Cultivating Character of Christ, part 4: FORGIVENESS AND GRACE

Mark 2:1-12

March 29, 2009 – Rev. Jerry Duggins

The word got around that Jesus was at home. Apparently he had moved from Nazareth to Capernaum at some point, so it is at his house that the crowds find him. They fill the room and the crowd still builds until the house is surrounded. Picture the scene as the four people approach carrying their paralytic friend. All access to Jesus appears to be cut off. No one offers to step aside. No one even seems to notice their arrival. Their backs are turned to the outside world as they struggle to get a position to hear Jesus. their attention is riveted on Jesus without regard for what is happening behind them.

John Shea, a professor at Loyola University, tells us in one of his books that “house” is often used in the gospels as a code word referring to the church. Picture if you will, a church overflowing, all the faces turned inward, no one paying attention to the needs outside the community of faith. Indeed, the people actually bar the way of the outsider. One might understand this posture in the early church where in some cases the “outside world” was actually hostile to this new band of believers, but this is not true today, not here in America, certainly not in Kalamazoo County. And yet one could argue that the mainline church today suffers from some kind of paralysis. We seem unable even to move out of the way of others who come seeking God’s grace. By our inability to move, we become obstacles to others seeking a new life. We come together in the household of believers. We listen to the word of Christ. We may even stand in awe of the words we hear or the miracles we witness, just like the crowd who saw the paralytic walk. But on some level we don’t seem to get it. Awe is not obedience. Being a bystander, even one amazed, is not yet discipleship.

Shea does remark that this allegorical reading may be stretching the text a bit, but there is probably some kind of message to the early church to be careful of the danger of turning in on one’s self. The experience of God’s grace intends to open us, to make us alert to others in need. Whether or not the story told here is about danger of paralysis for the church, it does offer a remedy.

Most scholars agree that the key phrase in this story is: “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” This is not a typical healing story. Just as Jesus’ teaching is interrupted by the sudden appearance from above of the paralytic, so the healing takes a detour through the issue of forgiving sins. It was commonly understood that only God had authority to forgive sins, and only the priest in the temple, as representing God could pronounce it. In rejecting this notion, Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” This is a title that challenges modern day scholars because the term comes from two different Old Testament traditions. It’s used in reference to the prophet Ezekiel as a way of identifying his common humanity. The book of Daniel uses it in reference to a certain leader who will usher in a new age. The one case emphasizing the ordinary, the other someone extraordinary. So you can see how some scholars see Jesus identifying with divinity and being “in the face” of the scribes here.

There’s no question of his intent to contradict the scribes, but we shouldn’t forget that the story isn’t told for the scribes. If Mark’s readers hear echoes of Ezekiel in this title, then the phrase suggests not Jesus’ unique authority to forgive sins, but that the practice of forgiveness belongs to all people who would live in the new age ushered in by Jesus.

We say, “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” but I think this story is suggesting that the practice of forgiveness belongs to all who would follow Jesus. To forgive is not usurping divine authority, it is rather extending the mercy that we have experienced in Christ to the brokenness we see in the lives of others; if only we will turn around and look out beyond ourselves instead of hoarding the grace of God for ourselves.

Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes here. You’ve been out preaching in the neighboring towns and you come home, maybe hoping to put your feet up and relax for a few hours. But you don’t get the chance. Perhaps it began with just a few neighbors dropping by, but before you know it the whole town has intruded on your space. But you’re Jesus, so you seize the opportunity to do a little teaching, and after a while a hole opens up in the ceiling, and from the roof this man, unable to move, is lowered by four friends. But again you’re Jesus, so you’re not rushing to check the weather, hoping you can get it patched before rain arrives. You don’t call these men, bloody fools, for damaging your home. You maybe look around you and see all the faces turned toward you and think to yourself, “Couldn’t these people have made a path for this man in need?”

No, the first thing you do is commend the men on their faith, a faith characterized by persistence despite the obstacle thrown in their way, a faith that believed Jesus would care more about the need than the damage to the roof. And then you tend to the man and you see a greater need than physical healing; not just the paralytic’s need, but you’re seeing into the hearts of all gathered there. And though you pronounce forgiveness on the paralytic’s sins, I wonder if you aren’t thinking about the sins of all those gathered. I wonder if your intent doesn’t go beyond wholeness for the individual; but that by this word of forgiveness, you also open the gates of God’s grace to anyone there who will hear. “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

“Child of God, your sins are forgiven.” Here is a key to living in the new age ushered in Jesus. To those who have come to live in God’s grace, the practice of forgiveness keeps pointed in the right direction. We are invited not just to marvel at Jesus’ wonders, but to also live in them. We are, like the paralytic, invited to first rise, and then walk. Rise and walk. Be forgiven and practice forgiveness. In doing so, we cultivate the character of Christ, declaring that we are both connected to God in virtue of grace and invited to share in the life of Christ. This is what it means to be human beings living godly lives. “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins, I say to you, stand up, take up your mat and go to your home.” Get up, remember your disability and get on your life. Rise and walk. As human beings who follow Jesus, the experience of mercy must engender the practice of forgiveness. Jesus invites us to let go of our paralysis, to look out beyond ourselves, and become participants in the grace and mercy of God. In practicing forgiveness, we can move beyond awe to obedience, beyond the paralysis of mere praise and into the new life of God’s kingdom. Amen.