to be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

or maybe he was telling the story of the good samaritan,

a story where a religious leader who has no concern for the needy is cast in a negative light, and an outcast from society is painted in a favorable light,

or, my favorite,

Luke 11:5–13 HCSB

5 He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ 7 Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

And now dirt is raining down on Jesus’ head.

I’m of the mind this could actually be Jesus’ personal residence because if it was Peter’s he would have been losing his cool big time.

Jesus’ house looks like a human house.

The temple was his house before this.

Faith is the vehicle and key to the kingdom

“I am homesick for a place I am not sure even exists. One where my heart is full. My body loved. And my soul understood.”

Heart: Sick and empty

Body: Unloved

Soul: Misunderstood and confused

Sometimes we don’t even know what all we need.

But we know something is wrong.

What would happen to you if you encountered Jesus in His house?

“Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 1. Healing a Paralytic (2:1–12)

It is not as if this sick man were unusually sinful, but his case makes the universal separation of man from God more conspicuous and illustrates the truth which is proclaimed over and over in the Old Testament, that all suffering is rooted in man’s separation from God. For this reason, Jesus must call attention here to man’s deepest need; otherwise the testimony of this healing would remain nothing more than the story of a remarkable miracle. (Schweizer, p. 61)

This is like when you go to the doctor because you have a minor headache but after some scans you’re getting wheeled back for emergency surgery.

It brings into question the topic of faith.

This man didn’t ask for his sins to be forgiven,

he didn’t even open his mouth.

Why were his sins forgiven?

The of the kingdom can forgive sins

It’s really important to note that the main point of this story isn’t to see that Jesus can heal a lame person.

Jesus has been unfolding more and more dimensions of what it means that the kingdom is here.

First it’s the liberation from spiritual oppression,

then it’s the healing of physical damage.

So far he hasn’t crossed the religious authorities yet.

Because up to this point they haven’t needed what he is offering.

They’re not demon possessed,

they’re not lepers,

they’re not paralyzed.

On the contrary, they enjoy a healthy measure of insulation from suffering.

They sit in positions of authority,

they command more wealth than most.

If Pharisees and Sadducees ever sound like stinkers in the Bible to you it’s important to note that living in America you are closer culturally to one of these heard headed hard hearted men then you are to the paralytic.

It’s really difficult to convince someone they need a doctor when they don’t believe they are ill.

It’s even harder to convince someone to go to the doctor when they don’t trust the doctor.

This is the condition of the spiritual establishment in Israel.

They don’t believe they are ill, and even if they did they don’t trust the doctor.

It is such a core part of human nature to be in denial about sin.

They are in the doctor’s house

Contrast that with the man who got lowered in on a mat...

He believes he is ill AND he trusts the doctor.

He didn’t even come to have his sins forgiven, but because he trusted the doctor, they were forgiven anyway.

This is going to the doctor 101.

The doctor heals us of things we didn’t even know we needed.

One of my favorite re-imaginations of Jesus as doctor comes to us in the story written by CS Lewis in the voyage of the dawn treader.

Eustace Scrubb

Progressive, prideful, pessimistic punk.

Dragon transformation reveals him to be what he was all along.

Encounter with Aslan remakes him into who he is supposed to be.

A little boy.

Childlike faith that blossoms into manhood.

When we encounter Jesus there is no pretense.

You may not wear a mask in Jesus’ house.

He even knows what you think.

An encounter with Jesus will reveal us for who we are.

Rebels and beggars.

Dressing Room Analogy

Most dangerous condition is to be amazed and unchanged.

2 things:

1. Faith is the gateway into the kingdom.

God doesn’t change.

There has never been a time in history where you could have your sins taken away from you without bringing them to God.

Day of Atonement

A faith encounter in God’s house.

How were the people of old saved?

By a faith encounter in God’s house.

By grace through faith.

How was the paralytic saved?

By a faith encounter in God’s house.

by grace through faith.

How are we saved?

By a faith encounter in God’s house.

By grace through faith.

Where is God’s house?

2 part answer.

Everywhere, and among believers.

2. The kingdom requires the displacement of your sin.

Lord’s prayer is a prayer for the kingdom.

Give us what we need, and take away what we don’t.

The battle lines have been drawn.

The commander has walked to the front of the army, but instead of leading them on a charge,

he has turned around and told them that they are sick and damned.

He’s walking among his own army,

healing people and calling others to account.

This is what Jesus does to our church.

He walks among us, healing some and calling others to account.

Binding up some and warning others.

This announcement of the kingdom is not a 2000 year old history lesson,

it is an announcement for today.