Letting Go And Letting God Psalm 121 & Matthew 9: 1-8 First Presbyterian Church August 31, 2008 David P. Bridges Breathed Bridges Best, LLC

Transcription

1 Letting Go And Letting God Psalm 121 & Matthew 9: 1-8 First Presbyterian Church August 31, 2008 David P. Bridges Breathed Bridges Best, LLC The Paralytic: For the last 45 years, I am blessed to have a place to Go home to at Christmas time. I believe in 45 years I have missed one Christmas at home. Chicago is my home base and a place that is familiar to me and a place that I know I will discover the love of my family over and over, each time renewed in some capacity. Jesus is back on the west side of the Sea of Galilee at his home base of the town of Capernaum. Jesus had become identified with Capernaum, so much so that it was referred to as his home town at this stage in his ministry -- it was his home base. All of us are not equally blessed to have a home base to return to year after year. However, Jesus going to Capernaum is like my going to Chicago for Christmas every year, it is my home base. The movement of a paralytic man that is unable to walk takes a stretcher and four men to move the man. There is no telling how far the man was carried on dusty and hot roads to arrive at Jesus feet. I can tell you that to simply ride a horse 15 miles in one of my reenactments -- in 1 day -- is a workout! I cannot imagine the sweat and courage it must have taken to even move the paralytic 1 mile on dry and dusty roads it may have been many miles they had to carry the man? Matthew does not tell us how far the stretcher was carried? The importance of faith working through others and together is manifest in this passage. One or two of the paralytic s friends could not have moved him on their own. In order for the four men, in Matthews accounting of this story, to successfully move the paralytic they had to get together to bring this paralytic to Jesus, they had to agree to go in the same direction, they had to agree to go at the same speed, and to the same place where they were told Jesus was teaching. It must have been a long and arduous journey for the paralytic and for the four men who moved him on the stretcher. The people of Palestine in this time period had a universal belief that all sickness was the result of sin, and that no sickness could ever be cured until sin was forgiven.this unbreakable connection between suffering and sin was part of the orthodox Jewish belief of the time of Jesus. 1 Think about that for a moment. The Palestinian society would have been an extremely difficult society to live in and or be religious! Any kind of infirmity an individual might encounter in their lives or an accident would have been a result of their sinfulness. A person would have been thought of as unclean or filled with evil spirits if they had any abnormality what so ever. Talk about a rough crowd. Today, we have learned to love and to be compassionate for any abnormality we see in others and we have grown out of this old system of belief. A Palestinian would 1

2 have thought as he or she walked by a homeless person he must have many sins for being such a reprobate-homeless-evil-spirit full of sins and guilt! The Paralytic who was brought to Jesus by his friends undoubtedly believed in the forgiveness of sins and with his intellect he knew about God s inclination to forgive sins. This man was not of a normal intellect, he was tortured with a conscience that could not understand forgiveness. Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day! 2 As Jesus worked with the paralytic he likely knew that the man could not free himself from his own sins and guilt. Jesus power and authority transcended evil which made him the one who had the power over guilt and sin. Today, many believers are troubled to serve and worship God, as we should, because we are crippled by feelings of sin and guilt. I would contend that we cannot even worship God and Christ if we have a bad consciousness about our past, something in our present or something we might be thinking about doing in the future. Fortunately, our Reformed forefather s understood this part of the human way of thinking and they accounted for it through our liturgy. Every Sunday, whether we have a pure heart or a guilty heart --- as we worship we know two liturgical concepts. We first confess our sins and then we listen to the liturgist or the preacher who proclaims to us through the Assurance of Pardon that we are in fact forgiven each and every Sunday for our sins our guilt and our bad consciousness. Give thanks for being Presbyterian and Reformed! Why, because through Christ we are assured forgiveness for what he did in taking on all our transgressions and dying on the Cross for all our sins, past, present and in the future. In his book. Lee: The Last Years, Charles Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it. Lee s thoughts were that it was better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain and let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life. 3 General Lee understood a sense of hopelessness was probably added to the South s helplessness, before and after the war. Lee being a Christ centered man, understood, evidenced by his last General Order #9, that the only way for the South to regain it s hope was to forgive the North so that the country might once again become a Union, which would enable the people of the new United States of America to become a great nation, under God in the future! The paralytic had lost his limbs and trunk and everyone around him blamed him for his own sins and transgressions. It was Christ who would now forgive and help the South forget. It was Christ who was the divine man who would forgive the paralytic and restore him to full health with a new pure heart. Simply miraculous! 2

3 Jesus being the Son of Man was able to read the sufferer s history and unhappiness at a glance. He felt the man s secret despair which could only be known by a healer who was touched by God to forgive sins. Jesus knew and knows today that men and women suffer from an inward paralysis. Each and every one of us has our issues that we struggle with everyday. One of Jesus favorite sayings could be summed up with these words, child take courage!! Jesus was not known to back away from forgiveness and he was courageous in this divine act. He knew when forgiveness was effective; consequently, he became its channel so many times in the Gospels that his very nature became one of forgiveness. Jesus spiritual channel was capable of a variety of miracles, but in this scenario it was healing the sinful and guilt ridden paralytic which he used as an example in order to display his power and authority over sins. In our family units havoc can be played out in passive aggressive behaviors from family members, many of these family members you know personally. When the sins of the forefathers and foremothers catch up to their descendents, havoc can be raised in family systems which are difficult to deal with and slow to find reconciliation. All our families have dealt with the sins of our forefathers and foremothers which cannot and may never be forgiven on this earth. It is not through our earthly fathers that sin and guilt, such as that of the paralytic s, should be or would be forgiven. It is only through the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ that sins and guilt can be forgiven. Forgiveness within our family units is sometimes not allowable, however, even Pope John Paul II was able to forgive. On May 13, 1981, the Pope was riding in his Pope model as he circled St. Peter s Square at the Vatican. When suddenly out of the crowd a young Turkish man by the name of Mehmet Ali Agca shot the Pope in the hand and in the abdomen. After a 6 hour surgery and 22 days of recovery the Pope went to the jail to see the assassin. The astonished Agca said How is it that I could not kill you? 4 The Pope could forgive and he did forgive. This is a fine example of human forgiveness, but it is not divine forgiveness which is many times more powerful than human forgiveness. Authority of Christ: A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She said, Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin? There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up: Sin! 5 The paralytic man s sickness was the bitter fruit of his sin and guilt. The power to bring wholeness and healing, both mentally and physically, was placed in Christ as a sign of God s authority. The Gospel writer Matthew now shifts from forgiveness of sins to the figure of Jesus as the Son of Man. The reason for the switch is to demonstrate that the Son of Man was a heavenly figure that had authority from God here on earth. Jesus knows his own authority and is not intimidated by the scribes. Jesus demonstrates his authority to communicate God s grace and forgiveness. 3

4 Then for a huge transition in the story and the next act, Rise and go home!! The words Why do you think evil in your hearts, were used by Jesus in order to question the scribes and produce a counter charge as if in a court of law. Jesus responds to the scribes by attacking not the logic but the motives of his critics reasoning. Instead of rejoicing with a man of God who can forgive sin and guilt, the scribes intend to use Jesus words against him. 6 In the scenario Jesus is very smart and he moves into the prosecutor role in a law case. When he says to the scribes For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say Rise and walk? Jesus had forgiven the paralytic s sin when he said take heart in essence child take courage. Only the divine in this time period can forgive sins. But if this is not enough to show who he was he encourages the man to get up and Rise, take up your bed and go home!! It is not enough to have won the court case from the scribes who are now on the defensive. Jesus has to further engage everyone in the courtroom with another WOW, HOLY MACKERAL-- this Jesus prosecutor really has won this case and the scribes --- at first the prosecutors --- now are on the run out of the courtroom as the defenseless attorneys, sorely beaten, by the simple word Rise, when the words become action and he healed the paralytic man! Others Who have faith when we are weak: In The Gospel of Matthew, Jesus authority worked through human faith. Perhaps the paralytic man had very little faith on his own account. It is the paralyzed man s friends that have faith Often when our own faith is faltering, we must allow ourselves to be carried by the faith of others. 7 What makes this valid is the fact that faith is a corporate activity, not simply a private exercise. When we cannot feel God s reality in our lives, we must lean on the faith of others. 8 We are blessed by unknown spiritual hands and the unknown faith of others at times in our lives when we might feel alone in life. The Psalmist reflection on our daily routine of life inspires the faithful to sustain the journeys of life and the journey that is life with the assurance and trust that God is with us like he was with the paralytic. 9 When we are at our weakest and in deep despair that is when the Church comes to the rescue of our troubled souls, Christ s Church, which is faithful people who belong to First Presbyterian Church. The historical Church, in its reading of Psalm 121, came to understand the Psalm as a testimony to God s Providence in the life of believers through Jesus Christ. 10 The Psalm is all about the journey of life and God through Christ being with us in this journey. The Church must believe for the world, what the world cannot trust in or believe in itself. It is too often that we feel isolated from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Despair is the first fruit of transgression --- which simply leads to our hopelessness. Despair also led to the hopelessness of the paralytic and a little of the paralytic s way of thinking is in each of us. However, the individualization and the privatization of our faith, which leads to despair, does not open Jesus role as protector to us in order to remove despair. It is only as one who says our help that the believer can say my help is in 4

5 Jesus the Christ who is the corporate Church. 11 My Help as individuals comes from being part of a larger corporate body of faithful believers and the Church is our home base from whence we can draw Our Help in our times of despair. Conclusion: The forgiving and healing miracle of the paralytic man was performed by Christ in order that he might teach about himself, saying in essence I am God. He makes an overt claim that He is God and confirms His message through forgiving sin and the miracle of healing the paralytic. In other words, the message of forgiveness is authenticated by the miracle. Consequently, the people gathered around now understood what Jesus was saying was true, your sins are forgiven; faith in Jesus the Son of Man is what is needed for mental and physical health. Moreover, whatever evil comes into our lives in this troubled world we should turn to our God, for he is able to be almighty God, and is determined to be a faithful Father. The principle of forgiveness is a costly thing. A son or a daughter may go wrong; a father or a mother may forgive; but that forgiveness has brought tears... There was a price of a broken heart to pay. Divine forgiveness is costly. Forgiveness is never a case of saying: It s all right; it doesn t matter. Forgiveness is the most costly thing in the world. 12 Jesus demonstrated that he was able to bring forgiveness to a man s soul and health to a man s body. This paralytic man was a sinner he was certain that God was his enemy; because he felt God was his enemy, he was paralyzed and ill. Once Jesus brought to him the forgiveness of God, he knew that God was no longer his enemy, but his friend, and therefore he was cured. 13 The paralytic man was a person of worth whom God cared about. The man getting up and going away to his house represents obedient discipleship. The four men who faithfully labored to bring their friend to Jesus were blessed to be a blessing to others. When we ourselves are weak and in despair, it is other s faith that carry us back to Christ. Often when our own faith is faltering, we must allow ourselves to be carried by the faith of others. The Psalm is an unqualified song of trust in the Lord s help who is the maker of heaven and earth. The Psalmist would have us know the Lord will protect your soul everywhere always from every danger. 14 We are to be patient in adversity, grateful in the midst of blessing, and to trust our faithful God and Father for the future. The coming exercise of Jesus authority to forgive sins is a happy thought that is enough to encourage anyone to believe that we are not only forgiven from our sins, but also can Rise from our despair and follow Jesus faithfully! If you remember nothing else from this sermon remember this: right mentally and physically then we are right spiritually with our Christ and our God. With Christ s forgiveness through God the Father we are made whole and able to stand and walk boldly forth into the future. 5

6 Endnotes: 1 William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1. (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1975), Today in the Word, March, 1989, 8. 3 Today in the Word, March 1989, p. 8. Charles Bracelan Flood, Lee: The Last Years Bits & Pieces, May, Douglas R. A. Hare, Interpretation Gospel Matthew. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), Ibid., Ibid., James L Mays, Interpretation Psalms. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), Ibid., Ibid., William Barclay in The Letter to Hebrews. 13 William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1. (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1975), James L Mays, Interpretation Psalms. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 390. Bibliography: Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1. Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, Grundy, Robert H. Matthew, A Commentary On His Literary And Theological Art. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Hare, Douglas R. A. Interpretation Gospel Matthew. Louisville: John Knox Press, The Interpreter s Bible, Vol. 4. Nashville: Parthenon Press, The Interpreter s Bible, Vol. 7. Nashville: Parthenon Press, Mays, James L. Interpretation Psalms. Louisville: John Knox Press,