On Friday, June 29th of this year, Sue and I enjoyed dinner in the home of Carl and Lora Conner and several other Redland friends. The occasion was Ann Eubanks’ birthday. We left the Connor’s house about 10PM—at almost the same moment that the now infamous Derecho storm hit—and I remember how odd that it felt when it did. I mean, one moment everything was perfectly calm—and the next moment it was as if someone had thrown a switch and we were instantly in the middle of a raging hurricane. About that time Sue and I sprinted to our mini-van, hoping to hurry home before things got worse—but things got MUCH worse VERY quickly. Rain was pouring down and up and blowing sideways…high winds were making trees bend to the ground and shortly after we turned onto Emory Grove Road…heading south, toward Muncaster Mill, a huge tree fell across our path—blocking the road completely. We hit the brakes and decided to turn around—but had only gone 50 yards or so when we came upon another huge fallen tree blocking the road. I thought, “We were just here a moment ago! It could have fallen on us!”
We had passed another road on our right so I turned around again in the hopes that this road would provide us with a way to get to Muncaster Mill but we had only gone a short distance when we ran into yet another fallen tree blocking our way. This meant we were literally trapped in the midst of this strange very intense storm. And as the wind continued to howl and blow we feared one of the trees that surrounded us might fall on us at any moment so instead of just sitting there we turned around and headed back up Emory Grove—toward Georgia Avenue. Of course we were confronted with that second fallen tree but we got out of the car and looked to see if it would be possible for Sue and I to drag it out of the road—at least far enough for the car to get by…but it was too big. However we did see that if we were very careful, we could drive off the road and around the fallen tree…which we did…and then continued north, up Emory Grove.
We had only gone a 100 yards or so until we encountered another fallen tree lying across the road but we were able to drive up onto the hiking path and get around this fourth barrier. Suffice it to say—it took us a long time to get home that night and we had to find our way around two other fallen tree barriers in the process. Of course when we finally pulled in our driveway everything was dark. Like millions of others, we had no electricity, but God took care of us on that dark, stormy night.
How many of you remember that night? Were any of you out on the roads when the Derecho hit?
How many had to find a way around some sort of storm damage barrier…a tree…or some huge piece of debris in order to get where you needed to go? We can swap stories after the service!
I bring this up because today we’re looking at a familiar passage of Scripture that tells us about four friends who encountered a barrier between where they were—and where they needed to go … but like us, they persisted—and found a way around it. These four friends learned what many of us learned the night that Derecho storm hit—they learned that desperate times call for desperate measures. Take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Mark. Follow along as I read this story from chapter 2, verses 1-12:
Mark 2:1 – A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home.
2 – So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the Word to them.
3 – Some men came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
4 – Since 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.
5 – When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 – Now 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?”
8 – Immediately 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?
9 – Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?
10 – But 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.”
12 – He 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!”
Okay—in order to better see how this ancient story applies to our lives today, let’s go back and take a closer look. And—as we do the first thing we “see” is that this miracle happened in the early phase of Jesus’ ministry…when His popularity was first beginning to grow. Now—of course there was no e-mail back then but they did have a way for news to spread and it was almost as effective as our “twitter feeds.” It was known of as “word of mouth” and it was so effective that Jesus’ fame as a powerful Teacher and miracle Worker caused crowds to follow Him wherever He went. So when people heard that Jesus was in Capernaum, they came from all over to hear Him teach and to see Him work the miracles He had become known for.
Mark’s account tells us that Jesus was in a HOME in Capernaum—probably Peter’s. Now—in those days an open door meant all were invited inside—and the rules of hospitality stated that you kept your door open pretty much all the time. An open door was more than a door—it was an invitation to come inside and make yourself at home. I guess if you didn’t want dinner guests you kept the door shut! Perhaps this is where what we call the “open-door policy” started…but the rules of hospitality the door to your home was only closed when you wanted privacy—like when you were sleeping at night.
Well, everyone took Peter up on his “open-door” invitation…and not just people from Capernaum. No—in his account Luke tells us that people came from every village and town. In fact—there were some scribes and Pharisees—the leaders of Jewish religion—who came from as far away as Jerusalem—that’s 120 miles! This would be like walking or riding a slow-moving donkey from my mom’s home in Dover, Delaware all the way to Redland. That’s what these religious leaders did. They made this long journey because it was their job to investigate Jesus in case He was a false prophet. They had interrogated John the Baptist and now they would examine Jesus of Nazareth, to be sure His teachings did not lead the people astray.
By the way—the word “Pharisee” comes from a Hebrew word meaning, “to divide or separate.” The office of pharisee probably developed out of the ministry of Ezra, the priest, who taught the Jewish people to obey the Law of Moses and to be SEPARATE from the heathen nations around them. The great desire of the Pharisees was to understand and magnify God’s law and apply it to their daily lives—which was of course a good thing. But, the movement soon became very legalistic and its leaders laid so many burdens on the people that it was impossible for them to “serve the Lord with gladness.” (Ps 100:2). And worse than that, many—not all—but many of the Pharisees were hypocrites and did not practice what they preached. Throughout His ministry Jesus exposed the shallowness of Pharisaical religion and explained that true righteousness is a matter of the heart and not external religious practice alone. In any case, we see the honor that was paid the Pharisees in this culture because, as Mark tells us, they were SEATED in Peter’s crowded home. For everyone else it was standing room only but not the Pharisees. No—they got to sit down—in front row seats.
Now—I imagine them sitting with their arms crossed in judgement—eagerly waiting for Jesus to say something they could criticize. I can’t help but think of a group people who used to come to business meetings in my dad’s church in Dover when I was a teenager. It was well known that these people always came with only one purpose in mind. They were eager to find something to criticize…something to be negative about…something to grumble about. They were “professional fault-finders,” — much like these Pharisees…people who had forgotten that Godly people, “do everything without arguing or complaining.” (Phil. 2:13) and that we should not be GRUMBLERS! (1 Peter 4:9)
Well, with these religious leaders present, wearing their expensive robes and priestly garments, I’m sure the air was charged. The people were waiting for the shoe to drop. A fight was brewing!
But on the other hand, I think Jesus’ disciples might also have been at least a little impressed that these religious leaders had come all this way to see their Master. After all, these guys represented the religious elite. So, I imagine Simon and Jon and the others were hoping that Jesus was going to impress this audience with His profound teaching. Hopefully, He’d throw in a miracle or two to show His divinity. Jesus would be recognized—certified as the Messiah—and then the disciples would ride His coattails to fame and glory!
Well, somewhere in the region there was a paralytic man. Perhaps he had been this way since birth—maybe his paralysis was the result of an injury later in life—we don’t know. We DO know that, as a paralytic, he was totally dependent on others. Someone had to wash his face and bathe his body. He couldn’t blow his nose or go for a walk. Someone had to feed him and move him regularly to keep him from being covered with bed sores. Someone had to clean him when he soiled himself. The only time this poor man walked or ran was in his dreams and every morning his dreams ended as he awoke to the living nightmare of a body that couldn’t even roll over.
Think of it…there was no way this man could contribute to society. The only occupation open to him was that of a beggar…laid by the side of the road every day…dependent on people dropping enough coins for him to live another nightmarish day. Well, as I said the “word of mouth telegraph” said that Jesus, the miracle-worker was in Capernaum. And as word got out, like bugs drawn to light, the SICK came from everywhere. Lucado writes, “They came like soldiers returning from battle—bandaged, crippled, sightless. The old with prune faces an toothless mouths…the young with deaf babies and broken hearts. Fathers with sons who couldn’t speak…wives with wombs that wouldn’t bear fruit.”
And among the throngs hurrying to see Jesus was this paralytic man. Mark tells us that the only thing this poor guy had going for him—a wonderful thing—was the fact that he had friends—four amazing friends. Ortberg puts it this way: “[This paralytic] was in one of the killer small groups of all time.” I would certainly agree—and at this point I have to stop and say that the only reason this whole barrier-breaking miracle story happened was because of this man’s four friends. Without them he would never have made it to Jesus—never have gotten healed. That day the sun would have set without him being forgiven of his sin. All these blessings flowed from this paralytic’s wise decision years ago when it came to choosing his friends. These four men were special people indeed—especially in that culture—because most people looked down on—despised—people with obvious infirmities like his. You see, the Jews assumed that all suffering was a result of his sin…so these friends were special people…for in the face of formidable BARRIERS—social stigma, inconvenience…financial pressure…not to mention a high cost of time and energy—in spite of all this, they chose to be this paralytic man’s friends.
One thing I have to say to our young people at this point is that as you go off into college in a couple weeks—and as you go through life—ask God to guide you to good friends, quality friends…friends that stick closer to a brother. My daughter Becca has four of her college friends visiting this week and they are an answer to prayer because they are Godly friends indeed! So, as you go through lie ask for and heed God’s guidance in this—choose friends who will help you grow in Christlikeness. Trust me when I say that few decisions in life are more important! I mean, we all need friends like these four guys—friends who will stick with us in spite of our weaknesses and failures and hangups and personality flaws. This man’s “flaw” was his paralysis—represented by his “mat”—but the fact is we all have “mats.” Perhaps yours is your temper. Maybe it’s your tendency to criticize or be negative at business meetings. Maybe it’s your anxiety or depression or guilt or compulsive behaviors or whatever…but we all have “mats” — as sinners, we are all broken…we all have problems—and one thing that helps is Godly friends…people who will love you and stick by you in spite of your brokenness.
In fact, let me stop and ask, “Who carries your ‘mat’ for you? Who do you show your weakness and struggles to? Who do you ask to pray for you? Who do you take your “mask” off for? Who sees your brokenness and loves you anyway?” Jean Vanier wisely reminds us, “There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, it’s made up of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the foundation of community than perfection.” And John Ortberg adds, “If you want a deep friendship, you can’t always be the strong one. You will sometimes have to let somebody else carry your mat.” Well, do you have a friend—it may be your spouse—but do you have someone who loves you unconditionally…someone who carries your mat when needed? If you do—thank God for them! And thank them for BEING your friend! If you don’t ask God to guide you to one!
Well, when these four men learned that Jesus is in the area they decided to go and hear Him teach—but one friend said, “We can’t just go ourselves, we have to get our friend there. Maybe these things they are saying about Jesus are true. Maybe He can heal our friend. Wouldn’t that be something!? We just HAVE to get him to Jesus!” Now understand—this was no small task—getting their friend to Jesus would be difficult. Even though in a sense he was their “brother”—he would have been heavy—especially if they had to carry him 120 miles! But friends don’t think about that kind of thing. They don’t think about themselves…they think of each other. They serve one another. So these four tell their friend they are going to see Jesus and they literally pick him up on the way.
Well, imagine how they felt when after their long journey—they find that Peter’s house is packed. They can barely hear Jesus much less see Him. People are sitting in the windows and spilling out the door. Jesus is so close—but they can’t get to Him. The crowd is as much a barrier as those fallen trees were for Sue and me on the night the Derecho hit.
So, the friends say, “What are we to do?” and then one of them gets an extreme idea. He suggests they go around the barrier of that crowd and dig a hole in the roof through which they will lower their friend to Jesus. Perhaps another friend listened and said, “Are there any OTHER ideas?” There were none so they agreed—they realized this was an unorthodox way to get into the room…but after all, desperate times call for desperate measures…so they set to work…and most of the scholars I read this week agree it was a LOT of work. For example, in his commentary, R. Kent Hughes tells us that the typical roof of that day consisted of timbers laid parallel to each other about two or three feet apart. Sticks were then closely laid crosswise upon the timbers and the structure was padded with reeds, thistles, and twigs. Finally, the whole thing was overlaid with about a foot of dirt, which was packed down to limit leakage. All told the roof was about two feet thick. During the spring, grass often grew on these dirt roofs. So—the paralytic’s friends had their work cut out for them—they were performing an excavation. Plus—by doing this—they were obligating themselves to repair this roof later—which would more than double their work—but that didn’t stop these guys.
Now picture the scene inside Peter’s house. First they heard shoveling above and then the voices of four men as they tore the thatch away and removed the roofing between the beams. Debris began to fall on the Pharisees’ expensive robes and then light streamed in blocked by the paralytic’s bed as it was lowered from above. I wonder if Peter thought, “What will my insurance company say? Will my homeowner’s policy cover this. Wait…Jesus is here…perhaps I can get them to agree that this is an act of God.” Jesus looks at the paralytic who now lays at His feet and He says a very odd thing. Jesus says: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” I can’t help but wonder what the man thought when Jesus said this. He wanted a new body. He wanted his dreams of running to become reality. He wanted to be healed! But Jesus said nothing about that. Perhaps this man felt Jesus’ words about forgiveness were cruel. I imagine that at this moment his hopes deflated like a punctured balloon.
And if you empathize with the paralytic at this point, let me remind you that our Lord knew the man’s greatest problem was spiritual not physical. After all, to heal the body is a temporary fix at best—to heal the soul is eternal. And…I imagine his friends were disappointed as well. They must have thought, “We busted our backs to haul him all this way—we destroyed Peter’s roof—which we’ll have to fix later—for this?!” Lucado writes, “The friends expect Jesus to treat the body—for that is what they see. Jesus chooses to treat not only the body, but also the soul—for that is what He sees. They want Jesus to give the man a new body so he can walk. Jesus gives grace to the man can live.”
Now, surprisingly the Pharisees weren’t disappointed with Jesus’ words. This is what they had come for! You see, Jesus’ bestowing of forgiveness for sins was blasphemy. Only God had the right to do this. Blasphemy was a capitol crime—punishable by stoning. So, like “Barney-one-bullet Fife,” I imagine smiles broke out on their faces at this point as if to say, “Gotcha Jesus! You’re going down for this one!”
C. S. Lewis explains why the religious leaders had good reason to be upset. He writes:
Unless the speaker is God, forgiving sins is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offenses against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you; you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself un-robbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on another man’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that his sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom his sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned….the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was God Whose laws are broken and Whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivaled by any other character in history.
And—while we’re reading the crowd—can you imagine Simon and Matthew and the gang rolling their eyes and taking deep sighs and whispering to each other at this point: “What is He doing? Does He want to get us all in really deep trouble? He’s ruining this perfect opportunity!” Well, as Mark reminds us, Jesus was God in the flesh so He knew what everyone was thinking and at this point, He turned to the Pharisees and asked the perfect question. He said, “Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up and walk’?” The Pharisees would naturally think that SAYING sins were forgiven would be easier because no one could verify it…and the healing would be HARDER because it would be subject to objective verification. And remember, as I said earlier—they linked physical infirmity with sin. In any case, Jesus put a lock on all this by verifying the MORAL miracle of forgiveness with the PHYSICAL miracle of healing.
But I get ahead of myself…because I want us to consider this question ourselves. What IS more difficult: forgiving the man’s sin—or healing his body? And—lest you think, “What kinds of sins could a paralytic do anyway?” I would remind you that we don’t need a functioning body to embrace deadly sin. Without lifting a finger we can lust, hate, resent others…become prideful and arrogant—not to mention bitter and unforgiving. So, which act would be easier? I love Lucado’s answer. He writes. “To heal the man’s body took a simple command—but to forgive his sin took Jesus’ blood. The first was done in the house of friends; the second on a hill with thieves. One took a word; the other took His body. One took a moment. The other took His life.” Plus—in spite of Jesus’ healing, the man’s limbs would one day age and wither and he would die.
But thanks to the spiritual healing he got from Jesus’ forgiveness…coupled with the man’s faith…
this paralytic would live forever. So—forgiving his sin was much harder—much more important—and we must remember this principle! The most important thing we do as Christ-followers is helping lead others to faith in Jesus and the spiritual healing that only comes with that faith.
So, at this point, in essence Jesus looked at the religious leaders and said, “You say I have no right to forgive sins? Then watch this! Take up your mat and walk.” The man put his faith in Jesus and did exactly that—and Mark says the people were AMAZED! By the way, this was the same word used in the book of Acts to describe the response of the crowds at Pentecost.
Okay—before we leave this room—I want to unpack three things we can and must learn from this story—basic, foundational characteristics that will help us do a better job at telling the Story of Jesus.
(1) First, to join God in His saving work, we must embrace His LOVE for people—all people.
Think of it. LOVE was the motivation that prompted these friends to overcome several daunting barriers. LOVE is what made them ignore the cultural stigma that said this man was a sinner deserving of his illness…and UN-deserving of friendship or help. LOVE helped them not be put off by the unyielding crowd. It’s what let them to vandalize another man’s home. They loved this poor man—and the same caliber of love is absolutely essential if we are to lead our friends and neighbors to faith in Jesus. It’s what compels us to tell them the story!
In my mind, the love of these four friends is like the love God has for us—a love that motivated Him to “lower” His only Son down into our world where He would die so that we could live. But, the fact is, in our own lives the lost people around us will probably NOT know the healing touch of Jesus unless we have the kind of love that “rips open roofs.” If we really love people—love them as God does—then we will pray for their salvation daily—we’ll risk being judged as fools I for our efforts to win them to Christ. In fact I would say, if we are not praying—if we are not “prying open any roof tops”—we can’t say we REALLY love lost people! The truth is, the more spiritually mature we become, the more we find our hearts breaking for people. In spite of their behavior…in spite of their appearance…we love them…we long for them to experience the healing forgiveness that only comes through faith in Jesus. LISTEN! You and I can’t say we love God…unless we love others. As Ortberg puts it, “People who don’t love people CAN’T love God….just as people who don’t know the multiplication table can’t do algebra. They may know a lot about the Bible, they may be quite churchy, and they may carefully avoid scandalous sins and be thought of as spiritually advanced. [But you can’t really love God without also loving people.]”
So, let me ask—do you find your heart breaking for people—even for the “hard to love” people around you? If not, you need to talk to God—because it may be that you don’t really know Him very well! We can’t reach people FOR Jesus—unless we LOVE them LIKE Jesus does!
(2) Here’s a second principle we can take from this story. To be effective evangelists, we must embrace the CONVICTION that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
I mean, it was more than LOVE that led these four friends to do what they did. They carried their friend all that way…they ripped a hole in that roof…because they BELIEVED the Miracle Worker could and would heal him. We need the same conviction. After all, who would go to the trouble of witnessing about Jesus if there were other valid ways to Heaven? Why suffer social stigma? Why be labeled a “Jesus freak?” Why waste our precious time? Listen, I love my job but if I didn’t believe Jesus is the only way to God…I’d find another way to make a living. But I KNOW He is the only Way and this is why I do what I do. I certainly don’t mean to compare myself to them but this is why missionaries like the Freeses and the Tiedemanns and the Cho’s leave family and friends to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. It’s why people like Larry and Debbie Dubin from Jews for Jesus are so passionate about evangelism. It’s why there are so many booths at the county fair run by Christians who pass out tracts and free water and put on skits and do face painting. All, these people know that Jesus is the only cure for sin—and that conviction prompts them to do all they can to lead people to faith in Him.
When a Christian has this CONVICTION…when they believe that as Peter put it, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)…when they know this—they’ll do anything to get people to Jesus…they’ll pay any cost.
And as forgiven sinners we DO know Jesus is the only way. AMEN? We know that He is the ONLY Son of God. We know He is the only person to ever live a perfect, sinless life, and therefor able to pay the penalty for our sins. We know that as the poet once put it:
Alexander may build an empire.
Napoleon may change the nations of the world.
Newton may bring about an intellectual revolution.
Edison may create a new world for science.
Wyatt may usher in a new era of industry.
But there is only One who can cleanse and transform the human heart.
And that One is Jesus.
This knowledge—this conviction prompts us to do all we can to get people to Jesus.
(3) Finally the example of these four friends shows us that we need a FAITH that leads us to ACTION.
We have to have that caliber of faith that motivates us to get out of the pew and DO something. I would go so far as to say that conviction is not conviction unless it leads to action.
You know, the real “paralytics” that day were the Pharisees who’s only action was to dust off their robes. I mean, as people familiar with the prophets, they should have been directing people TO Jesus or at least when the roof parted they should have reached up to receive the poor cripple.
But they just sat there with their arms crossed. Instead of love they showed indifference. Instead of faith they issued criticism.
And unfortunately they are like many of us. Our faith is too immature—too weak—to compel us to action. We just sit around criticizing other believers’ evangelistic attempts. When bus ministry was the in-thing, many of us just complained about the expense or that others were simply bribing children to come to church. When seeker services were popular many complained it wasn’t true worship. Years ago when Redland started doing puppet shows at the fair I imagine there were people who said it was too expensive and too much work….and not all that effective. And I’m sure these kinds of programs from yesteryear had their flaws—but at least they were run by Christians who had enough love and conviction and faith to try something!
Well, these four friends had the kind of faith we need more of these days. It was PERSISTENT! None of them said, “The crowd was too big, I guess it’s the Lord’s will.” It was CREATIVE! In fact, I bet others who couldn’t get in to Jesus watched their actions and said, “I wish I had thought of digging through the roof!” And their heir faith was SACRIFICIAL. They didn’t care about the cost in ridicule or manual labor. They were willing to pay any price…to get their friend to the Master.
I’m reminded of Francis and Edith Schaeffer who founded L’Abris by opening their alpine home in Switzerland to curious travelers as a forum to discuss the Christian faith. At one point they were averaging 31 visitors per week…seekers who had questions about Jesus. Edith Schaeffer once wrote: “In the first three years of L’Abri all our wedding presents were wiped out. Our sheets were torn. Holes were burned in our rugs, Drugs came into our place. People vomited on our carpet.”
I’m sure in many ways it was a danger to their family to welcome all these strangers in—and they made this sacrifice…they took this risk because their faith was active. It led them to be willing to do something—even if it was costly to lead people to Jesus. The Schaeffers and all other effective evangelists are like the Apostle Paul who said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means, I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22)
LET US PRAY