Christ in our House 9/15/40

Scripture: Mark 2: 1-12

Text: Mark 2: 1b -- "It was noised abroad that he was in the house."

I take my subject this morning from Reynold B. Bowden of Los Angeles. The subject is his, but he is not responsible for the sermon which follows. The sermon is entirely mine. The subject is "Christ in the House," and the text is found in the last half of the first verse of the second chapter of Mark’s gospel: "It was noised that he was in the house."

One of my vivid memories is that of a rather eccentric Civil War captain with flowing white hair who married my great aunt. He was, as I remember him, a lecturer, devoted to the cause of temperance. He also had a lecture on Òthe Battle of Gettysburg," in which he had taken part, a lecture that was so exciting it would make your hair curl! He drove a spirited dapple-gray horse called Sailor Boy, which would run away with him if given any chance. And he rode in a highly polished black buggy with bright yellow wheels. When "Uncle Captain," as we called him, came to our house for a short visit, there was excitement among us children.

Once he called at school for my sister and for me; and my, but it was a triumph to ride away from the school down the country road, over those spinning yellow wheels, behind that speedy trotter! Uncle Captain held Sailor Boy with a firm rein, yet urged him on to a pace just a little faster still! It was a thrilling occasion when Uncle Captain called at our house!

Our scripture lesson this morning deals with the story of a thrilling visitor. A man named Jesus, who came from Nazareth, perhaps 20 or 30 miles away, entered a house at Capernaum. When it was noised around that he was in the house, things began to happen! People crowded the house to see him, to hear him, to bring their sick unto him. And he spoke to them and healed their sick. They followed him as he went out later to the shore of the lake.

I suppose that many of those people, perhaps most of them, were chiefly curious. When a man gets a reputation for saying or doing unusual things and for healing, people are sure to follow him around for a while.

We are not much concerned just now over those who were no more than curious. It takes more than idle curiosity to accomplish anything. And for the moment, I am not concerned with the cynical and the hostile critics who were stirred to suspicion and hatred of this new teacher.

I want to give some attention to the effect which this visitor, Jesus, had upon those who received, and heard, him gladly. There were those who heard what he was saying with comfort and joy to their oppressed and troubled lives. There were those who had despaired for the health of one whom they loved. Now, in new hope, they brought the sick man on a bed, or stretcher, to Jesus. So great was their confidence in him, and so determined they were, that being unable to get through the crowd, they took their patient to the flat roof, typical of the New Eastern house, and let him down through an opening directly into the presence of the Master.

Jesus looked upon the invalid with that utter sympathy and penetrating understanding, that must be at once the despair and the hope of every modern counselor and psychiatrist, spoke to him with assurance of forgiveness, and told him to get up and walk.

How blessed is the friend who understands so thoroughly that he can even see what you and I are unwilling to admit to ourselves! We are so prone to mistakes and to willful wrongdoing that there is much which we would like to forget. That is because we have a better nature which is unbearably ashamed of what is wrong. Now everyone feels compelled to put his best foot forward. Because we must be able to face the world with our better nature, we are tempted to try to bury our wrongs in forgetful oblivion.

But they can not be wiped away. We may succeed in getting them pushed below our conscious memory but in our subconscious selves they make trouble, festering like a dirty splinter buried beneath the skin, until they erupt in unexpected ways.

Something like this must have contributed to the illness of this man who was so sick of the palsy that his shaking body could not stand alone. Jesus understood it. He knew that, most important of all, the man must be able to respect himself again. So instead of offering him medicine, or a rest cure or travel for his ills, he first assured him of forgiveness. And that was enough. I haven’t the slightest idea what may have been the man’s evil. But it is obvious that the relief of forgiveness was so great that the rest of his cure was simple. At a word from the Master, he could get up, pick up his stretcher and walk out by himself.

The blessing of Jesus in that house on that day was not just to the man who was helped and to those who saw and heard. It is still for us today, in the lesson of that incident. For every one of us has to deal with sin - not alone the sins which we find around us in the world - and they are legion in number - but first of all with the sin which creeps unto our own lives. The most dangerous thing we can do is to try to bury it, to hide it, to run away from it. The very best thing we can do is to look at our wrongdoings, carefully, fairly, honestly and squarely; understand them and recognize them exactly for what they are; and then ask forgiveness for them - forgiveness of those whom we may have wronged; and the forgiveness of God.

Friends, that is the only right way to deal with the things of which we are ashamed. When a sin or a mistake is understood in all of its error and ugliness, when it has been called by its right name, and when it has been forgiven, then and only then can it safely be forgotten.

And Christ brings other blessings into the house when he comes. There is peace and good fellowship in the home when he is present.

I had the happiness, a couple of years ago, of congratulating a couple who had been married for 50 years. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their church. It happened to fall on a Sunday. At the morning service they sat with all of their children who had come to be with them. Then they went downstairs to the church dining room where a group of their church friends served the dinner which had been furnished by the family. Daughter; sons with their wives and children; brothers and their wives; nieces and nephews; all broke bread together. There were greetings from those who were far away and unable to be present. Then, later in the afternoon, still at the church, they received the congratulations and good wishes of a host of friends who came to call upon them. One of the most striking features of the whole affair was the comment in the church bulletin in which appeared these words: "From the beginning (of their married life) they have maintained a truly Christian home. Loyalty to the church and its total program has been a life habit."

I know that couple intimately enough to know that they have always welcomed the blessing of Christ’s presence in their home. Prayer, the reading of the Bible, Christian nurture, honesty, firm justice and some discipline, and love have always been their practice. Not only their household, but their neighbors as well, respect the quality of their living.

I think we should welcome Christ not only into our homes, but also into our public life. His spirit is important first of all to our personal lives, but we fall far short of our duty to him unless we take him with us among other people.

We are accustomed to the presence of first aid experts at our annual public Easter service on Punchbowl. If an emergency occurs in an auditorium or other public place, there may be heard the inquiry, "Is there a doctor in the house?" Is it not just as reasonable, and more important, for people who wish to do right, to inquire "Is Christ in the House?" whenever an issue arises which might either compromise or promote righteousness?

If we were aware of Christ’s presence at home and at our places of business, we might temper our hot-headed wrath when unreasonably angered; we might sharpen our conscience to the point of greater fairness when bargaining; we might be stimulated to a little more of righteous and effective anger in dealing with wrong! (Christ in the Temple) "Is Christ in the house?" If he is, how does that affect our stories, our conversation, our commitments, our conduct - the way we treat our employer, our employees; our customers, our merchants; the inexperienced and gullible; the shrewd and calculating; the cheat, the scrupulous? When Christ is present, he makes a difference.

I want to be sure that Christ is present in his house - his Father’s and our Father’s house. At first it sounds foolish even to mention it. Of course Christ is in his church! Well, let us not take it for granted. The ecumenical holy church universal is his church. It is his church in the hearts of men - all sorts of men - men and women and children of many different expressions of faith. But the organization of the church, in its denominational and local units, is also human. It is possible for church members to become involved in such differences of opinion and policy, to become so engrossed in personalities, to emphasize pet projects and programs to such an extent as to forget that it is all in vain unless it be first Christ’s. "Except the Lord build the house" (and the organization and the program) "they labor in vain that build it."

The church is not a building nor an order of worship; it is not primarily the organization of those who believe in the Sabbath of the first or the seventh day; or who believe in priestly confession or private repentance; or who recite one creed or another or none; or who practice baptism by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. The church is, first of all, a fellowship of people in the spirit of Christ! (Without him it is a mere hollow shell.) With him, though it meet in a stable, on a ship’s deck, or in a field, it is that which no power on earth can destroy! For the true church, like the Kingdom of God, is not in monuments of wood and stone, but with the hearts of men and women and children.

Is it noised abroad that Christ is in the house? Whenever it is, whenever he is surely in our private lives and homes, whenever he is surely in our business and public life, whenever he is surely in his church, you can be certain that the Kingdom of God on earth is a little nearer reality.

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Dates and places delivered:

Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, April 7, 1940 AM

SS Matsonia, at sea, April 28, 1940 AM

Pilgrim Church, Chicago, May 26, 1940 AM

Wisconsin Rapids, September 15, 1940

W.F.H.R., Wisconsin Rapids, December 16, 1940

Sparta Outdoor Vesper Service, July 6, 1941 PM

Vesper Reformed Church, July 20, 1941

Christian Endeavor Convention, Arpin, November 23, 1941