More Than You Ever Dreamed Of

Well, in the upheaval that has been the year 2020 so far, we are back into the school year and in many ways the beginning of a new year - as much back to normal as normal can be these days. As we wrap up summer holidays and reflect on what lies ahead, let me ask you a question:

“What is the greatest problem in your life today?”

Some of you need no time whatsoever, to think about that. “Well, it’s the pandemic, of course! … kids are back in school - this week we were told that cases are rising in our province … My greatest need is an end to this health crisis”. Some of you would say that. Others would say, ‘It’s uncertainty over the future - I’m not sure about my job.’ Others are so lonely - missing loved ones and friends - some of them taken from you - others you just can’t see because you aren’t allowed to see them.

Some of you are here consumed by fear - or frustration - or anger.

Perhaps there some other particular trial or crisis in your life - - and you don’t have to think about it at all - - heavy on your mind – financial stress, marriage is a mess, physical health is fragile, or you are aching over the loss of a loved one. Right now - that problem seems to define your life.

We read this morning about a man who had a very significant problem in his life. We read about him in Mark 2, starting at the beginning of the chapter:

READ PASSAGE

End of chapter 1, Jesus heals a leper – commands him “be quiet”. The leper disobeys, and whenever we disobey Jesus, even with the best of intentions – problems always follow. Chapter 1 ends with the consequence of the leper’s loose lips - - no longer is Jesus able to enter a town openly, but stayed outside, “in the lonely places”, yet the people still come to him from everywhere.

In chapter 2, Jesus returns to the town of Capernaum, and the magnetism of His presence is powerful. News spreads that he is back – and a crowd immediately gathers. In fact, such a crowd gathers that the house is packed - crammed with people, who have come to hear the Word. Mark stresses the size of this crowd – v. 2, “there was no room left, not even outside the door . . .”

Problem here – Jesus came to announce the Good News - - He has come to heal and put right what was wrecked by the Fall. He has come to bring in the Kingdom of God to set the captives free . . . . . but now, with the masses, crowding around Jesus, we’ve got a question - what about the individuals? Will the individual captives - the very people that are most in need be shut out because of the crowds? Our culture is no different than the culture of Jesus’ day was, in this way: Numbers seemed to equal success. In Mark 2, Jesus has made a name for himself. People are seeking him out - wherever he goes, the masses are right behind.

Crowds play an important role in this particular gospel. Mark points out how popular Jesus is in Galilee by pointing to the gathered crowds nearly 40 times before chapter 10. They gather to receive his compassion and to hear him teach - - they come for the show. But NEVER, ever, does he describe a crowd turning, en-masse, to Jesus in repentance and trust - - as the Gospel requires (1:15) - That’s what Jesus came preaching: “Repent and believe the Good News”. The crowds don’t do that ... In fact, the single most common characteristic of the crowds in Mark, is that they block access to Jesus. They are the ‘outsiders’ - OUTSIDE the kingdom, who are either ambivalent about Jesus, or directly opposed to him.

We need to hear that - in a society where even Christians too often equate success with bums in seats. In the Gospel - the crowds are NEVER a measure of Jesus’ success. IN fact, in so many cases, they are a hindrance. Oh may we be a church that is always growing, reaching the lost and seeing new individuals brought from death to life, through Holy Spirit empowered conversion .... but don’t make the mistake of equating the size of the crowd with spiritual success.

1 GREAT FAITH MEETS MAGNIFICENT MERCY, vv. 1-5

Verse 3 puts a face to the problem of the crowds. See this paralytic, this man who is so helpless – that he doesn’t simply need someone to help him hobble to Jesus; a helping hand will not do. Unless someone literally carries this helpless man to Jesus – he has no chance of getting help. There’s no need to ask what this man’s greatest problem is - He can’t walk. It’s the problem that defines him. Notice that he isn’t given a name in our text. He’s only known as ‘a paralytic’. That’s how he would have been known. We don’t know if he was born this way - never able to walk, or whether there had been some kind of tragedy along life’s pathway. All we know is that in a society with no disability pensions - this man is reduced to begging simply to survive. Yes, clearly his great defining problem is that he can’t walk.

Thankfully, this man has people who care about him. He has real friends – 4 of them, who care enough to take the blanket he is confined to lying upon, and carry it – each friend on a different corner – carrying their ‘package’ to Jesus. “If only we can get him there - there’s no cure for his paralysis, but Jesus can help!”

Ah, but there is a problem – The man’s four friends are from Jamaica. Now, I know it doesn’t say that in the text - but they have to be – I have Jamaican blood in my veins and I know that the Jamaican way of life is much more relaxed than the Canadian way – One of the unofficial mottoes of the country is, “No problem, man …” – and if you’re supposed to be somewhere at 10, but you have other things going on – well, “no problem, man – 10:45 is good enough” (My mom, the Jamaican would not be happy to hear me talk like this – she was fastidiously punctual and was very frustrated that I didn’t exactly inherit her punctuality – I guess in some ways, I’m just more Jamaican that she was). Anyway, the friends of the paralyzed man finish their patties and ginger beer BEFORE they pick up their friend up to take him to the place where Jesus is holding court.

As they approach the house in which Jesus is teaching, the men realize they are too late – “Oh no! We should have left 45 minutes earlier!” They run headlong into an impenetrable wall of people They cannot even get close enough to the door to SEE the teacher, let alone share with him their need – and plead for his help.

“Well, it was a nice try, boys. … You know, it’s really the thought that counts.”

No, the men will not be so easily deterred. They don’t just have noble intentions, they don’t just have good plans - - these men have GREAT FAITH! They will not just take their places at the back of the line. They bring it in for a football huddle over the helpless man - and come with plan ‘B’.

If the crowd is in the way of Jesus, they will go over the crowd’s head to get to Jesus - - literally!

The 4 men take the stone stairway that is part of most Palestinian homes in Jesus’ day, and they carry their beloved burden, their helpless friend, up those stairs to the flat roof above. That part was not unusual, it isn’t uncommon to walk on a roof – it isn’t uncommon to dry laundry on the roof. But what comes next is most definitely Uncommon.

The math whiz in the group, calculates about where Jesus should be standing in the house below - and they pace to the spot directly over that place.

Then they start to chip away - - to dig the mud-cover off of thatched roof. The house roof in this day would be made with – beams, lying parallel, across the roof – 2 ft. apart, running the opposite way, sticks and branches as insulation – then on top of all that, the builders would put on a covering of dirt and clay, packed down and 1 ft thick - - the whole roof is 2 FEET THICK. There’s some digging to be done in order to get through that obstacle. There’s no trap door up there. This is hammer and chisel work. And the men in our text are not just opening a peep-hole to look through – they are opening a man-sized hole …. big enough to get their friend through.

Greek makes it especially vivid – it literally reads – “They unroof the roof.”

Imagine being on the inside of the house - Jesus is teaching, the people packed in around him can hear the pounding.

As the men begin to dig through the foot of earth, a crack of light breaks through, and the men start prying up the twigs and branches – clumps of clay falling everywhere.

Think of this from Jesus perspective. Every preacher knows what it is to try and get the message across with distractions in the way - - a baby is crying, a cell phone goes off - everyone turns and looks … you feel like you’ve just lost everyone . . . that’s typical for any preacher.

. . . I can’t imagine trying to preach when the roof is literally falling on my head.

This is a great way to get attention - - but interrupting the teacher by dumping dirt onto the heads of the gathered congregation below is NOT a great way to gain friends. But on the men work until, after each one ties his own outer robe to a corner of the bed and lower this early model elevator down to the first floor.

Now - the helpless paralytic is face to face with Jesus.

What faith these men had - - not only that Jesus could help their helpless friend, but also that He WOULD care enough to help. This is the exactly the kind of action spoken of in Matthew 11:12. There Jesus says

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Those who really want something – go after it. I have heard enough stories of romantic pursuit from you – young man gets called to the front of the university class to be used as an object lesson in anatomy by the professor - and when the young lady, smitten by this specimen, sees that the poor young man has left his notebook behind, she grabs it and takes notes for him. Next thing you know, they’re married. Or going to the restaurant and noticing the waitress … and going back, night after night - whether you liked the food there or not – until you found the courage to ask the waitress for her phone number.

When you want something badly enough … you go for it!

Do you bring that same passion to your pursuit of Christ? Are you hungry? Craving to enjoy more and more of Jesus because you know that’s Who you were created to enjoy.

v. 5 tells us that Jesus is not angry that with these men for interrupting his message. IN fact, he is impressed. Once he wipes the dust out of his eyes and clears the dust out of his throat, “When he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’”.

“Your sins are forgiven?!” I wonder if the jaws of the men looking down from the roof, dropped.” I wonder if the paralytic still lying helpless on his bed, gulped. I wonder if there was an uncomfortable silence in the house, when Jesus makes this proclamation of forgiveness of sins.

2. An Unexpected Gift, v. 5

The scene reminds me of a child on Christmas morning who has spent months dropping all kinds of hints that the gift he most wants is a new Lego set – Makes it number one on the wish list he prominently sticks on the refrigerator. Conveniently circles every picture of it in all of the Christmas catalogues - - sticks post-it notes on the fridge … leaves flyers open on the kitchen table right to the page that features the best Lego prices.

Christmas morning comes and there under the tree is a package just about the right size - - - when he finally gets his turn to open his present, he exercises as much self-control as he possibly can to keep from tearing the paper off like a savage - - only to get the package open and find that it is a pair of church shoes. Almost a true story from my past.

Picture the man: He’s helpless … he’s never been able to use his own legs to get where he needs to go. The medical establishment can’t help him, his loved ones can’t help him … he doesn’t have money, but even if he did - no amount of money can help him. JESUS CAN HELP HIM - - - He believed it. His friends believed it … that’s why he’s here. And Jesus’ response is to say:

“Your sins are forgiven?!” What kind of help is that? I mean, the need here is obvious, isn’t it? The man is on a STRETCHER here, he can NOT WALK. As I heard one preacher poetically put it, “It’s my pins, not my sins!”

Does Jesus just not get it? Or does he not really care about the greatest longing of the desperately helpless?

You know that feeling. In your life - you’ve been in a situation like this.

The answer is, ‘Of course He cares’. In fact what Jesus does in his answer is to prove that he truly cares for the absolute need of this paralytic – as he puts his finger squarely on the man’s greatest problem. You see, as tragic as it is that the bedridden man cannot walk - - - it is nothing compared with the problem of His soul. Like every one of us, he is born into a world stained and scarred by sin and our birth ... simply adds to the problem.

- - We all begin life, alienated from the God who made us – “We are by nature, objects of God’s wrath.” We will talk more about that next week when we go back to Romans.

But for now, I just want you to look at this man at Jesus’ feet. Look at him and recognize ...

Even if he never walks a step in his life - - He will stand, one day, before the God who will judge him, not for being paralyzed, but for not loving Him with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength - - and without forgiveness - - he will spend eternity with a far greater affliction than useless legs.

There are many, many people who come to Jesus, because they are in a jam and they are desperate for help with what they think they need: “Jesus, I believe in you – IF … you help me get a wife – help me put my marriage back together; help me achieve financial success - to pay the rent; help me …

In other words, “If I can just get THAT – I will be okay. My problems will be solved … if you help me get this thing that I’m chasing after.”

Whatever it is that you want Jesus to help you get - You are making THAT – into your Savior. The problem is – everything and everyone outside of Christ is a false Savior that, under the weight of your hopes and expectations, will collapse and destroy you.

As long as you don’t get what you are after, you are frustrated, unhappy, empty. But if you DO get what you are chasing, you end up feeling MORE empty, more Unhappy, more FRUSTRATED –

You have come to believe that if Jesus can just help you climb this ladder of success, you will find delight. I’m here this morning to tell you that if you are pursuing anything - even GOOD THINGS … but if you are pursuing them more than Jesus, you may get to the top … but if you do, you will find that your ladder has been leaning against the wrong building.

Cynthia Heimel, used to write for the Village Voice. Over the years she had known a number of people who were struggling actors and actresses, in NYC - they were working in restaurants and punching tickets at theatres, just to pay the bills – then they got their ‘big break’ – they became famous.

When they were struggling, like all of us, they said, “If only I could make it in the business, if only I had this or that, I’d be happy.” They were like so many other people: stressed, driven, easily upset. But when they actually got the fame they had been longing for, Heimel said, they became insufferable: unstable, angry and manic. Not just arrogant, as you would expect – it was worse than that. They were now UNHAPPIER than they used to be. She writes:

I pity [celebrities]. No, I do. [Celebrities] were once perfectly pleasant human beings … but now … their wrath is awful … More than any of us, they wanted fame. They worked, they pushed … The morning after … each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose … because that giant thing they were striving for, that fame thing that was going to make everything okay, that was going to make their lives bearable, that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and … happiness, had happened. And NOTHING CHANGED. THEY WERE STILL THEM. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.

They had the thing they thought would make everything okay – and it didn’t. You see the celebrities in the news – ending another marriage, going into rehab again – or needing to go into rehab. According to the world, they have it all – but they have nothing.

Heimel added a powerful statement: “I think when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants your deepest wish” (pp. 13-14).

Jesus will not give a man with terminal cancer $5 and tell him to buy an ice cream cone. To a man who is dying in his sins and on his was to an eternal separation from Holy God - Jesus won’t say: “Let’s fix up those legs so you can go jogging again.”

And to you … Jesus loves you too much to make life easier for you in your ..... self-centered, self-directed journey to judgement.

Do you wonder why nothing seems to be working out for you? The Bible says life never will - until you realize that your greatest problem is NOT your suffering … it is your sin.

3. An Unmistakable Claim vv. 6-12

If the paralytic and the men of faith don’t get what they are looking for, the Scribes in the crowd certainly did not hear what they wanted to hear, either. Look at V. 6. Mark tells us that inwardly they seethe with rage: “Why does this fellow talk like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Are they wrong? Their theology is bang on – If you and I are sitting at Tim Horton’s, over coffee, talking – when someone from your work or school stops at our table – and hauls off and punches you, right in the mouth – I mean a haymaker, there’s blood everywhere, you’re spitting out teeth.

Now, I want to be a peacemaker – so I step in and say to your assailant, “It’s okay, I forgive you. Don’t worry about the punch – go in peace” … what are you going to say?

When you finish picking up your teeth and wipe the blood off your face … when you calm down enough to speak, you’re going to tell me that I have no right to forgive the person who punched you – he didn’t harm me – he harmed you – so only you can forgive. Our sins are all, ultimately, against God and God alone.

The religious leaders are absolutely right when they say in verse 7 that NOBODY can forgive sins but God alone.

They are also right that “any mere mortal or angel of heaven - - anybody but God Himself who claims to forgive anybody’s sins is committing blasphemy - - showing contempt for God.” “WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS BUT GOD ALONE?!” THAT’S TRUTH!

Where these critical teachers go wrong here is the same place that every cult and every single non Christian religion goes wrong - - - they are missing a category for Jesus. 1)God alone forgives sins 2)Mere men cannot forgive 3) If this man is able to forgive sins - - - He must be God himself.

Now Jesus is about to demonstrate that He is God. Does it in 3 ways:

1. Exposes the thoughts of their hearts: Look at v. 8, Jesus asks, “Why are you thinking these things?” Notice that the scribes do not actually say anything. Last week, in 1 Samuel 16, we heard God say, “Man looks at the outward appearance but God judges the heart.” Jesus says - - “I see what is in your heart”.

2. Expresses the essence of the problem: “Which is easier to say – your sins are forgiven? Or Get up, take your mat and walk” Well, let’s think about that for a moment. Which is easier - - Of course it is infinitely harder to actually forgive sins than it is to make a man walk. It is

But it is much easier to simply say, “I forgive your sins ...” – who can prove you wrong? We don’t have a camera live-streaming from the throne room of heaven: Jesus says, ‘Sins forgiven’ and there it is … suddenly they’re all gone. Anybody can SAY that.

But if you tell a paralyzed man to get up and walk - - you put your power or lack of it - on display for all to see.

ASIDE - - - Do you see the irony here? In these verses the religious teachers are “sitting there”. They have seats, while the four men with the paralyzed friend can NOT even get close to the house, without taking drastic measures - - - and all these teachers see is a show they don’t like. They are so close to Jesus and does them absolutely no good.

The religious experts are “sitting there” – For years they have taught anyone who will listen about the problem of sin against God - - powerless to help the paralyzed man. He is dropped in front of the one who is able to take care of his greatest problem - - all they do is ‘sit’ and criticize.

“This is BLASPHEMY!” Fast forward to the night Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane’s garden … Mark 14:63-65. He’s dragged, in the middle of the night, to a gathering of the Jewish authorities for a sham trial. They interrogate him and the high priest gives his verdict in Mark 14:63:

“And the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his BLASPHEMY. What is your decision?’ And they all condemned him as deserving death. (65) And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards received him with blows.” And off they march him to Pilate, the Roman governor to demand the death sentence.

See the charge at the root of the drive for crucifixion: BLASPHEMY - the very same charge that is made first in Mark’s gospel, in OUR text.

When Jesus forgives this paralytic’s sins - he knows what’s coming. He knows the thoughts of his critics … and he knows where this road is going to lead - to suffering and death. But still, he doesn’t hold back: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

He knows the destiny that will be his when he forgives this nameless man’s sins. He doesn’t hold back. What makes this forgiveness of sins even more stunning - is the realization that Jesus isn’t just performing a nice gesture - He is the God who is offended by sin.

Mahatma Gandhi was no Christian, but he did make some astute observations. He made the comment that of all the truths of the Christian faith, the one that stood supreme to him was the cross of Jesus. He granted that it was without parallel.

It was the innocent dying for the guilty, the pure exchanged for the impure. This evil cannot be understood through the eyes of the ones who crucified Him, but only through the eyes of the Crucified One.

Ravi Zacharias: “It is the woman who has been raped who understands what rape is, not the rapist. It is the one who has been slandered who understands what slander is, not the slanderer. It is only the One who died for our sin who can explain to us what evil is, not the skeptics.”

Oh, see Him there, friend: This Jesus, Who we have punched in the mouth with our stubborn rebellion against Him … stepping onto the pathway of the cross by His response to this man who interrupted His teaching session … The Offended One says, “Son, your sins are forgiven” … “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our sins from us.”

3. Exercises His Divine Authority: v. 10, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has AUTHORITY on earth to forgive sins . . . not just ability, but authority - - - I tell you get up, take up your mat and go home . . .”

Strength surges into formerly useless limbs and the forgiven paralytic is paralyzed no more - - he picks up his mat, stands up and walks out before a stunned crowd - - a living example of the life-restoring, wholeness bringing power of God the Son.

Don’t miss what has just happened here friends: A man comes to Jesus with a need so great he can’t even get to him without the great faith of his friends and Jesus gives him, not just what he wanted … but so much more than he ever dreamed of - - - A body that can function AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ... a forgiveness of sins that will enable him to live in this joy for ever without end!

And that’s what He offers to you. I asked you at the beginning of this message: “What is your greatest problem? What’s your greatest need?” Now take your answer and filter it through Jesus’ priorities in His Word

… And let me ask you again: “What is your greatest need?” More than anything else … you. Need. Jesus.

______________

QUESTIONS:

From a human perspective - what does your greatest need seem to be?

How does the