The Seventh Sunday after
Epiphany – February 19, 2006
Mark 2:1-12
Once you have hepatitis people never
quite view you the same. You go to the Red Cross to give blood and they say,
“No way!” You are introduced to your new doctor and as she takes your medical
history there is a pause when you mention you have had hepatitis twice. That is
a bit unusual for a doctor to hear since two out five folks usually die the
second time. That means 40% of us who have had hepatitis twice are not alive to
tell.
When the gospel lesson for today
introduces the man who is paralyzed and then healed by Jesus, isn’t there a
little something that goes off inside you and you want to bring out your list
of ailments for Jesus to heal? What about your painful
arthritis or the heart problem caused by clogged arteries or even those
constant headaches, let alone the migraines that are so debilitating? Perhaps
it is something else. Even your old hepatitis comes to mind and you want to
have a cure so that you can give blood at the Red Cross or at least not get
those strange looks that make you feel like a leper when you tell your new
physician your medical history.
So, we would be happy to have a
quick cure. We are a society that likes things to happen right now. A quick
cure sounds good. It is nice of Jesus to turn to the paralyzed man being
lowered through the roof by his friends and say “Your sins are forgiven.” The
paralyzed man is healed by those words.
Would you feel that Jesus healed you
if he said to you, “Your sins are forgiven?” It seems an odd way to heal a
person. You might feel like Naaman, the character out of the book of 2 Kings,
who is a foreigner with leprosy. He comes to
Today Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven”
so that healing may take place for you. Are we skeptical like Naaman? What
could forgiveness have to do with us and our healing?
Look at your healing through the
eyes of the cross. Yes, Jesus does heal the paralyzed man; the man walks again.
Jesus, though, knows that the ultimate healing that is needed is the
forgiveness of sin. In fact Jesus is so convinced of this need to heal that he
not only restores body and soul, he also provides an eternal future at the
gracious banquet table in the
What is completely healed by Jesus
when he forgives all our sin is the brokenness of our lives.
The sin within us, the rebellion and alienation that breeds a desire to play
god is forgiven. We can kid ourselves and say, “Well, I don’t really do any
major sinning,” but the truth remains that we are estranged from God and one
another until forgiveness fills our lives. And the forgiveness of the cross
heals us. The forgiveness of the cross restores our relationships with God and
one another. It is the forgiveness of the cross that reconciles us to God and
each other.
Since we are healed so completely by
Jesus through the cross, we now have the strength and desire to serve him.
Jesus does call us to serve him.
Remember how Jesus meets Peter and
the disciples on the seashore after his resurrection? In the gospel of John we
read the story. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Each time Peter
responds with a “Yes, I love you.” And Jesus says to him, “Feed my lambs,” the
first time. The second time Jesus says, “Tend my sheep.” And in the final and
third exchange Jesus tells Peter, “Feed my sheep.”
Jesus was calling Peter to serve him
and at the same time calls each of you. Do you love the Lord Jesus who forgives
all your sin? Then, feed and tend his sheep. And to feed and tend may mean the
most important gift you can give as one who serves Jesus is to say to others,
“Come and see; come and see the Lord Jesus, who forgives your sin.” Amen.
o
Pastor
Robert F. Holley