Model Sermon for Bishops ELCA Youth Gathering 2015 Proclaim Story Gospel Text: Mark 2:1-12 Dear Bishops: This sermon is provided for you as a model for your use at ELCA Youth Gathering, Proclaim Story Day. Bishop Donald Kreiss preached this sermon at the Synod Day Director Training in November 2014. Please use all or part of this sermon if you find it helpful. Thank you. The Proclaim Story Planning Team. Sisters and brothers, dear friends, Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who forgives all our sins I want to look at these words from Mark, this remarkable story that shows us just how far folks have been willing to go and the choices they have been willing to make to ensure that the one who needed it most could get close to Jesus. Are you with me? You know, they might have tried some other things before one of them got the bright idea of trying to get close to Jesus, to see what he was willing to do for their injured friend. I m talking right now about those four people, each of them lifting up a corner of the mat upon which their fifth friend lay paralyzed. 1
They might have done something else. You just better get used to it, is what they might have told the one. It s really awful, but what do you expect us to do about it? We didn t cause this. It wasn t our fault. We didn t want it to happen, but stuff happens. Life goes on. Mostly. At least for the rest of us. Or they might have told him, You re just not trying hard enough to get well. Maybe, if you just worked harder at your exercises, or paid closer attention to what you eat, or saw a different doctor, or had a more positive outlook, things would get better. Some of them might even have asked him privately What did you do that was so bad God punished you with paralysis? Maybe it was something you did, something that you re responsible for? Did you ever think of that? Maybe you did this to yourself. Did they really expect that Jesus would heal him? Did they hope that he would prescribe some course of treatment they could follow that would return their friend to health? That Jesus would say a few words, lay on hands? Prophets could do that sort of thing, you know, they had read about in the Bible and heard about it in Sunday school: in First and Second Kings both Elijah and Elisha had revived dead sons and returned them to grieving mothers. Elisha had healed the foreign general Naaman s leprosy by telling him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Maybe they remembered those stories and were ready to do whatever Jesus told them to do, no matter how difficult or dangerous or silly it would be. 2
We just don t know. Because although we know this story, when we look at it closely there is so much about it we can only guess at. What connected these five people to each other? Were they, in fact, friends or brothers or relatives or partners? Were they, in fact, all guys? Perhaps it was as simple as the four lifters were of similar height, or used to carrying things, or maybe they were just the ones who happened to be standing closest to the corners of the cot when somebody else said, One, two three, heave! We just don t know. What we do know was that, according to Mark, Jesus had just come back to Capernaum after a whirlwind tour of Galilee, calling his disciples, preaching in synagogues, casting out demons and healing a man with leprosy. And maybe that was enough. Maybe the news that there was in Capernaum at that moment a man from God who had the gift of healing, maybe that word was enough to energize them, to galvanize them, to push them into taking steps they might otherwise not have taken. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And so they gathered around their paralyzed friend. And they hoped. They lifted. And they pointed their steps toward Jesus. The thing was, of course, that they were not the first to head in that direction. They quickly found themselves in a crowd that made it harder and harder to get closer to their goal. 3
The streets were filled, the alleys were packed. They knew where Jesus was, and they knew what they wanted to ask, but they had no way to get there, not burdened as they were by their friend on the mat and the hope that Jesus might actually be able to do something. Now part of me wonders if, at least at that moment, At least one of those five people wasn t ready to give up. Well, we tried, didn t we? We knew it was going to be a long shot, and well, it just didn t pay off. Let s go back. Let s give in. We were never going to change how this was going to turn out. Not really. And if we re honest with each other we have to admit that we might know a little bit of what those friends were feeling. Because we know what it s like to feel overwhelmed. We know the feeling that the odds have been stacked against us, that the world has turned against us, that despite all our best efforts, our genuine willingness to try and be the grown up in a difficult situation, that none of that makes the least bit of difference. The world simply grinds on and we are ground up. Do you know that feeling, sisters and brothers? Have you been in that spot? Do you know somebody who is? But.. And there, in that little word is a world of hope and joy, it isn t over yet. Because somebody in that group didn t give up. Because somebody in that gang wouldn t give in. 4
Because somebody in that crowd surrounding the paralyzed man or maybe the paralyzed man himself was not willing to call it a day and to say, Oh well, at least we tried. Because somebody knew that they had to see Jesus. Somebody knew that they had to get closer to Jesus. Somebody trusted that Jesus would deal appropriately with the situation despite the crowds, despite the obstacles, despite the fact that not only would it not be easy to get where they needed to be, it was going to be a whole lot harder than they thought. But And there s that little word again. They had faith they could do it. They knew that if one way was blocked there was another way that was open, and if they were willing to work together, they could do it. The route would be different. The path would be longer. It was going to take them down alleys, up the back stairs, and at times look like it was taking them further away instead of bringing them closer to their goal, but they knew they could to it. They knew where they needed to be. They knew they had to get to Jesus and that nothing could stop them. And so they hoped. They lifted. And they pointed their steps toward Jesus. Can you imagine the surprise on their friend s face when he finally demanded, Where are we? and they said, On the roof of the house where Jesus is staying. 5
What? Be quiet now, we re trying to listen for Jesus voice so we can dig through the roof and drop you close to him. Drop me? Lower you. Whatever. Stop worrying. What s the worst thing that could happen? And we know how the story turns out, though I would have dearly loved to have been in the house that day, and to have watched the expression on our Lord s face as a gentle rain of thatch and dried mud fell down on him as the roof above was torn open and a man lowered into the room by the four corners of his mat. There was faith. There was forgiveness. There was healing, and restoration and new life. And most of all, best of all, there was Jesus. It s Mark who shares this story with us, this remarkable, wonderful event in Jesus early ministry, when five people came to understand that the only way forward was together, willing to do anything and everything they could to make certain that the one given into their care might come into Jesus presence in order to be made whole and well by Jesus word of forgiveness. Amen! 6