Mark 2:1-12
Psalms 41
"We have never seen anything like this before." When have you said that before? What's the strangest thing you have ever seen? These hybrid animals are pretty strange......
but most of them are not real. These passages are about some pretty strange things, and we believe they are very real. The Psalms passage is talking about revenge repaid with kindness. When David was sick in some way--he blesses the poor, the simple folks. He may have been afraid of dying too young--many people do. We have recently felt this with the passing of Whitney Houston. So, who will bless those left behind? God. And who will bless the poor? God. And who will heal? God. And who will forgive sin? God. And who will help when things come along unexpectedly? God.
Proof of this happened just today. We arrived at church without any gas to heat the sanctuary, but that unexpected situation did not stop us from worshipping. We moved to the schoolhouse and worshipped there. We were especially thankful that God had provided this extra space and that it is on a separate heating system. With God, we were able to "rise above the reality"-knowing that God does provide help in many ways.
Sometimes, though, the help and healing can only come after forgiveness. Sometimes that's all you can do about a situation--ask or give forgiveness. That is becoming clear to us as the propane company reported back to us yesterday that the reason we did not have any gas is because SOMEONE HAS STOLEN THE COPPER PIPES that lead from the tank to the heaters. HOW TOTALLY SAD THAT SOMEONE HAS COST US HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS IN REPAIRS AND LOST PROPANE FOR A SMALL PROFIT MADE BY SELLING COPPER SCRAPS! and how ironic since we as a church recently discussed and prayed about this type of crime and how to stop it from happening in our state by making it difficult to sell at the recycling centers. How sad too since these people could have come to us as a loving and caring community and we would most likely have supported them with money and prayer. And everyone would have won in that situation. But now we are put in the situation of praying for a spirit of forgiveness. Yes, how ironic our God can be--this sermon was written before any of these events, but God chose to drive the point home with a very direct object lesson!
But back to the original sermon---Sometimes in a situation, you must agree to disagree and grow through that disagreement because you gain another perspective. You see, David is flawed. You may remember that he had one of his officers killed in battle just so he could sleep with his wife!! So, you may disagree that God should defend David against his enemies. But looking back over David's whole life, you will find more integrity than not. He admitted when he was wrong--he went to God for forgiveness. And in this Psalm, he is counting on God to remember the times when he showed integrity.
Much like the integrity of the characters in Mark's story. Jesus, we know, was a man of the greatest of integrity. This integrity, of course, shined through when the message He was preaching was made more relevent through His interaction with the paralytic. And yet, the scene did not unfold as one might expect. Before healing the man, Jesus unexpectedly forgave his sins. Who even knew he had any?
And how unexpected was it for dust to suddenly start falling from the ceiling and a hole begin to open up, not to mention a man being lowered down in front of Jesus? The integrity of this man's friends was unmatched--they certainly went the extra yard for him with a very strong belief that if they could get him to Jesus, then Jesus would heal him.
We could discuss the integrity (or lack thereof) of the scribes. They didn't expect Jesus to call on them to explain what they were thinking. But then again, they never expected anyone to forgive another's sins. To them, that was blasphemy. Would they agree to disagree? Would they grow in their perspective?
Only the people of the congregation got what they expected. They had come to see something miraculous. Much like the little boy on the tricycle watching Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible asked in exasperation, "Well, what are you waiting for?" and the boy responds, "I don't know. Something amazing, I guess." That is exactly what the people had come to see--something amazing. And they did! They probably didn't imagine it would happen just that way, but just as we can witness miracles today if we are looking for them, they probably recognized something wonderful was about to happen when they first saw the dust begin to fall.
And what about the last character in the story? Not sure who's left? YOU, the reader of the Word! What about your integrity when expecting God's actions. When you pray, do you really believe you will be answered? Do you watch for the unexpected way God will answer? Your answer may not be the one you thought you would get. Your prayers may lead to actions and events that take a while to get back around to you. We certainly didn't expect to get first-hand experience in copper theft when we were praying and talking about current events in our communtiy! But we know it will come back around to God's plan and His working in our lives and the lives of others out there that we do not even know, much like the healing of the man reached far past him and his friends and out to the scribes, the congregated people, and even to us--thousands of years in the future!
The consistent piece that can move through all of these audiences is integrity and love. We are left with sharing what we have gained through our reading and understanding. An understanding that can change with each reading of the story depending on your currect circumstances. An understanding that can offer hope to
others as we offer up the blessing and grace of unconditional love that can forgive anything and everyone, even those who have wronged us. And in that forgiveness comes the blessing for all as we begin to----
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!
No comments:
Post a Comment