Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 12th October 2008 by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Genesis 12:1-9 and Mark 2:1-12.


Let us pray:
O Lord our God, from whom all good things come; grant to us your humble servants, that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we may think those things which are good; and by the merciful guiding of the same, we may do the things which are pleasing in your sight. Though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This morning, we will concentrate our reflections on Chapter 2, verses 1-12 of the Gospel according to St. Mark..

The Gospel of Mark portrayed Jesus as the One who brought forth a new era to humanity. A new era – this is not a matter of time; but a new look about life as defined by God’s intervention. Life in the old era is life with broken relationships. Life in the new era brought forth by Jesus Christ is life which is in full communion with God.

At the time of Jesus, the old guards like the priests, rabbis, Pharisees… who were the leaders of the Jewish community resented Jesus’ teaching and preaching. They considered Jesus had come to disturb their law and order. It is because all along for a thousand years, they thought they were God’s messengers. If people would follow their teaching, that is, their rigid interpretation of the Law and the Prophets, people would be fine.

That explained why Mark’s Gospel is formed by 15 controversial stories and sayings as its backbone. In these 15 controversies, Jesus stood on one side while the Jewish leaders stood on the other.

The first of 7 controversies happened in Galilee. They were about Jesus or his disciples who did something which seemingly contravened the Jewish law and customs. For example, Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath (Mk 3:1-6). For the Jews, keeping Sabbath was a part of their creation faith – for God has created the world in 6 days. The 7th day was a day of rest. Nobody should work on Sabbath. But Jesus insisted that it was important to help people even on Sabbath. Furthermore, according to Jesus, being the Son of God had the authority to interpret the Law. The Sabbath was made for the good of man; man was not for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27).

Then when Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, the centre of Judaism and the Jewish society, the priests, the rabbis and the Pharisees, were impatient with Jesus’ acts and teaching, so they began to challenge Jesus by asking difficult questions. For example, they asked, as Jews, should they pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? (Mk 12:13-17). These 8 controversies were meant to be traps to Jesus, in that whatever Jesus’ answer, they would find Jesus was at fault and would then be able to get rid of him or at least to discredit him. No wonder both in the very beginning as well as near the end of the Gospel, it was recorded the Jewish establishment wanted to make plans to kill Jesus (Mk 3:6 and 11:18).

This morning the New Testament reading Mark 2: 1-12 was also found in Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke 5:17-26. It was a healing story: a paralytic was cured by Jesus. But quite unlike other healing stories, there were many scenes, (altogether eight) and many people were involved in it.

Scene One: The setting. Jesus was at home in Capernaum in Galilee, where he grew up. Jesus had been busy in his ministry. Matthew 4:23 related the fact that, Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in synagogues, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom, and healing people who had all kinds of sickness.” However, Jesus came home not to rest, but continued his preaching ministry. “Jesus was preaching the message to them” (2:2). This message presumably was: “The right time has come, and the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).

Scene Two. Many people gathered where Jesus was. The Scriptures did not mention why so many people came. Probably some came to hear Jesus preached; others to see how Jesus performed miracles. Obviously words had come around about the wonderful things Jesus had done. Mk 1:34 recorded, “Jesus healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases and drove out many demons”. So many people came. In fact there were so many people that not only there was “no room left” in the room where Jesus was, but also “not even out in front of the door”.

We cannot judge whether this big crowd came for the sake of curiosity. But the fact was that their “selfishness” had prevented other people with real needs to approach Jesus.

Scene Three. There were four friends who carried a paralytic. Their intention was clear. They had wanted this paralytic friend to be healed by Jesus. That was why they took the trouble. First of all, they had to carry their friend for a distance. Then as they approached the room where Jesus was, it was full of people both inside and outside. So they had to climb up to the roof and make a hole. Then with great efforts brought the paralytic friend to the roof; and finally from the roof with a mat they lowered his friend carefully to where Jesus was.

Scene Four. When Jesus saw how much faith these four friends had, Jesus said to the paralysed man, “My son your sins are forgiven”. Here lies the core of this very unique healing story. It was not the faith of paralysed man which touched Jesus. But rather it was the faith of his four friends which caught Jesus’ great attention or even admiration.

What a big contrast between the crowds who for various selfish reasons had prevented the paralytic and those who really need the help of Jesus from approaching; and the four friends who took the big trouble to make sure that his paralytic friend would be cured by Jesus! Where do we stand between the unfaith of the crowds and the faith of the four friends?

The Christian faith is never for the enhancement of self benefit. It always implies our caring of other people, especially the less fortunate. Indeed as the young German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer described Jesus Christ as “a man for others”.

The way Jesus healed the paralytic was also very unique. Jesus said, “My son your sins are forgiven”. What does sin have to do with sickness?

Superficially, when we look at sin and sickness together, there is little in common between them. Sickness is deficiency in the physical and/or mental dimension of life; sin is spiritual. But in deeper analysis, sin is more than any wrongdoing. Sin is even more than the good things which you ignore to do. Sin is your alienation with God, with other people and even with yourself. Sin is disrelationship or relationships broken at all levels. Similarly sickness is also about separation. When you are sick not only you feel the pain or discomfort physically; but also mentally you fall into a state of fear and uncertainty. Moreover socially you would feel you are being isolated or excluded. For instance because of her sickness, Peter’s mother-in-law was unable to host Jesus (Mk 1:29-31). In ancient times, lepers were not allowed to go into town. Therefore both sin and sickness indicated a state of being not “wholesome”. So broadly speaking, when Jesus told the paralytic, “my son, your sins are forgiven”, it was synonymous of saying, “my son, let me restore your wholeness”. Indeed Jesus came to make us physically, mentally, socially and spiritually wholesome.

Scene Five, on hearing what Jesus said to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven,” some leaders of the law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “How does he dare to talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!”. (2:7)

Are the thoughts of the learned Jewish teachers of law questioned Jesus in their minds because of the curiosity in searching for the truth or the plain fact that they were pondering about how to find faults in Jesus and were trying to find ways to discredit Jesus?

To me what these rabbis were trying to do rooted from their unfaith. Like the crowds, they had their own agenda. In carrying out their agenda, they prevented the people who really need Jesus’ help from getting near Jesus. Faith is helping people to connect and ultimately to relate to God. Unfaith is the opposite. It prolongs people’s pain and anxiety.

The rabbis, who formed the core of the Jewish leadership wanted to assert their authority. The Torah or the Law only gave priests, their counterparts, the authority to represent God to pronounce a person clean or sins forgiven. Since Jesus was not one of them, so what Jesus said was a blasphemy.

But Jesus was the Messiah. He was the Son of the Living God. Jesus as the Holy One of God (Mk 1:24) was the representative of God on earth. So he had the same authority as God. The rabbis refused to accept this.

Scene Six. Jesus healed the paralysed man. Jesus’ healing was not ordinary. He ordered the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat and go home” (2:11). Jesus words were never empty pronouncements. For Jesus, to speak was to act. Jesus was not merely a miracle or wonder-worker, he proclaimed and enacted the good news of Salvation.

Scene Seven. The paralytic was cured. The paralytic was excluded from participating in the ordinary activities. He could not walk and move freely. He had to depend on other people. But he had faith in Jesus. So on hearing Jesus’ command, he obeyed, “he got up, picked up his mat and hurried away” (Is 12a).

Scene Eight. The lives of the crowd were transformed. “They were all completely amazed and praised God saying: we have never seen anything like this”.

Remember in the beginning of this story, these people came for selfish reasons. Now after their encounter with Jesus, in witnessing what Jesus had done, they went away with their lives renewed: from self to God; from seeking for self-interest to praising God.

Perhaps this is one of the most enlightening healing stories of Jesus. The story especially demonstrates that Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God does not only have the authority to heal; but also in healing the paralytic Jesus showed that He came to the world for the salvation of the humankind, so that our broken lives may be whole again.

This story is about the human struggle between faith and unfaith as well. Faith is the absolute obedience to Jesus. When Jesus told the paralysed man to get up, pick up his mat and walk; he did just that. So the paralytic regained his wholeness in life again. Faith in Jesus must have life implications. The four friends of the paralysed man had faith in Jesus. They were convinced that Jesus could heal their friend. So they took the great trouble of bringing their friend to Jesus with the full confidence that Jesus was able to help. Faith and love or caring go hand in hand. The four friends cared for their paralysed friend and they also had faith in Jesus. So as a result the impossible became possible. Their friend was healed by Jesus.

On the other hand the arrogance of the religious leaders had prevented them from accepting Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Not only that, they tried to use their positions and influence to prevent people to approach Jesus. This is unfaith. What a big contrast to the faith of the four friends!

Finally, when people are open to Jesus, their lives would be transformed through the encounter with Jesus. In facing Jesus, the paralytic was able to stand up and became an independent and free person. The people who originally came for their own purposes and interests, in the end became God-centred. They began to praise God…

This healing story, like any other stories in the Bible serves as a minor to us. We can see ourself more clearly by reading any Biblical story. In studying this healing story of the paralytic, let us do a bit of self-examination. Are you one in the self-serving crowd? Or one of the four friends? Or one of the religious leaders? Or plainly the paralytic?

Let us pray:
Most Gracious God, you are the source of love and justice; enlighten our minds and our hearts with your presence, that we may both know your will and be enabled to perform it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.