Sunday Feb.22

Mark 2:1-12 (New International Version)
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

6Now 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?"

8Immediately 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? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He 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!"

Having been a chaplain at UVic, I can think of several young guys who would have done what these men did in the Gospel for their paralytic friend. Their friend was in need; there was a problem in getting help for him so they got creative and improvised. Obviously they had heard about Jesus’ healing powers and in their minds it was totally worth it to do whatever it took to get their friend into Jesus’ presence. Older and ‘wiser’ minds would have probably just accepted that their friend wouldn’t be seeing Jesus that night and maybe never. But these young guys decided they weren’t going to miss this perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity, even if it meant tearing up their neighbor’s roof. I wonder if it occurred to them that rigging up the paralytic’s pallet to ropes and lowering him through the ceiling could have ended up with them accidentally dumping their friend on Jesus’ head? Probably not. They were probably just super excited at their great scheme.

Jesus loved it! I can just visualize Jesus looking at this jerry-rigged bed descending to the floor and then looking up at the hole in the roof and seeing four grinning faces looking down at him. What’s not to love about these guys?

The other thing I think Jesus loved about these guys was that they “got it”. Up until that moment when ceiling dust started sifting down onto his head, Jesus had been preaching his message to a room full of people and we find out not too much further on that there were a lot of scribes and teachers of the law in that room. They weren’t there to learn or receive anything from Jesus. They were there to check him out. They were most likely listening with skeptical minds and cynical hearts and a number of people would have been waiting to see what the scribes’ judgment of Jesus was before they committed themselves to his teaching. And I have no doubt that there were a huge number there who weren’t listening to much of what Jesus said; they were just hanging out in case a miracle happened. So, there was Jesus sharing his precious message with a crowd, a high percentage of which were probably arrogantly cynical, or wishy washy, depending on what everybody else might think, or inquisitive looky-loos. Jesus was probably heaving the odd sigh inside himself but still, the Father wanted him there at that moment so he would wait to see what would happen.

No wonder he immediately responded to these four enthusiastic guys who found a way to get their friend to Jesus. These guys weren’t judging Jesus, they weren’t just there to catch something sensational and they weren’t hanging back to see what everybody else thought. They were taking Jesus at his word and their friend needed Jesus’ word. “What’s to think about? Let’s do it!”

Jesus responded to that fresh and alive faith by forgiving the fellow his sins. No questions asked.

Have you ever heard that love covers a multitude of sins? This is something to think about. It wasn’t repentance on the part of the paralytic that caused Jesus to pronounce forgiveness. It was the love and faith of the friends – a love that hoped for great things to happen and gave them the desire to bring their friend into the presence of Jesus.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

The Mom Connection: There will be many times in your lives when you will be very concerned about someone – a friend or your spouse or one of your children. You must remember the power of love and faith in the eyes of Jesus. Please don’t think I’m suggesting that if you are concerned about someone you love that Jesus expects you to arm-wrestle that person into his presence. But don’t doubt the spiritual power of your love when you pray for people. Someone once said that a mother’s prayers are the most powerful prayers of all. When I heard that I almost dismissed it as a sentimental thought but then I decided I was going to believe it. Why wouldn’t a mother’s prayers be powerful? A mother’s love is elemental, instinctive and can be like a roaring lion as well as gentle and forgiving.

A mother’s love covers a multitude of sins. If the love and faith of four friends could save a paralytic from his sins as well as a lifetime of illness, just imagine what a mother’s love and faith can accomplish.