March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday
And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.
You know the drill, you call a 1 800 number and then you wait. A recorded message comes on, then you wait again. If you are lucky, you get relaxing music, but sometimes it is downright annoying. You wait some more. You are connected to your phone, immobilized by the waiting. You may try to multitask and check emails, but you are paralyzed by not being able to move on until someone answers your call. Of course, I am talking about calling customer service for just about anything. I had that experience and it felt like I was stuck in this holding pattern. Paralyzed.
You might think paralyzed, why are we talking about that on Palm Sunday when everything is about moving, about a parade. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, flanked by cheers and celebrants.
Our healing story is the inverse of a palm waving parade. Instead, we have a few friends carrying a paralyzed man to see Jesus. His friends brought him to Jesus to be healed, and their faith is seen, recognized. Support from companions can make all the difference in our lives.
Wilma didn’t get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked, partially paralyzed, and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls basketball team, but didn’t make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, but she could not have made it without the help of her friends (Isaiah Mustafa, sermons.com).
People in our lives can make all the difference. The companion’s efforts to help the man reminds me that sometimes we get to have faith for those in our midst, when their faith might be waning. Waning because of grief, waning from illness, waning from isolation. We don’t know about the man’s faith, much like we don’t know how a person’s faith is holding up during a trying time. But that is why we get to be like his companions who carry the one in need when he might be paralyzed. Our community, St. Andrew Church, holds the faith, makes the journey, brings meals, when church members find it hard to move. We get to carry them with our prayers and compassion. We get to be the companions carrying them towards healing. Bringing them to Jesus.
Once the paralyzed man is in Jesus’ presence, the focus shifts. Instead of healing him, Jesus declares his sins forgiven! Throughout Lent we have been looking at miracles and Jesus’ healing on many levels. But here Jesus connects miracles to the forgiveness of sins. When questioned by the scribes, Jesus asks which is easier to say, “Yours sins are forgiven, or stand up and walk?” Both would be impossible without God’s power. Both are miraculous. Yet forgiving sins was thought to be blasphemous. So, Jesus who is empowered by God, miraculously does one, while declaring the other. You see Jesus does the miracle that can be seen, the visible miracle, healing the paralyzed man. Forgiving his sins would be an invisible miracle and one that would be hard to demonstrate.
This invisible miracle, forgiving sins is a precursor for our salvation! We may never be blind, or mute, or hemorrhaging, but we all have sins. We all need the healing of God’s forgiveness. Jesus in this moment with the paralyzed man is showing the miracle that we all receive from God through Jesus: healing of our soul, forgiving our sins. If we see sin as the thwarting of life, the fragmentation of community, the creation and deepening of division then we need forgiveness. Our nation is crying out Hosannah, Save us! as we move through this time. “There are innumerable people throughout the world who are stuck in the mire of physical and mental illness, addiction, depression, economic hardship, discrimination, violence and a litany of paralyses that is too long to rehearse here” (Feasting on Matthew p. 223). Thankfully, we have a Lord who sees our paralysis and helps us.
“Not only can Jesus cure us from physical ailment, Jesus can heal us from sin. There is nothing we can do or say, nothing in the realm of humanity, that is beyond the saving grace of Jesus. And this too is the story of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem, heading toward death on the cross. There is nothing, even death, that keeps us from God’s love” (Worship Design Studio, Marcia McFee).
The miracle here is Jesus forgiving your sin. Think of a time when you were burdened with guilt, a time your sin felt heavy. You had done something that you knew in your heart was not what God wanted. You felt broken and you longed to be made whole, like we have sung each and every week of Lent.
Now think of a time when someone forgave you for a wrong you committed. How did you feel? Relieved? Unburdened? Maybe even unparalyzed like you want to dance for joy? This story teaches us that there is a connection between our sense of sin and the paralysis we carry. The beauty, the wonder, is that God relieves us of both!! Jesus grants us a new life in Him. Jesus is making us holy and making us whole. This does not mean we become stronger, rather we are made whole in our weakness.
The healing story from Matthew, is about community, forgiveness, and transformation. We have spoken about two “parades.” One is someone being carried on a stretcher and the other a man on a donkey. Both could be perceived as “weak” and yet what we learn is there is much strength here. And there is much courage (Marcia McFee).
May we as people who sense our brokenness and are being healing by our faith, be people who can help carry fellows in our community when they need Jesus. May we be strengthened by our own weakness being made whole, so that we can have the courage to show compassion to those who we bring to Jesus. So that together we can be “filled with awe and glorify God” for the blessing of grace and forgiveness that we know in Christ.
God’s gift of forgiveness is original and prior to the foundation of the world as we know it. James Alison writes, “In this sense, the foundation of the Church is nothing other than the efficacious revealing of the forgiveness of sin, which is itself our only way back to God’s original plan for us.” God’s original plan for us is our full flourishing as a new creation” (Feasting on Matthew, 222). But at times we need help because we are paralyzed. Then our courageous friends carry us to our Lord, to the source of our healing and hope. That is what church is. A community where we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, see our weakness, our brokenness, and have courage to help bring people to our Lord. To Jesus Christ, the forgiver of sins and the healer of our soul.
Amen.
