"Christ's Promise to Us Paralyzed People"

Sermon on Luke 5:17-26

Weekend of January 28, 2001

Saint Mark's, Watertown, WI

Pastor Karl Walther

 

 

Introduction: If We Are Paralyzed With Gloom, We Need Encouragement

 

            Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  Amen. 

            My dear friends:

            It is a glum time of year, isn't it?  This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, but the Packers didn't even make the playoffs-- and even the teams that are playing this Sunday won't provide us with football fireworks.  The hoopla of the presidential inauguration is already a week in our past; the excitement of Christmas is over a month past-- and doesn't it seem even longer?  The economy has taken a turn for the worse, and we Wisconsinites have had -- what? -- maybe three days of sunshine since the middle of October. 

            All of that might discourage us all.  But then I know there are some of you who really have reason for a feeling of gloom.  Some of you suffer from constant pain; some of you are battling life-threatening illnesses.  Some of you suffer sadness of heart-- maybe you are absent a near and dear friend; maybe you've recently lost a loved one to death.  For you especially it's glum at this time of year. 

 

Theme:  "Christ's Promise to Us Paralyzed People"

 

            So, what encouragement is there for us who are paralyzed with various degrees of disease or dreariness?  Well, God's Word to us today offers: CHRIST'S PROMISE TO US PARALYZED PEOPLE.  In this section of Scripture, Jesus tells you: YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!  In this section of Scripture, Jesus tells you: GET UP AND GO HOME!

 

Part One: Jesus Said to the Paralytic, "Your Sins Are Forgiven!"

 

            It was probably springtime of the year 27 ad-- a half a year into Jesus' public ministry.  The place was Capernaum-- a rather bustling little city of some thousands on the northwest shore of the Galilean Lake: and Jesus' chosen headquarters for his ministry. 

            With that in mind, we read Luke chapter five, beginning at verse seventeen-- also on the inside cover of your service folder.  It says: One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. 

            You can see the attention Jesus was already attracting.  The Pharisees were the scrupulously religious non-church-workers.  They came from all over both regions of local Judaism-- Galilee in the north, and Judea in the south.  The teachers of the law were the church workers who copied and taught the Old Testament, and they'd have been centered in Jerusalem.  All of these were, no doubt, scrutinizing this new "Jesus phenomenon". 

            And we read: The power of the Lord was present for Jesus to heal the sick.  This suggests that in his humble state on earth, there were times the Holy Spirit didn't enable Jesus to heal the sick. 

            Now some men-- other accounts tell us there were four of them: Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat.  Probably one held each corner of the stretcher.  And it says: They tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 

            Now, you've got to picture this....  Houses in Jesus' day were usually smallish structures made of dried mud.  Even if this were a little bit bigger house -- and there's a good chance that it was -- it probably would have had a main central room, within which Jesus taught.  In order to fill that room, and that house, and overflow the house the way the other accounts put it, the crowd had to consist of hundreds of people, at least. 

            So, the men went up on the roof.  There's a good chance that there was an outside stairway.  The roof of a house in those days was usually beams of wood, covered with a thick mat of reeds, which were in turn covered with clay and maybe stones.  Not irregularly did they leak.  This roof, though, seems to have been stronger.  It had, literally, ceramic tiles-- which were easily enough removed and later replaced. 

            So, you can imagine the scene....  Jesus is sitting, probably on something to raise him up a bit.  A whole crowd of dozens and dozens of other people is sprawled out, too.  And they all start hearing this clamor above-- as the four friends dig through the ceramic tiles of the ceiling.  Jesus pauses, and everyone's attention turns to the roof-- where, after a few minutes of muffled noise and falling pieces and increasing daylight, a man on a mat comes through (!) and the people below help him to the ground. 

            And after a pause for the people to regain their composure, we read this: When Jesus saw the faith of those four men-- When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."  More literally: "Sir, your shortfalls are sent away: canceled." 

 

Application One: Jesus Says to Us, "Your Sins Are Forgiven!"

 

            And we think to ourselves, "How strange!"  These four men didn't lower their friend to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.  They wanted their friend healed! 

            I'm not so sure, though.  Maybe this gentleman was paralyzed ... with guilt.  Can't you just imagine him saying to himself, "What has God got against me?  Why am I paralyzed?  Maybe I am no good.  Maybe God doesn't really care."  And then, think of all the guilt the fellow might have faced for failing to be able to support himself, or his parents, or his wife and children.  And then, consider the fact that he might have had to resort to some shady stuff -- outright begging, at least -- in order to support himself.  Maybe he was paralyzed ... with guilt. 

            And we ought to be.  Let's be honest....  How much of our gloom at work isn't a result of our guilt?-- our failure to look on the bright side of things, or our failure to treat our co-workers the way we ought, or our pursuit of money rather than a single-minded desire to serve the Lord best, whatever our occupation.  How much of our gloom at home isn't a result of our guilt?-- our failure always to be thankful for those near and dear to us, our failure to be gentle and patient with our family members, or our past pursuit of certain people to gain pleasure from them, rather than to serve the Lord with them. 

            And how much of our gloom is not a result of our failure to take, say, a half hour a day -- say, just two percent of the time God has given us -- to draw near to him through Word and prayer? 

            Well then, it's to you -- gloomy due to guilt -- that Jesus says: "Friend, your sins are forgiven."  These shortfalls of yours are dismissed: canceled!  Jesus came to this world to throw into oblivion your every sin against your boss or neighbor, your every sin against your classmate or coworker, your every sin against Mom or Dad or wife or husband or daughter or son-- your every sin against God.  Friend, your transgressions have disappeared through Jesus Christ!  Your guilt is gone! 

            Now, go and live a new life!  Start anew to draw near to Christ, as you study his Scriptures.  Start anew to draw near to others, as you seek to serve them.  And imitate the four friends in this account!  Think of it....  They carried another friend to Christ.  They climbed a roof with a weight on their backs to bring a friend to Jesus.  They went so far as to dig through a roof, so a friend could know Christ. 

            Can't you also open your mouth to share your Savior?  Can't you also carry a load in prayer for somebody else to get to know Jesus?  Can't you dig a little deeper into your pocketbook, so that people who don't know Christ can know Christ? 

 

Part Two: Jesus Said to the Paralytic, "Get Up and Go Home!"

 

            So you see, when Christ promised this paralyzed person: "Friend, your sins are forgiven" Jesus was promising us: "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

            The rest of the account is just as interesting and just as applicable.  We read now: The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  So, they were accusing Jesus of blasphemy, insulting the Almighty, by forgiving sins-- which in their theology only God could do.  But these Jewish leaders were doubly wrong.  First of all, the forgiveness of sins is such a terrific treasure that God commands people to announce forgiveness to others, as Jesus did.  Secondly, even if only God could forgive sins like this, it would be Jesus' prerogative to do so: because Jesus is God. 

            In fact, as God himself: Jesus knew what they were thinking.  And so: He asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?"  Then he poses them a sort of a riddle.  He asks: "Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Get up and walk'?"  And the best answer, I suppose, is to say, "Both are impossible to say-- apart from God's authority and power."  Only under God's authority and power are sins forgiven.  And only under God's authority and power are people healed. 

            And so, it stands to reason that: if Jesus could heal the man's body, it would prove he could heal people's souls, too.  That's why he says: "That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 

            And: Immediately -- with no delay in proving Jesus' point, with no delay in the identification of Jesus as God himself -- the man stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God, as you can well imagine. 

            No wonder we read: Everyone was amazed-- literally: absolutely everybody was beside himself with astonishment.  And they gave praise to God-- literally: they kept glorifying God; they kept ascribing to God both power and love. They were filled with awe-- such great awe that "awe" is too little a word for it; in the Greek here, they were filled with fear.  And they said, "We have seen remarkable things today"-- we have seen, literally: paradoxes: "these are unusual, extraordinary things".  Other accounts have other parts of the crowd saying: "We have never seen anything like this!" 

 

Application Two: Jesus Says to Us, "Get Up and Go Home!"

 

            Now regarding this part of the story, you're likely to say, "Well, this part doesn't apply to me.  I'm not paralyzed."  Probably, "I'm not even sick with anything." 

            But I'd like you to give that a second thought.  We've spent a lot of the sermon saying, "We are paralyzed."  Not only have we been paralyzed by transgressions and guilt  -- which Christ has canceled completely -- but we have been paralyzed with sickness and sadness; we have been paralyzed with disease and discouragement.  To those we're always inclined to say, "Well, God doesn't promise to take that away."  We're even tempted to say, "No, those problems are too big and too specific for God to deal with." 

            But are they?  I mean: I'm sure the paralyzed man thought the same.  I'm sure he thought he was doomed to paralysis for life.  But the same Jesus who said: "Friend, your sins are forgiven" also said: "Friend, get up ... and go home."  And the man did! 

            So, what's paralyzing you these days?  Is it loneliness?  Is it dreariness?  Is it difficulties with your parents or children?  Is it marriage trouble?  Is it weakness or pain?  Whatever it is ...

            Know, first of all, that Jesus is capable of taking it away.  The Scripture promises us: The love of Christ is wide and long and high and deep.  And: He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.  So, whatever your paralyzing problem: pray to him-- and he may simply take it away from you. 

            Secondly and in contrast, know that Christ is capable of giving you great gifts by way of your paralyzing problem.  The Scripture promises: Grief and trials have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire   -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  What I'm saying is that you wouldn't trade your loneliness or dreariness for anything, if it draws you closer to Christ.  You wouldn't trade your marriage or family troubles for anything, if that's the cost to keep you and your loved ones in Christ and to carry you to glory.  You wouldn't trade your weakness or pain for anything, if it serves to further the cause of Christ-- whose weakness and pain purchased your salvation. 

            And thirdly and finally, you ought to realize that in the end, Jesus indeed does promise to remove from you every sickness and sadness, every disease and discouragement.  He said to the paralyzed man: "Get up and go home."  And in the end, on this world's final day, Christ is going to say to you: "Get up and go home."  "Resurrect" -- and that's really the word Jesus uses here in the original -- "Resurrect and find refuge-- in heaven." 

 

Conclusion: Tho' We Are Paralyzed With Gloom, We Have Encouragement

 

            So, isn't it a joy to know?-- that after playoffs and presidential inaugurations, after cloudy days and winter dreariness, after sickness and sadness, after this brief moment we call life is over, we will hear Christ's voice: "Friend, your sins are forgiven," and we will experience Christ's command: "Get up and go home"-- home to be with him eternally!  Amen. 

            As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.  Amen.