Sermon - The Rev. Leah D. Schade
Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA
Feb. 19, 2006
“Healing the Paralysis”
Texts:  Isaiah 43:18-25; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11; Mark 2:1-12

This story of Jesus healing the paralytic is one of the most interesting and dramatic of the healing stories in the Gospel of Mark.   It’s a story that raises two basic questions:  1)  What does it mean to be paralyzed?  And 2) How does God heal or free us from our paralysis?

Let’s start by thinking about this word, “paralysis.”   The dictionary provides two definitions of the word.  One is “Loss or impairment of the ability to move a body part, usually as a result of damage to its nerve supply.”

So being paralyzed, in one sense, means not being able to move.  This can happen because of physical injury, such as an accident, or internal injury, like a stroke. 

But the other definition is:  “Loss of sensation over a region of the body.”  This kind of paralysis means that you can’t feel, that there is  a loss of feeling.

On the surface of this story, it looks like there is just one person with paralysis  - the man on the stretcher.  But if we take a closer look at the characters in the story, we see that both kinds of paralysis are exhibited in many different ways.

Obviously, the man on the stretcher has both kinds of paralysis.  We don’t know how he became paralyzed.  We don’t know if he was born that way, if he was injured, or if there was some other kind of physical damage to his lower limbs.  We only know that he cannot move, and that he can’t get anywhere on his own. 

The second character in this story is actually the crowd gathered at the house.  The crowd exhibits both kinds of paralysis as well.  They do not move because they are so tightly packed in.  But they also exhibit the other kind of paralysis - lack of feeling.  They are paralyzed by their indifference to the man on the stretcher.  And if you can’t feel for someone, you are not “moved” to help them.  

In the meantime, we have the third set of characters -- the friends of the paralytic.  We don’t know their names.  We only know there were four of them.  And these are the kinds of people you want to have around you when you are paralyzed.  Because these are people of creativity and action.

They are not deterred when they encounter the indifference of the crowd.  They are not disturbed by the refusal to help.  Instead, they get to work, letting their creative juices flow.  They don’t see this situation as hopeless.  They see it as a challenge to overcome. 

They remind me of the kind of workers I’ve seen around this building over the past year.  Construction workers, who, when encountering a difficulty, put their heads together and find a way to solve it.  And all those volunteers who came in to help us move our offices, trying to fit unfittable pieces into unfittable spaces, and somehow finding a way to do it.

This kind of can-do attitude is so inspiring to me.  And apparently it was to Jesus as well.  Notice that the text says, “When Jesus saw their faith,” he forgave the sins of the paralytic.  It wasn’t the man’s faith that moved Jesus - it was the faith of his friends.  It was the kind of faith that can move mountains, and pull off roofs and dig through ceilings in order to get a person the help they need. 

But the scribes, the fourth set of characters,  did not see it this way.  And they also exhibit paralysis.  You see, all the while this act of faith is going on, they’re going on with what could be called analysis-paralysis.  That’s when you think yourself into inaction.  The crowds didn’t move because they didn’t think enough.  The scribes were paralyzed because they thought too much.  You can just imagine what was going on in their minds as they’re watching this whole scene unfold:

“Would you look at that, they’re up there cutting a hole in the roof.  Just look at the mess they are making.  Oh, I’m just covered in dust.  This simply will not do.”  Analysis paralysis. 

And it gets worse.  Because this leads to the worst type of paralysis - the paralysis of faith.  They watch the exchange between Jesus and the paralytic and they’ve got this internal dialogue going on in their hearts,:  “(Gasp) did you hear what Jesus just said?  He said the man’s sins are forgiven.  You can’t do that.  You can’t just declare someone free from sin, only God can do that.  Why that’s blasphemy - who does he think he is -- God?”

Well, now that you’ve brought it up, says Jesus, let me show you something.  So you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, man of paralysis, stand up, take up your mat and walk to your home.

And, where as the crowd was paralyzed before, now they have no trouble moving and clearing a path for this man.  The paralysis is unblocked.  Now they are overwhelmed with feeling.  Now they are falling all over themselves to move and make way for the newly healed man.

“We have never seen anything like this!” they say.  Because they recognize that a change has taken place - a change that is beyond anything they could have ever imagined.

This leads us to the second question I raised earlier.  Just how does God heal or free us from paralysis?  How does this miracle occur?

The temptation for a preacher when faced with a profound text like this is to moralize the story and make it all about us.   It would be very easy to say, “Now, don’t be like the crowd, ignorant and lacking compassion.  Don’t be like those scribes, legalistic and stubborn.  Do be like the four friends -- have a can-do attitude, and do whatever it takes to get people into this house to Jesus, and all will be well.”  That would be a neat and tidy way to end this sermon.

But real life is not that easy.  And willing ourselves to accomplish a perfect ideal does not always work out.  Sometimes even our most positive attitude and the most valiant effort to help people, or bring people to Jesus or at least get them to church, does not always meet with success. 

Because the truth is -- while we may have elements of the crowd and the scribes and the four friends within us at different times -- there is one character that we are really supposed to identify with  -- the paralytic.

This may seem strange to you at first, because most of us have never been paralyzed in the physical sense.  But even if you’ve never been the victim of legs that do not move, most of us, at one time or another, know what it’s like to be stuck, and be in a paralyzing situation.

You may know what I’m talking about.  When life’s circumstances have you blocked in on all sides, and there is no way out.  For whatever reason, you are rendered powerless, and you feel paralyzed, unable to move.  And when you are in that situation, it feels hopeless.  You know you should just be able to reach out to God and find the faith to get yourself moving again.  But it’s just not happening, and there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

That’s what the situation looked like from the paralytic’s point of view.  It seemed hopeless.  All the circumstances of the moment seemed to be working against him.  His legs wouldn’t work.  The crowds won’t move.  And Jesus, though so close - just right inside the door -- might as well be on the other side of the moon.  And there isn’t a darn thing he can do about it.

Even if you haven’t experienced this yourself, you probably know someone who has.  And maybe you’ve even tried to be like those four friends, and have done everything you can to help that person.  And you’re frustrated because they still seem to be stuck, no matter how hard you or they try.

I guess this story means something to me personally, because I knew someone who was paralyzed.   Some of you may know that one of my sisters, Ivy Jo, spent her life in a wheelchair.  Her legs did not work.  She was paralyzed.

And it was very frustrating to her family, to her friends, when we did try to help her.  Because no matter how hard we tried, no matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to change.  And I never understood why it was that way.  And it seemed like when we needed God the most, God seemed to be so far from us. 

But I had a moment of insight when I read this story this time around, trying to see to see it from the paralytic’s point of view. 

See, here’s the thing -- the man on the stretcher was probably terrified by what they were about to do, as he watched them cutting that hole in the roof.  When you are paralyzed, and someone tries to help you or move you, it can be the scariest experience of your life.

There were many occasions when Ivy Jo had to be physically lifted from her wheelchair, or lifted while still in her wheelchair.  And her worst fear was that someone would drop her, and she would fall.  

I know it was terrifying for her.  Because I had seen it happen to her.  She had been dropped.  She had fallen.  There is no worse feeling of vulnerability than putting your trust in someone to carry you, and then feeling yourself falling and your bones breaking.  You have no power.  No control over your own body.  You are completely at the mercy of others.

And yet, time and time again, she had to overcome this fear and allow herself to be lifted, carried, moved. 

My sister is no longer alive.  She died several years ago.  And the circumstances of her death still leave me with feelings of frustration and guilt.  At times, I have felt paralyzed by how things ended with her.  Sometimes it’s our relationships with the people closest to us that can be the most paralyzing.

But I also experienced a moment of release and hope as I read this story.  Because I realized that ultimately it takes a power outside of ourselves to bring about the healing, to grant forgiveness, and allow us to walk upright once again.

Because I saw that the very circumstances that seemed so hopeless were the very circumstances that opened the way for Jesus’ miracle to take place.  All the things that we would label as “bad” in this story, were all necessary ingredients.  All these things had to be in place, had to happen in order for the healing to occur. 

Every character was necessary.  Every person had their role to play.  Every person contributed in their own way to the miracle of Jesus.  The crowd blocking the door, the friends on the roof, the scribes questioning in their hearts, and especially the paralytic, were all together at that place at that time, and something miraculous happened.  There was tension, conflict, frustration, surprise and . . . Jesus.

You see, I think God can take even the most hopeless situation and transform it in a way that goes beyond even our imagination.  God can free the paralysis of this world in spite of our ignorance and complacency, in spite of our best efforts and failed attempts, in spite of our hardened hearts and paralyzed faith.  God uses it all to change us, to heal us. 

So even when I encounter those circumstances of my life that have me the most frustrated, the most paralyzed, that seem to make God feel so far away -- I have to remember that nothing is impossible for God.  It may be that those are the very circumstances that need to be in place in order for the healing to occur.  And that I may find myself in that very room looking up at Jesus speaking to me, and my sister, and my family, echoing the words from Isaiah: 

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 
[I will cut a hole in the roof and lower you down through the ceiling.] 

“The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches,
[the crowd of indifferent people, paralyzed by their ignorance and lack of compassion]. 

“For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert,
[healing to the paralyzed]
to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise . . .

“I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins .
[Your sins are forgiven.  Stand up, take up your mat and walk].”

Amen.