The Man Who Was Paralyzed

Mark 2:1-12

Of all the celebrities who are out there in the world trying to make a positive difference, one who impresses me a great deal is Bono, one of the most famous rock stars in the world, who sings with the band U2.  One night, on the Larry King Live show, Bono was talking about his commitment to Christ, and how he was trying to live out the love of Jesus in the world.  Larry King asked Bono a couple of very important questions.  He asked, “What makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the world?  What does Christianity have to offer that the other religions do not?”  Bono thought for a moment, and then he answered, “All the other religions of the world, in one way or another, teach karma.  Only Jesus offers grace.  In all the other religions of the world, people end up having to pay a penalty for their sins.  Only Jesus Christ, by His grace, makes it possible for people to be delivered from the consequences of the sins that they have committed in this life.”

Only Jesus offers grace.  Only Jesus offers forgiveness for our sins.  That is so significant to know and understand, because everyone in this world needs forgiveness.  As Horace Bushnell once noted, “Forgiveness is [our] deepest need and God’s highest achievement.”  People who do not feel that forgiveness, people who carry guilt around inside, can actually make themselves physically or mentally ill.  Famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger once said that if he could convince his patients in the psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75% of them could walk out the next day.

We don’t know what sin had paralyzed this man who was brought to Jesus.  But obviously something had gone horribly wrong in his life.  And he was paying the price for it.  Remember, there were no neurosurgeons back then.  There were no convalescent hospitals, or physical therapists, or wheelchairs, or miracle drugs in the medicine cabinet.  This man was left lying flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.  He spent his days on a 3 foot by 6 foot mat, looking up, all day, every day, week after week, month after month.  He had to depend on other people for everything.  For every drink of water, or bite of food.  For every time his bladder emptied or his bowels moved.  Somebody else had to turn him, and bathe him, and clothe him.

But this man had something going for him: he had four good friends who wanted to help him.  And they had heard about this man Jesus who had cast out a demon from a man and healed a leper.  People began coming from all over to see what was going on.  And this man was going to be in Capernaum that day, and they knew which house he was staying in.  Apparently, so did everyone else, because such a big crowd had gathered that they spilled out into the street.  They were listening as Jesus taught them. 

When the four men got there, carrying their friend on his mat, there was no way to get inside the house.  There were just too many people blocking the door.  But these guys didn’t give up.  No, sir.  They discussed what they might do and all of a sudden one of them had an idea.  They could carry their friend up on the roof, remove the covering of reeds, branches, and mud, and lower their friend down into the room where Jesus was speaking. 

Well, I can just imagine the reaction of those standing in the room below.  The falling debris from the roof created a cloud of dust that sent the crowd scooting back, coughing and complaining.  They looked up to see four pairs of hands widening the hole in the roof, and then they saw them lowering a man down on a mat.  And finally the man came to rest on the floor in front of Jesus.

The scripture says that Jesus saw their faith; he saw the tenacious faith of these four men who had brought their friend to him that day.  There is no record that they even said anything to Jesus.  What he knew came from what he saw.  And what he saw were four men who were willing to “put feet to their prayers,” as Warren Wiersbe states it. 

Jesus then looked down at the man lying in front of him.  And he said, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”  Now that might seem like an odd way to begin a cure.  As my New Testament professor David Garland writes in his commentary on Mark, “Most of us would be put off by any doctor who made this announcement to us when we came for some medical treatment.  We are accustomed to view disease as something caused by a virus, bacterium, or other pathogen and best remedied by medicine, not the forgiveness of sins.”  But to the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, sin and suffering were closely connected.  If someone was ill or blind or deaf or paralyzed, then it must be because they had sinned.  The rabbis even had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.”  Perhaps this man’s paralysis was caused by his awareness of his sin.  Perhaps it was the result of some behavior that was not moral.  But Jesus wanted him to know that God was not angry with him and he should not be afraid.  So he said, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

Among the bystanders that day was a group of experts in the Law, Jewish religious leaders who were considered authorities on the faith.  They wanted to see if what Jesus was teaching was orthodox or not.  They had every right to investigate the ministry of a new teacher, since the religious life of the people was under their supervision.  Jesus was so popular that he simply could not be ignored, and so they came to check him out.  And they did not like what they had seen and heard, not one bit.  In their minds, Jesus had just committed blasphemy.

Why was that?  Well, Jesus had just claimed the power, the authority, to forgive sins.  But only God could forgive sins.  Therefore, Jesus was claiming to be God.  And that was blasphemy.  Unless, of course it was true.  But that was just too absurd to even be considered.  This man could not possibly be God, or even speak with the authority of God!

Jesus could tell exactly how their minds were working.  And his response was quick.  He threw down a challenge.  He said, in essence, “You say I have no right to forgive sins?  You believe this man’s paralysis is caused by sin.  He cannot be cured until his sins are forgiven.  Then watch this!”  And he turned to the man and said, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.”  And the man got up, threw his mat over his shoulder, and walked out of the room. 

Which is it easier to say?  Your sins are forgiven.  Or get up and walk.  Well, both are easy to say.    And both are impossible to do.  Unless, of course, you are God.  In that case, it is equally easy to say and to do both.  Jesus was able to back up his words with his actions.  He had the proof and he had the authority.  Wiersbe writes, “The [experts in the Law] could neither heal the man nor forgive his sins; so they were caught in their own trap and condemned by their own thoughts.”  They were also committed, from this moment on, to getting rid of Jesus.  He was too big a threat to their understanding of their religion.

On their CD, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, the group U2 recorded a song called, “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.”  There are people who are living their lives stuck in a moment they can’t get out of.  They carry around that moment when they hurt someone, when they acted in a wrong way or failed to act in a right way, when they committed some sin or even some crime that they need to face up to.  They are stuck in that moment because they have not been forgiven.  But there is no need to stay stuck.  There is no need to let sin paralyze you.  Because Jesus Christ loves you and he has the authority to forgive your sins.  All you have to do is ask.  All you have to do is come to him and ask.  And when you receive that forgiveness, you will feel as free as that paralyzed man who carried his mat home with him that day.  You will know the wonder of grace.

If you have already found that grace in your own life, then talk to the people around you about it.  There are people you see every day who are stuck in a moment they can’t get out of and who need to know the forgiving love of Jesus Christ.  You might be the person who can help them to find it.  Be like the friends of the paralyzed man who brought him to Jesus.  Put feet to your prayers.  Have the tenacious faith to bring someone to Jesus Christ.