"SET A PRISONER FREE!"

 “Have you ever been emotionally or spiritually paralyzed?”

For example, have you ever felt angry with someone and found yourself going out of your way so you would not have to make any kind of contact with them?

If so -- Then you were paralyzed!

Have you ever done something dishonest – more than eating a few grapes out of the produce bin at the grocery store – and found yourself never really feeling relaxed in life in fear that someone might find out – the feeling of quilt?

If so -- Then you were paralyzed!

Have you ever been hurt by someone’s words and found yourself thinking hateful thoughts that kept you from expressing any kind of kindness towards them?

If so -- Then you were paralyzed!

Many of us and maybe I could go out on a limb here and say, everyone of us at some time in our life on this earth has encountered any one of these paralyzing experiences – or more truly stated, paralyzing “sins.”.

And I call them “sons” because they separate us from truly living a Christ-centered life.  The “sins” that I’m speaking about that we sometimes choose to carry with us in our relationships are:  hurts, disappointment, fears, angers, frustrations that can literally paralyze us to the point of feeling like we are confined to a prison of paralysis.

Our scripture this morning has some very powerful lessons to be learned for us – us, this church – us, the faith-seeking people.  When we are paralyzed, we are not able to do the good – the caring actions and thoughts of Christ that we were meant to do as individuals in our personal relationships and the good done in the faith community, reaching out to others in need within these walls and beyond these walls.

Often, forgiveness needs to happen in order for healing to take place in our relationships with others – our relationships with ourselves (and sometimes the most difficult person to forgive is yourself), and most importantly, accepting forgiveness from God through the real power of Jesus Christ – sins, like those I just spoke about in the beginning that actually paralyze our lives not allowing us to live freely and openly..

To forgive a sin is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

Years after her concentration camp experiences in Nazi Germany, Corrie ten Boom met face-to-face one of the cruelest and heartless German guards that she had ever contacted.  He had humiliated and degraded her and her sister.  He had laugh at, mocked and visually raped them as they stood in the delousing shower.  Now he stood before her with hand outstretched and said,  “Will you forgive me?”  She writes:  “I stood there with coldness clutching at my heart, but I know that the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.  I prayed, Jesus - Jesus, help me!  Woodenly, mechanically I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me and I experienced an incredible thing.  The current started in my shoulder, raced down into my arms and sprang into our clutched hands.  Then this warm reconciliation seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.  ‘I forgive you, brother,’ I cried with my whole heart.  For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard, the former prisoner.  I have never known the love of God so intensely as I did in that moment!”

To forgive a sin is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

If Corrie ten Boom had not had the opportunity to forgive the guard from the concentration camp – the memory of his actions I suspect would have haunted her for the rest of her life and literally paralyzed her life.  And I strongly suggest the same would have been true of the former German guard.  In receiving forgiveness, his paralyzing haunting past was healed and he too was set free.

The man in our scripture this morning was paralyzed.  It was not unusual back then to connect sin with God’s wrath of physical disease on the sinful person.  I would say we have come a long way from a belief like that – a belief of a God who would cause pain on God’s own.  But then it is not difficult to pull from our memories of people who still believe God sent AIDS as a  way of hurting those who are homosexuals.  But this story is not about a vindictive God – it is a story about a God who came to earth in Jesus Christ to forgive our sinfulness – that whichever separates us from God. 

If is about a God through Jesus, who loves us, has compassion for us and truly knows the power of forgiveness to heal and help us become renewed feeling alive again.

To forgive a sin is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

This story has so much to offer us, for it is not only about the paralyzed man who was confined to a mat.  It is also a story about others who at that particular time and place, had faith in the power of Christ to surround this man and move him towards healing.  It was only because he had four friends who had a strong faith in Jesus, that the man was able to experience the power of forgiveness, which then freed him from his paralyzing condition.

Is that what the church is called to be about?  This church, Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St. Louis – each and every one of us is about:  Helping others on their journey who are paralyzed and not able to find forgiveness in their life – whether it is being able to forgive someone else or receiving forgiveness?

Today’s scripture is a very powerful story about you and me and the need for each of us to find healing forgiveness in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  And this story is also about you and me and the power of all of us as the gathered “church” to empower others to embrace forgiveness.  

It is a story that represents the church in miniature form.  Any time and place in this church there are people who are emotionally or spiritually paralyzed to the point that they need others to gather around them encouraging them, listening to them and embracing them – helping them confront that which keeps them imprisoned.

We are like the four friends in our scripture who carried the paralyzed man, empowering him to receive. We are:

Friends, who help move others  to a new future, when they are paralyzed by life’s

 troubles and fears.

Friends, who encourage and lift others up, when they cannot rise by ourselves.

Friends, who apply their ingenuity and persistence, when others are ready to surrender.

Friends, who open up holes in life’s roofs for others, and enable them to see new

opportunities.

And we only are able to do this because of the Spirit of Christ in each one of us touching – reaching out – seeing the needs of others.

So today’s story from Mark speaks of the importance of letting friends help us and also another important teaching is that our Christ centered faith recognizes with compassion the power of hate, anger, quilt to cripple someone – to cripple them to the point of paralysis.  Our Christ centered faith also offers the power of forgiveness to heal.

But that power to forgive only happens when you offer it to someone who is in need of healing.  I’m sure all of us know or have know someone who needs forgiveness or possibly you need to be forgiven – to be released from a paralyzing circumstance.

When we are no longer paralyzed by our “sins” – those feelings, attitudes that cause us to turn away from others which is really turning away from our relationship with God – when we are no longer paralyzed, we become capable again of goodness.  Like the paralyzed man in our scripture being able to move from our paralyzed situation and praise God – not just by words, but by entering into life again – entering into people’s lives with love and compassion.  We can be alive and connected and not be afraid.  Because when we accept God’s forgiving love – when we compassionately give to another Christ’s Spirited forgiveness – we will have new life – we will no longer feel paralyzed – we will be able to move forward in our relationships with God and each other.

Whoever you identify with:  the man who was paralyzed, his friends, or even Jesus Christ – the agent of God’s healing, I pray that you will know the strength and the joy of the miraculous healing power of forgiveness – whether you experience forgiveness as the one who gives it or the one who receives it.

Always remember:

To forgive a sin is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

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