Their faith has made you well

Continuing today in the gospel of Mark.

Last week - the call to discipleship

This week - the role of the community in the life of faith

As Ben comes to read, would you please stand?

Mark 2:1–12 NRSVue

1 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, “Child, 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!”

In this story, we see Jesus forgive and heal. We see Jesus see beyond what is being asked or said, noticing the questions people ask. And we see Jesus astonish the people… “we have never seen anything like this!”

Notice these:

a typical dwelling with an earthen roof (which is why the friends can “dig through/dismantle” or “unroof” the roof

some scholars even posit that if Jesus was “back home in Capernaaum, this may well have been Jesus’ house

the mat on which they carry him describes a poor man’s bed or mattress or bedroll

also, this little story is a mini-re-telling of a later story in the gospel of Mark… specifically Mark 14…

where we’ll see Jesus teaching & healing, condemned for blasphemy, and then vindicated

N.T. Wright says: “The paralyzed man’s healing points forward to the new life that Jesus himself will have in the resurrection, and will share with everyone who wants it.”

Sit with two things: 1. The separation of Jesus offering forgiveness and healing.

The forgiveness of sins doesn’t result in the healing of the man who has been brought to Jesus.

I love the surprise of Jesus forgiving the man. His friends bring him for healing… and Jesus chooses to offer forgiveness of sins.

Bobby Williamson says it this way “The most urgent matter is being set right with God whatever the abilities and limitations of our particular bodies might be.”

In John 9, we encounter a man who had been born blind and the question asked of Jesus is, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?”

Disabilities or deficiencies are not the result of sin and yet we often fall into traps of thinking that our own struggles (or those of others) must be brought about by something we/they did.

Jesus forgives the man. And the scribes are incensed. Who does Jesus think He is?! (I love how Jesus here KNOWS what they are thinking “in their own hearts” and responds to them.

It is here that Mark includes Jesus’ claim to be the Human One - engaged in a struggle between heavenly and earthly things. And this Human One or Son of Man as it is sometimes translated, is “wresting away from the scribal and priestly class their ‘authority on earth.’” (Ched Myers)

N.T. Wright: “[‘The human one’] could simply mean ‘I’ or ‘someone like me’. But taking ‘the son of man’ [or ‘the human one’] in Mark as a whole, Daniel 7 provides the clue to deeper meaning. There, ‘one like a son of man’ is the representative of God’s true people. He is opposed by the forces of evil; but God vindicates him, rescues him, proves him to be in the right, and gives him authority. In Daniel this authority enables him to dispense God’s judgment. Here, in a fascinating twist, he has authority to dispense God’s forgiveness.”

It is here that Jesus chooses to heal the man of his physical infirmities - punctuating the forgiveness of sins with a visible sign of the Human One’s authority over all things.

The man’s sins have been forgiven. His debt erased. His personhood restored in the social system. And in order to free him from the way the structures will limit him, Jesus also heals his physical limitations.

Just two chapters into the gospel of Mark, this is Jesus second healing, we skipped over the first act, in which Jesus touches a leper - taboo! and heals him.

Ched Myers says it this way:

“The portrait is now emerging is of a Jesus who is continually surrounded by the poor, who attends their importune cries for healing and wholeness, and who acts not just to bind up their wounds but to attack the structures that perpetuate their oppression.”

2. The faith of the man healed is never talked about.

We don’t know whether he wanted to be brought to Jesus. Whether he was keen to be there or whether he had given up. Had tried everything.

This is unusual, as in many other healing accounts, including 3 upcoming healings in the book of mark, “the agency will be with those seeking healing. These will be made well on account of their initiative and action.” (Ched Myers)

But here, it is the faith of the friends that Jesus sees and responds to.

What we do know is that Jesus responds to the faith of his friends.

Mark 2:5 NRSVue

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

Now. It’s remarkable to me that Jesus responds to the faith of the friends.

But also, what do you think the friends did when Jesus forgave the man’s sins?

Is this why they brought their friend to Jesus?

Is this why they, undeterred by the crowd, proceeded to carry their friend up onto the roof and dismantled the roof so that they could lower him down?

So what does this mean for us?

If we are in need

If we need forgiveness, if we need healing, will we let our community “carry us”

This requires trust, vulnerability, humility…not just in Jesus, but in people around us…

As a community of faith

Are we willing to collaborate with others to carry someone to Jesus? Do we even think bringing others to Jesus is a good idea?

Are we ready to put our faith into action, doing whatever it takes to dismantle whatever barriers we encounter?

In the Sanctuary Course

In our day to day friendships and experience of community here at Southwest

In our efforts to help dismantle barriers for people here and elsewhere…

The Mechanics team as they go to Guatemala for a couple of weeks

Gerhard & Janie Schumacher - Kapsowar Mission Hospital

Janie will come and share a bit, but first here’s a video that will give you a little bit more idea of what Kapsowar Mission Hospital does and where we might be able to help.