Back to church Sunday 2011

Good evening, everyone. If you've got your Bible there at Mark chapter 2, if you'd like to leave it open.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

And I'm going to pray, and then we're going to take a look at that text.

Father God, we pray that you'll help us now, by your Spirit, to understand this text,

but particularly that we might get such a glimpse of who Jesus is and what he has done for us

so that we might be able to leave here as changed people, forgiven by you of all our trespasses against you.

And we ask it for your sake. Amen.

Well, it's been referred to a couple of times tonight already, and naturally throughout the media.

Ten years ago today, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001,

there was a series of four coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States.

Approximately 3,000 people, including 19 hijackers, died in the attacks in what is remembered today

as the worst terrorist atrocity in human history.

The overwhelming majority of the casualties were civilians,

including nationals from 70 different countries.

For most of us, we can remember where we were when that awful news reached us.

I remember the moment vividly.

It was really early in the morning.

My alarm clock had gone off,

and my alarm clock just goes straight to a radio station,

and the news was on,

and in my sort of half-awake stupor in the morning,

I thought that I heard the lady say that the World Trade Towers had collapsed.

And I just thought, well, that's just not possible.

There are 110 stories.

And then when she said that it was the worst act we have seen in history,

I just went, this is true.

And I remember just jumping out of bed and running to the TV and turning it on,

and as soon as the TV came on, I saw the pictures of the planes hitting it.

I remember that moment vividly.

Our world has forever been changed by that evil event.

In fact, it's known as the day that changed the world.

And as we remember those events 10 years on,

I want to take us to this Bible passage, which was just read out to us.

It's about another life-changing event,

and naturally on the surface it's a life-changing event for one man,

but it is a life-changing event for one man,

which points us to a world-changing event.

It's an event which changes the world for everyone.

And so I want you to know straight up as I speak tonight

that Jesus is in the business of changing lives.

That's what he does.

He changes lives for good,

and that's what we are excited about here at St. Paul's as a church.

And so we are very pleased that you've joined us tonight on Back to Church Sunday

to at least get some of the good news of what Jesus,

who he is and what he's done for us.

So let's jump straight into it at verse 1.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum,

the people heard that he had come home.

So many gathered that there was no room left,

not even outside the door,

and he preached the word to them.

Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic,

carried by four of them.

Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd,

they made an opening in the roof above Jesus,

and after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

Okay, so there's this guy.

He's paralyzed, totally paralyzed,

and his friends get a stretcher.

They get a bed, if you like,

and they carry him to the house where Jesus is.

And when they arrived,

they discovered that lots of people have already got the front row seats.

It's a sellout.

There's no room left.

But they've got it all figured out.

These guys are fairly resourceful,

and they're pretty determined to get their buddy to Jesus.

And so they go up onto the roof,

and they dig a hole in the roof,

and they lower the guy right in front of Jesus.

You can imagine that's a pretty awkward moment.

Jesus is there delivering the sermon,

teaching all these people,

probably asking a heap of questions.

Next thing you know,

stuff starts falling down,

and right in front of him.

All of a sudden,

no one cares what Jesus is talking about anymore,

or we want to know what is he going to do in this moment.

It's a pretty awkward thing.

And I think for most people,

in a moment like that,

you're kind of grateful that you're not Jesus,

having to make some kind of a decision.

I don't know if you've ever been in a moment like that,

where something really bad's happening,

just glad,

geez, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision here.

I remember one day in church,

Chris was actually preaching in a previous church.

Chris was preaching,

and someone went,

let out this awful groan noise,

and went,

and I thought,

oh my goodness,

they're dead.

That's what I initially thought.

Apparently,

they just had low blood pressure,

and sort of fainted.

I think that's what happened.

But I was pretty convinced they were dead,

and I was just glad it wasn't me,

I'm preaching at that moment.

All eyes are on Chris,

what's he going to do?

It's one of those kind of moments.

No one is,

sorry,

Jesus is in a moment here,

with this person in front of him,

and it's very clear what they're wanting.

You cannot ignore this person,

Jesus.

He's the elephant in the room.

All eyes on Jesus,

what's the next move?

And the next move is there in verse five.

When Jesus saw their faith,

he said to the paralytic,

son,

your sins are forgiven.

Well,

that's not what they were expecting at all.

It's pretty obvious what these people want,

isn't it?

Don't they want this guy to walk again?

That's why they're there.

They've heard of Jesus healing people,

and so they're expecting that that's what he's going to do here.

And instead of healing the guy,

what Jesus does is he sets up a showdown with the religious heavies.

See it there?

In verse seven.

Sorry,

verse six.

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves,

why does this fellow talk like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

You see,

the religious leaders knew exactly what Jesus was claiming when he declared to this paralytic,

your sins are forgiven.

They reasoned that Jesus' claim to be able to forgive this man's sin is tantamount to claiming God's authority for himself.

And technically,

if you're not God,

that's blasphemy.

And in first century Palestine,

it was punishable by death.

So you can kind of imagine it though,

can't you?

these people here being a little bit ticked off with Jesus at this moment.

You see,

I wasn't there 10 years ago in New York or in Washington.

I wasn't there.

And I don't even know any of the 3,000 people that died.

I don't know anyone personally who was affected.

I don't know any friends of friends of people who died even.

I don't even know anyone or any families.

So imagine me going to the perpetrators of this terrorism act and saying to them,

I forgive you.

On behalf of all the grieving families and friends and work colleagues out there,

I forgive you for what you've done.

How do you think those who have suffered the loss of loved ones would feel about that?

I reckon they'd be a little upset.

I think they'd probably potentially feel cheated.

They'd probably even be angry with me.

What right do I have to hand out their forgiveness to those people?

Surely it's the same with God.

How on earth could a mere mortal presume to forgive another human being for their sins

that they have committed against God?

It is offensive.

That's God's job to forgive sin.

And so the religious heavies were right.

You do need to be God in order to forgive sins.

But as normal, they missed the point.

The claim of Jesus here is huge.

He is either a deluded blasphemer with a very unhealthy view of his significance,

or Jesus is saying something very significant about himself

and something very life-changing for us.

His claim to have the authority to hand out God's forgiveness is, I think,

the most significant aspect of his authority.

It's a huge statement that he makes here.

And no other religious leader has ever made a statement like,

I can hand out God's forgiveness.

That I am, in fact, God.

Not Muhammad, not Krishna, not Buddha.

No one.

It's a bold statement.

But it's a bold statement that he doesn't back down from.

He could have easily have qualified it when some of the boo-hisses started to come in.

He could have easily qualified it and said,

well, what I really meant was that God forgives you for your sins.

But instead of backtracking,

he actually takes the opportunity to emphasize publicly

that God has authorized him to offer forgiveness to anyone he chooses.

Have a look at it there in verse 8.

Immediately, Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts.

And he said to them,

why are you thinking these things?

Which is easier?

To say to the paralytic,

your sins are forgiven,

or to say,

take up,

get up,

take up your mat,

and walk.

What's easier?

Well, see,

imagine now if someone punched a hole in the roof

and lowered a paralytic person right in front of me.

Not that they need to do that.

They could just come through the doors.

Enough room.

Imagine they did that,

and I had a choice of what I was going to say to them.

And obviously,

I could say many things to them at that moment.

But imagine I had a choice between

your sins are forgiven,

or get up and walk,

which is easier.

It's easier for me to say,

your sins are forgiven.

Who cares?

I mean,

how do you know

whether my words have any power at all?

But if I said to them,

get up and walk,

and they didn't,

you'd immediately know

that my words have no power.

And so,

verse 10,

but that you may know

that the Son of Man

has authority on earth

to forgive sins.

Turn to the paralytic.

I tell you,

get up.

Take your mat

and go home.

And he got up,

took his mat,

and walked out

in full view of them all.

This amazed everyone.

And they praised God,

saying,

we have never seen

anything like this.

You see,

the promise of forgiveness

of sins

is not some

cheap,

idle words

from a deluded man

trying to

say,

they're there there

and move on

so I can get on to do

with the real job

that I've come here to do.

How do we know

that they weren't

just empty words

with no way

of proving it?

Well,

Jesus

follows through

with his words.

He follows through

with the display

of God's power

that has been given to him.

But that you may know

that the Son of Man

has authority on earth

to forgive sins.

He said to the paralytic,

I tell you,

get up and take your mat

and go home.

And he did.

It would have been

an incredible moment

for that guy.

I mean,

I could just imagine

him being stunned,

speechless

with a huge smile

on his face

as all the implications

of his life now

started to sink in.

There was

no painstaking

process of rehabilitation

over months.

He got up

and he picked up

the bed that he came in on

and carried it out.

But

the amazing thing

about this encounter

with Jesus

is not

the lengths

that the men

went through

to get him

into the place

in the first place

and punch a hole

in the roof.

Even as spectacular

as it was,

it isn't even

that Jesus healed

a man

who had been

paralysed from birth.

What was happening

here

was much more

than an act

of kindness

by Jesus.

The most important

thing in this encounter

is the huge

and the public

claim

of Jesus

that he can

hand out

forgiveness

to people

who have

offended God,

people who have

ignored God,

people who have

gone about

their daily business

as if God

doesn't even exist,

as if they are

the sinners

of their world.

That

is the

extraordinary bit.

The healing

of the paralytic

was a visible sign

that God

could do

the invisible

miracle,

sorry,

that Jesus

could do

the invisible

miracle

of handing

out God's

forgiveness.

Jesus proved

here that

with everything

that we have

ever done

to offend

God,

to ignore

God,

he has the

power to

declare it

forgiven.

Gone.

Slate white

clean.

I was

talking to

someone

during the

week

who's

got a

criminal

record

that's

currently

with the

governor

and the

governor

has the

power to

issue

clemency

and I

said to

them,

so what

happens

if the

governor

gives you

clemency

at that

point?

What

happens?

And they

said,

it's like

the file

doesn't

exist.

It's like

it's gone.

And I

went,

that's

exactly what

happens when

you go to

Jesus.

All that

offense and

sin,

everything that

cuts us off

from God

and cuts us

off from

life,

it's just

gone.

And the

crowd was

right,

they haven't

seen anything

like this

before.

They have

witnessed a

life-changing

event for a

man.

Not just

that he

walked away,

but that he

walked away

with a

clean slate

with God.

All his

sins forgiven.

But this

life-changing

event for the

paralytic is

not just a

life-changing

event for one

individual.

Jesus says

this about

himself a

little later

in Mark's

gospel.

He says,

the son of

man,

that's

talking about

himself,

did not

come to

be served,

but to

serve and

to give

his life

as a

ransom for

many.

Jesus

ultimately

makes good

on his

promise to

hand out

God's

forgiveness

by giving

his life

for us,

for all

of us.

The event

of Jesus'

death and

resurrection

is the

world-changing

event for

good.

Jesus

doesn't

just hold

out the

offer of

God's

forgiveness

to a

paralytic

2,000

years ago,

he offers

it to

us all.

He died

for our

sin against

God so

that we,

as he says

there,

the many

can be

forgiven for

our sin

against God.

I've

written a

little bit

of a

blurb about

it in

the front

of your

bulletin,

something

like,

good news

in four

minutes.

You'll

also notice

I've given

you six

minutes on

the first

line in

case you

are a

slow

reader.

That was

an editing

mistake.

But take

it and

read it.

I started

thinking it was

going to be

six minutes

and realised

I could do

it in

four.

So there

you go.

Take it

and read

this good

news.

It is so

simple and

yet so

profound.

And it

is so

crucial because

we live in

an unforgiving

world.

Grudges

from hurt

can be

carried to

our death

beds,

a slip

up at

work can

mean the

difference

between a

promotion or

a redundancy.

Words

said in

anger can

cause

divisions

between

friends and

families and

governments and

churches.

Sometimes there

is a refusal

to forgive

because the

hurt is just

too deep.

Sometimes guilt

is carried

because we

think that

my sin

is just

too big to

be forgiven.

And so

day after

day,

week after

week,

and year

after year

after year,

we carry

the guilt

and it

just festers

away in

bitterness.

And into

our world

of sin

and carnage

and evil

and guilt

comes

Jesus.

He

announced

that despite

the unforgiving

nature of

much of

our world,

God is in

the business

of offering

us a

clean slate.

And so

Jesus has been

authorized to

announce it

and to

make good

on it.

no matter

how great

the sin,

even the

sin of

planning and

executing the

greatest terrorist

atrocity in

human history,

even that

sin,

it is

possible to

find complete

forgiveness in

Jesus even

for that.

And so

if you've

come here

tonight

paralyzed by

sin and

guilt,

you need to

know that

Jesus is in

the business

of forgiving

it,

of giving

you a

clean slate.

And so

turn to

Jesus for

forgiveness

and walk

out here a

new person.

Amen.