Epiphany3 – January 29, 2017
MIRACLES #4:
Jesus’ Power Over Sin
Mark 2:1-12
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
At the beginning of January, I noticed a phenomenon that always seems to happen in the New Year at our church. I noticed that the parking lot was full and the crowds are huge for…Weight Watchers meetings! Everyone is thinking about their health and their looks and getting rid of the extra weight they put on over the holidays. On TV, instead of a multitude of political ads, we have a multitude of weight loss ads.
And that’s a legitimate concern, and not just weight loss. How many of you care about your health? Do you have a plan? That’s something that I need to start paying more attention to, in what I eat and how I exercise. So far the Lord has blessed me with good enough health that I have had no plan. I’m not sure how long I will be able to get away with that.
Of all the earthly blessings that we need and pray for, I think our health and the health of others is near the top of the list. But there is another concern that is even greater and that’s the health of our soul. And when we think about miracles, this is the miracle that we really need. Just as Jesus healed this paralyzed man so he has to heal our soul. And we see Jesus deal with two very different spiritual health problems. The first is: Paralysis of the Soul
Let’s go to Capernaum, the fishing village of Peter and Andrew, James and John. Jesus had adopted this town as his own, since Nazareth had rejected him. It became his base of operations. Review pictures of Capernaum
There were four fellows who carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus. What better friend could there be than a friend who brings you to Jesus! And it wasn’t easy. As you can see, there was very little room in the first place, and no reserved seats for the handicapped. But those friends were so sure that Jesus could help, that they didn’t give up. They went up on the flat roof of the house with their friend, took the center tiles apart and lowered their mat-bound friend right down into the middle of the meeting, right before Jesus. These were men of faith! They didn’t care what the rest of the crowd thought, they didn’t worry about interrupting the meeting, they didn’t even wait for the Bible class to break up. They just knew that Jesus could do something to heal their friend and they didn’t want to miss him.
And that’s when Jesus dealt with paralysis, but first paralysis of the soul. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son; your sins are forgiven.” That’s the greatest miracle of all time, greater than parting the Red Sea, greater than even raising Lazarus from the dead, because it deals with our eternity. But you can’t really see this miracle, it doesn’t look so impressive and no one will make a special effects movie of it. But Jesus knew what this man needed the most. He needed most, not freedom from paralysis of the body, but freedom from the paralysis of sin and guilt. In those days, people wrongly assumed that if you had an affliction or handicap, it was a punishment for some sin. This man undoubtedly had a heart full of guilt. And Jesus took that all away: “Son; your sins are forgiven.”
That’s the miracle we need the most. If a person is cured of sickness or disease, he may have 10, or 20 or even 50 more years of life. And that’s a wonderful thing. But when we’re cured of the disease of sin, we receive an eternity of life with God, and that I submit is much more wonderful. And this miracle for the paralyzed man brings us the same message of forgiveness.
As difficult as it is to be physically paralyzed, I would submit that it is even more traumatic to be spiritually paralyzed. When you are troubled and you don’t know where to turn anymore, that can paralyze a person so completely that depression is sure to follow. Being without any hope for the future, no comfort or assurance that there is a Lord who cares, makes people spiritual paraplegics.
So I would like to ask you: what paralyzes your soul? Is there something you really feel guilty about, something that you don’t want anyone in the world to know, but yet you know that God knows. Do you sometimes feel that you deserve a lot of hardships from God, because you know you’ve really let him down? Come before the Lord today, and truly believe that when you confess your sins to him, he is saying to you personally: Son, daughter, your sins are forgiven. “There was nothing you could do, so I gave my life for you, suffered your punishment, freed you from bondage to sin and death. You are free! Your sins are forgiven,”
And then come to his Supper today, and be assured that by his body and blood, you are free from sin, free from guilt. The Lord has taken away your paralysis!
But not everyone in the crowd that day was excited about Jesus’ first miracle of the day. Just as he deal with paralysis of the soul, so he also dealt with:
2. Hardening of the Hearteries
Within the crowd, there was another group of people who had a serious problem. In reality, they also were paralyzed. They had hard hearts about Jesus, and could not accept the idea that he was the Messiah come from heaven. 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?"
It was only in their thoughts, they didn’t speak it aloud, but the teachers accused Jesus of blasphemy. Blasphemy is any time people mock or make fun of God. Claiming you could forgive sins was blasphemy because only God could do that and if you try to make yourself like God, that’s blasphemy, that’s mocking God in the worst possible way. And you know they were partially right: Who can forgive sins but God alone? By claiming the ability to forgive sins, Jesus was claiming to be God.
Jesus tried to break through their hardness with his second miracle of the day. He knew their thoughts, which was something only God could do. 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." Jesus proved his miraculous power over sin, by healing the man of physical paralysis. He proved the greater unseen miracle, with the second, outward miracle. Outwardly Jesus only looked like a man, but he proved his true nature by doing only what God could do. He showed himself to be the Lord, with power to heal both body and soul.
Now did that soften the hardening of their hearteries? I can’t speak for every individual there, but we know that by and large the religious leaders got even more hardened. Lest we get judgmental about how terrible these men were, the Lord also warns us elsewhere about hardening of the hearteries.
HEB 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Encourage one another daily, he says, because we could get hardened in our hearts by the deceiving nature of sin. What is the sin that can give us blockages of faith and hardening of the hearteries?
It happens so often in our expectations from God. Has it ever happened to you, that your satisfaction level, and frustration level with God fluctuates according to how well your earthly life seems to be going? “The bills are getting paid. The kids are healthy. The marriage is going well. The cars are running. Yeah God!” But during those times when good health disappears, when the marriage isn’t so peaceful, when the money runs out, how often don’t we turn our frustration and disappointment and anger towards God? We start to think that in some way, that God has let us down, that He doesn’t love us, that it’s His fault. And at those times we’ve thought or said some pretty horrible things about God. God offered his grace to poor, wretched sinners like us by redeeming us from sin. And yet we turn around and shake our fists at Him as if He doesn’t love us. We question His goodness.
As an example: A young couple in my Texas days, had an 8 year old daughter. A nephew was driving a jeep in the desert sand dunes, and rolled it over. The daughter was killed in the accident. This would be hard to handle for anyone. What happened? I knew about the accident because the mother started coming to church right after that. She was seeking the Lord for his help. The father went the opposite direction. He was hardened, and blamed God for the whole thing.
When we have troubles, do we seek the Lord’s help or do we blame him for letting it happen in the first place? Do we doubt that he is our loving God when we don’t get the physical miracles we want? When we lay our heads on the pillow at night, do we first of all thank him for Jesus’ miracle of forgiveness for all the sins of the day, or do we ask for all the things we want him to do for us tomorrow? Do we rank with the enemy teachers, in refusing to trust Jesus as God and Savior and Lord of our lives, until he provides the physical miracles? Watch for hardening of the hearteries!
But you know, God does miracles. Every day, people go home from the hospital as a result of our prayers. Time after time, it seems like we won’t make it, but Jesus sees to it that we do. He provides the food on our table and clothing on our backs and shelter over our heads. He’s given us so much! But let us not forget the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of Christ’s forgiving love. Rise up and walk! The paralysis of your soul is gone! Amen.