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