Your Love Keeps Lifting Me
Mark 2:1-12
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Good news…
In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips.
We get by with a little help from our friends.
A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.
A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
Friends are friends forever when the Lord’s the Lord of them.
More good news…the lesson from today’s Gospel shows us that friendship is much more than simple clichés. The actions and faith of the four friends demonstrate the length and breadth of relationships which are grounded in the love and promise of God. When obstacles are put in our way and they are, we learn that we can say “yes” to God who is faithful, and whose love will always keep lifting us higher and higher.
We read in Mark that the word had spread throughout the town that Jesus had come and the house where he was teaching was packed to the rim and people were waiting in lines outside the door. This sounds like Dan Aykroyd arriving in Boston this week to promote the opening of the newest House of Blues.
Four friends went to their get their fifth friend, who was paralyzed and carried him through the streets, to bring him to see Jesus. I wonder where they went to get him? From his home? From the side of a road somewhere? Would anyone have tried to stop them? A wife? A mother? I imagine that the man must have been heavy to carry as they made their way through the town and the crowd to find Jesus.
And when the friends could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. No obstacle was too big for these men – these friends. They could have turned around and gone back, but they made a decision to keep trying. They could have just sat down and complained about their bad luck. But they came up with another plan and they climbed up the stairs. The homes in Palestine almost always had outside stairs leading to the roof. And then when they got to the top – there was a roof in the way. A roof? No problem. A Palestinian house usually had a flat roof, made with sticks covered with hardened mud which they just begin to dismantle piece by piece.
And when Jesus saw their faith, that is the faith of the friends, he said to the paralytic ‘My son, your sins are forgiven’. Now some of the scribes questioned his authority. And immediately Jesus, perceiving this said, ‘Why do you question this in your hearts? Which is easier to say; ‘your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘rise, take up your pallet and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And the man rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all so that they all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
The man is healed and he is forgiven when Jesus sees the faith of the friends and that their effort was based on the promise of God and of hope. He receives physical healing and spiritual wholeness. What amazing faith on behalf of the friends! A faith and a love that let no obstacle stop them and a faith that lifted their friend higher and higher where he then received both healing and wholeness.
This is a story about four men who said, “Yes!”
It is the story of their faith and the way they chose to live their lives.
This is a story for all of us who are “paralyzed” and stuck by the “no’s.”
And it reminds us of God’s good news - that there are no obstacles too big for God, none that are too big for us when we choose to live a life that says “Yes to Jesus!” The great love of God will always lift us higher and higher – even when obstacles are in our way.
We all know that life is not without its challenges. Obstacles seem to appear out of nowhere each and every day. They are big and they are small. We list some of those obstacles every Sunday in our prayer concerns. Illnesses, stress, choices, problems and deaths. Then there are those obstacles in our lives that we don’t speak about. It is a given that the obstacles will come. How we respond to those obstacles is what is important and a statement of faith.
We can let the obstacles block our way.
We can stop and let them paralyze us from moving forward.
We can go around them…but when we avoid the obstacles, it’s funny how they appear later on in the middle of our path.
We can move through the obstacles with a faithful attitude that declares a “Yes” to life!
I talked with the children about various physical responses that an athlete exhibits when they score a touchdown or goal. An athlete has moved through an obstacle that had been placed in front of them, whether it was a couple of 300 pound linebackers or a 92 mile per hour fast ball from Jonathan Papelbon. We all remember Jonathan Papelbon's dance when the Red Sox won the World Series – don’t we? Athletes do not hesitate to express their joy at having made it to the moment of joy and success. We think some of those expressions are silly – but their body which had been do disciplined, just releases and seems to shout out a “Yes!” Even kids when they are happy or excited, have developed this lingo and way of expression be it a “yes,” a high five, or a thumbs-up expression. Their body just declares that “yes!”
In our second scripture this morning from Corinthians, we find a second letter from Paul. Paul had made a previous visit to Corinth which had been very painful. Paul references sending a “severe letter to them” and he was very worried about their reaction. Paul has changed his mind about a return visit to Corinth and he is now trying to explain himself and God’s intentions. He wants them to know that he has not indulged in double-talk, and that Jesus never wavers from complete commitment. Paul says:
“As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For Jesus Christ whom we preached among you, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.”
Despite the pain of this relationship with Corinth, and all the troubles and all the emotions, Paul is not discouraged. He says in verse eight, that he had been “utterly, unbearably, crushed so that we were despaired of life itself”, but he remains positive because God is God. Paul reminds the Corinthians, that when Jesus Christ is in charge – all things are a “Yes, they are always a “Yes.” “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.”
There are no obstacles too big for God.
There are no obstacles too big for those who believe and have faith.
The reputation of the church out within the community is usually a “No.” People who are unfamiliar with church don’t usually even want to walk through the doors because they associate church and religion with a set of “rules” and “no’s” that they think are going to restrict their life. How many of you grew up hearing all the “no’s” of religion?
No dancing? No card playing? No movies?
No alcohol? No swearing?
No extra activities on Sunday?
No laughing in church? No fun?
No other way? No other church?
My mother grew up in a Baptist Church that was like that. I have heard the stories of that church off and on throughout my life. I think my mother spent the majority of her teenage years trying to get the deacons to change their mind about all their rules. She didn’t have too much luck with that church. She formed an ecumenical youth fellowship, but the deacons only allowed her to have it in their church, so that their young people won’t be exposed to other ministers. To my mother’s credit she didn’t just give up on church because she didn’t like what she heard. That was an obstacle – but she didn’t let it stop her. God gave her a mind of discernment and she was still able to maintain her faith in God and Christ, and then seek out a more positive church in her young adulthood. God guided her to a different Baptist church where a faith life was expressed and lived more joyfully and more positively, with a responding “Yes” and a resounding Amen.
We need to say “Yes to Jesus” a little more often here in church and in our own spiritual lives.
We need to continue to make First Baptist Littleton a place that proclaims “Yes to Jesus!” and to life. In our worship life, we need to continue to proclaim “Yes to Jesus” as well as in our music, in our programs, our classes and in our relationships. We need to continue to proclaim “Yes” in our ministry with children and youth. That is absolutely essential for a healthy and vital church in this next century. It is always wonderful to hear children talking and moving around the pews, because it means they are here! If the walls and halls of this church were silent – we would be a dying church. Our church is filled with the sounds of life. We proclaim a “Yes to Jesus!” Wouldn’t it be amazing if this would be a place that people would do anything to get in through the door? Can you imagine? Could you imagine it being so crowded that people would come through the roof or sneak in any way they could – like they still try to do at Fenway Park?
Since 1912 youngsters have been sneaking into Fenway Park. I remember reading stories about the early days at Fenway when ticket holders already inside would let down ropes over the sides of the bleachers and hoist up kids who were on the outside. There are stories of skinnier kids who could squeeze in through the turnstiles or slats in the fences. Some used to risk climbing up on to the billboards just to watch the game. And apparently even today there are young kids who go into stealth mode around the outside of Fenway Park, and know just when to slide under a chain link fence and make their way inside. [i]
Maybe, just maybe, if we proclaim the “yes” of Jesus, even in the midst of these hard times we might be a place that people try to sneak into and find a seat and safe place for their heart.
We also need to personally and spiritually proclaim “Yes to Jesus!” in our lives. We need Jesus when we walk through our days and we deal with the tears, the decisions, the emotions and the joys of our lives. We cannot let those obstacles paralyze us. We will need to reach out to each other. Sometimes we will carry someone and at other times we will be carried by the faith of our friends. We will be lifted higher and higher. Through our positive affirmation of faith and through the collective “Yes” and “Amen” of this community, we will be on a faith journey that will make us physically and spiritually whole.
We say that we are Easter people - people who proclaim the resurrected Christ - not just on Easter but every day! As we prepare for the season of Lent which will lead us to the empty cross - may we be filled with hope, joy and an attitude that proclaims to all we meet “Yes!”
Amen!
Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard
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