READINGS: 1 John 1:1-2:6; Hebrews 11:1-8; Mark 2:1-17
SERMON
Let’s pray: may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
[looking up to the rafters]
Can you hear it?
There’s a noise.
Up there,
up in the rafters,
up, beyond the rafters...
Can you hear it?
Footsteps on the roof...
and muffled voices...
and the sound of digging.
Any minute now, they’ll break through,
and the light will, for a moment,
fill the opened roof and pour in upon us –
just for a moment,
because, with some grunts and groans and quite a bit of shuggling,
the light will be blocked by something...
a make-do stretcher, holding someone –
a man being lowered down,
down,
down
through the roof and into our very midst.
All is silent now,
because having people break open your roof
in the middle of worship and teaching –
having someone lowered down on a stretcher right into your midst
would be the very last thing you might just be expecting to happen,
and it might just cause you to be so taken aback
that you’re surprised right into silence...
I wonder,
I wonder how we – how I – would react,
if suddenly, that happened here?
And I’d be very interested to know just how our property convener would react too!
Of course, our roof is quite different to the roof of the house we find
in our passage from the gospel of Mark.
Mud-brick houses, and baked earthen, flat ceilings are much easier to dig through
than our slates, rafters, and pitched roof.
And, while possibly a bit inconvenient, they’re possibly a tad easier to fix, as well.
The journey of Jesus, from birth to baptism, has passed,
and his time of public ministry is well underway:
his reputation is growing
and people are beginning to wonder just who he is,
alongside just what he does.
Our gospel story is set not long after the calling of the first disciples.
Jesus, and the disciples have begun travelling around the Galilean countryside.
Jesus has been teaching and healing and talking of the coming of
God’s kingdom of heaven on earth –
talking about what that might look like,
talking about a different way of being,
of living,
in the world.
It’s... intriguing.
It’s ...counter-cultural stuff.
It’s life-affirming, life-giving,
and hope-bringing.
His reputation has now reached the point where it has become hard to blend in, to be incognito.
Jesus can no longer expect to just walk into a town openly,
without being mobbed by a whole assortment of people
keen to see this famous man –
keen to hear and be healed by him;
keen to get whatever it is they need to get from him.
And so it is, that, having arrived in Capernaum, many gather at the place he’s staying.
It’s a return visit, and the townsfolk have all heard of –
and many were actually present at –
the dramatic healing, or more precisely, exorcism, in the synagogue
that Jesus had performed the last time he’d been in their midst.
‘What will he do this time?’ they all probably wonder.
It’s no wonder then, that the house is utterly packed to the gunnels –
with more folk standing outside blocking the door,
and others probably sticking their heads through the windows
to get a look-see, and to hear what he has to say:
for they’d been very impressed with his way with words at the synagogue
the last time he was here, even before he’d done the exorcism.
Somehow, more than any other holy man, any other rabbi,
he teaches with authority,
he knows things...
he knows ...God,
the source of all life,
the source of light.
They are hungry to hear more.
Meanwhile, out on the edges, a small group of friends have heard that Jesus is in town.
Their pal is not well.
They are sure, are certain, have faith that somehow this rabbi can help their friend.
But the crowds in and around the house block any chance they have of trying to get to Jesus.
They hatch an ingenious plan – or, in today’s corporate speak:
they find a solution by thinking ‘out of the box’.
Up onto the roof they go with their friend.
They begin digging.
I wonder when Jesus, and the crowd, begin to notice something’s happening above them?
Are bits of dirt beginning to fall on top of the crowd as the friends above keep digging?
But eventually, light pours in from a now-open to the sky ceiling.
I have this picture in my mind of a whole crowd of dust-coated folk brushing off dirt,
and looking up as several heads poke through from above
and wave and say ‘hi!’ rather cheerfully!
The persistence of the friends pays off, however:
their friend is lowered down into the house.
Surely Jesus will heal him after all that effort?
But, it’s not the first thing he does.
Here’s a man who’s been presented to Jesus with a very obvious physical need...
but Jesus goes beyond that – sees a deeper need:
He looks at this child of God
...and forgives him.
And only after this, heals what’s physically troubling the man.
Jesus, through his actions,
is showing that restoration is more than just a physical matter;
it’s also a matter of the heart and soul.
Jesus enables the man to be wholly restored –
returned to God,
returned to fullness of life:
and also, in this instance, healed of his physical infirmity.
Restoration runs through the whole of scripture.
From that time of turning away in Eden by the very first human beings
near the beginning of all things,
right through to the end of all things as described in the Book of Revelation,
the great theme that runs through the story God and the people of God is one of restoration:
God calling people to return to him,
to come back into the light,
to have life – abundant life,
to be restored
reconciled –
to him.
The great work of restoration begins with God’s call offering forgiveness.
And, as we seek forgiveness and are forgiven,
so the healing of body, mind, and spirit begins:
our restoration to wholeness, to fullness of life.
But forgiveness doesn’t just stop there.
For we’re also to be reconciled and restored to one another as Christ’s body:
to walk in the light, as God is in the light, to have fellowship –
healthy and life-affirming relationships with one another.
The season of Lent is a time in the church year
that concerns itself especially with restoration of relationship:
between God and the people of God,
and between each member of God’s people – one with another.
It’s a time to acknowledge those particular things that get in the way
of right, or restored relationships with God and with each other.
While we may not have crowds blocking our way, or a roof to dig through,
there are plenty of other obstacles that can stop us from getting closer to God:
the source of life
the source of our healing
the One who, since near the beginning of our human story,
has called us to return to him.
Do we carry our grudges,
or nurse our hurts,
or allow anger to fester up inside us...?
Maybe we need to remove a roof,
maybe we need to put our obstacles on a stretcher and carry them to Jesus to deal with...
and in doing so, to see restoration and healing –
and the breaking in of God’s kingdom of heaven here on earth...
for that is an ongoing process.
Over these coming weeks of Lent, we’ll be exploring a little of what it is to be God’s people:
people of faith,
people who walk in the light.
And as we do so, we’ll walk the road to restoration and wholeness:
and, should we find ourselves needing to dig through the occasional roof as we do so,
and get a little covered in dirt, to get closer to God,
that’s okay –
for God’s love makes us both whole and cleanses us.
Let’s pray:
God,
as we move towards a new season in the church year,
a season that challenges us once more to focus more fully upon you...
so we come:
with hesitant steps
and uncertain motives
to sweep out the corners
where sin has accumulated,
and uncover the ways
we have strayed from Your truth.
Expose the empty and barren places
where we don’t allow you to enter.
Reveal our half-hearted struggles
where we’ve been indifferent
to the suffering of others.
Nurture the faint stirrings of new life,
where your spirit has begun to grow.
Let your healing light transform us
into the image of Your Son.
For You alone can bring new life
and make us whole. Amen.*
[prayer from Roots]
