Reverend Ray Osborne, Senior Minister
Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

“Together, Let’s Make It Happen!”

1. When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

2. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.

3. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.

4. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.

5. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

6. Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,

7. "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

8. At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?

9. Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?

10. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic--

11. “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.”

12. And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

If we had taken the time to read Mark chapter one, we would have read of a typical day in the life of Jesus. He had been to Galilee preaching in the synagogues, casting out demons, and cleansing lepers. The Bible tells us that Jesus comes again to the city of Capernaum. Capernaum seemed to have been the headquarters of our Lord as he began his ministry.

There were actually four cities that play a prominent part in the life of Jesus. Bethlehem, which is the place of his birth; Nazareth, the place where he grew up as a boy; Capernaum, which was the central point of his ministry and then of course Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified.

At this particular point the Bible says Jesus came to Capernaum. Jesus did many of his miracles in the city of Capernaum. We are told for instance, that he healed another man, the centurion servant who was sick of the palsy in the city of Capernaum. Jesus did a lot of miracles there and they witnessed many of the mighty works and wonders of the Son of God in that city. There is surprisingly no evidence in the midst of all those wonders that the people of Capernaum repented and turned to God. The same fire, which softens the wax, also hardens the clay and so again and again Jesus came to Capernaum and performed his miracles there.

As the curtain comes up we see a group of people coming toward Jesus’ home, four of them carrying a man on a mat. Why were they there? Why were they carrying this man on a mat to the home of Jesus?

First of all they had at some point prior to all of this come into contact with this man. It may be that he was their brother, or their friend, or their neighbor, or a regular beggar they knew from the city. No matter what the relationship might have been, they recognized that he was a man with a need.

Can you remember the days when families, neighbors, and friends use to gather and just visit one another? Can you remember days when people actually knew when a friend or neighbor had a need? Can you remember when people actually took the time to help a friend or neighbor? I think that’s exactly what we see here – a group of friends helping another friend who is in need.

Our world has become so fast-paced and our schedules so filled with non-essentials that we rarely see the needs of the very people living under or own roofs yet alone the needs of those outside our home and our church.

To walk within the realm of honesty we must admit the church has become a different type of organism than it was in the days of Jesus. We are actually guilty of NOT carrying out the Great Commission.

In many ways I believe this man is a picture of us all. It is possible that this man who is brought to Jesus on a pallet for a bed, is emblematic or symbolic of the lives of every one of us today.

The Bible says that he was sick of the palsy. Now the palsy seemed to have been a paralyzing disease of the nervous system. It was a disease, which attacked a person’s nervous system and completely paralyzed the body.

There are two types of “spiritual sickness.” First is that of total spiritual depravity.

A person who lost the use of hands and legs in Jesus’ day would become totally helpless and dependent upon other people for everything. This parable can represent to us of the condition of persons outside of Jesus Christ; sin is a crippler and renders men helpless. Sin takes a person who is meant to live for the Lord and makes that person helpless to do so. It takes a person whose life is intended to be noble and beautiful and good and it makes it impossible for that person to live the kind of life that they might want to live. So it is possible that as we see this man being carried to Jesus we can identify him as one whose greatest need is that of being saved.

There is a second way of identifying this man and that is as a Christian who has been overtaken by what I will call “spiritual viruses.” There are, in my opinion, spiritual viruses that often creep into and plague the life of a Christian. Two of the most dangerous are complacency and the development of an “I don’t care” attitude. If we have become complacent, meaning “content” with our life and our relationship with Jesus, then our spirituality has become infected and if left untreated will inevitably die. If we have become content with the current populace of our church and you never want to see any new people added, or God forbid – sinners coming through our doors, or if you’re comfortable with the way things are and you never want to see our church change then your spirituality has become infected and if left untreated, our church will inevitably die. If you are one of these people who don’t believe in witnessing and sharing Jesus with the lost then your spirituality has become infected and men and women will inevitably die and spend eternity in Hell.

End of scene one.

As the curtain comes up on scene two we see these four men trying with fruitless effort to get the man on the mat to Jesus. Beloved there is only one reason for their effort; they know undoubtedly that Jesus is the only place their friend can go to have his/her need met. When they find they can’t get through the crowd, they search frantically for another approach. They look around and see no way to get to the windows. They can’t get to the back door. They look up. That’s IT! They work together at what I imagine was no easy task. Together they go up on the roof and pull the thatch off until they have enough to get their friend through. Slowly and easily, yet with purposeful determination, they lowered their friend through the freshly made hole until he finally lies at the feet of Jesus. Theirs is an unselfish act of love toward their friend.

What a glowing example of working together to get the job done. Remember at the beginning of this message I said “Mark re-creates for us a vivid picture of what is important in life and how we must work TOGETHER to make that happen!” Well the most important thing in your life, my life, and the life of anyone around us is our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We must seek to bring people to Jesus. We must seek to help one another grow in our relationship with Jesus. It is time to move beyond stagnation and into an intensified, growth in spirituality as a church and as individuals.

Beloved we must be willing to form a partnership with one another, with God, with Jesus, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to get men, women, and young people to Jesus and to help and hold one another accountable for our spiritual growth. Like the parable it isn’t easy, but like the parable it isn’t a task we must do on our own. Yet if we are going to be obedient to God and faithful to Jesus we must be do whatever it takes to make it happen!

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