Forgiveness and new life……..
It was a striking picture. It
was in a Bible I had at the age of six or seven, which had pictures in it. Maybe you’ll remember
it yourself…. it is a picture of the inside of that house in
The picture is from the famous
passage we read in Mark 2 about the healing of the man who was paralysed. We go on to read there, that Jesus, seeing
the faith of the friends of the paralytic says to the man on the mat – My son, your sins are
forgiven.
a few
minutes later Jesus says
I tell you, get up, pick up your mat and go home’ and the man gets
up and goes home.
Now, there is much in this
passage that Mark wants us to see. But this morning, we look at only two of
them: What was wrong with the paralysed
man and the Forgiveness Jesus offers.
What’s wrong with the paralysed man ?
Well, it seems kind of
obvious………. he is paralysed……..
But down through the long
centuries there have been many opinions about this……
some
have thought he was suffering simply from a paralysis which was the effect or
after-effect of a severe illness….. others have
thought that he was paralysed because of something in his lifestyle…. alcoholism for example……
But one explanation perhaps
makes more sense than others – That what paralyses this man is guilt. At the
heart of the matter it may be that he is shouldering the blame for some great
sorrow, or mistake, or
loss, for which he is responsible…..
This is a man who shows many
of the signs of being burdened by guilt.
The television and the
newspapers these days love to track down someone who is guilty.
It might be a manager
responsible for the Child Support Agency,
where
none of the computers work and the systems are in chaos.
It might be a director
responsible for the wrong decisions that led to the collapse of a multi-million
pound company.
Or – a surgeon
who after years of untiring and caring work in a major hospital makes one
mistake, overlooks one vital thing in a patient’s diagnosis…….
The television and the
newspapers these days love to track down someone who is guilty
and
capture through the camera lens - the
guilty man or woman leaving by a side entrance, or a back door….
Now,
of course, life being what it is – there are some people who will deny
responsibility for anything that went wrong. But for others what has happened,
what they have done, brings with it a great burden of
guilt.
A
thing done on impulse may bring years of sorrow.
Perhaps
a moment’s lost concentration led to a tragedy.
An
honest mistake led to huge and unforeseen consequences.
And
along with it all a great burden of guilt.
Is it
this guilt that afflicts the paralysed man ?
Well
of course, the Gospel doesn’t go into details, and the man himself doesn’t
speak.
But
this does make sense of what happens in Mark’s gospel.
The
man brought by his friends, is motionless, silent, lifeless.
He has
the look of a man whose life is ruined – paralysed by guilt.
But now ! Mark tells us that Jesus can see into the hearts and
minds of the teachers of the law…. who are there……
So
then – can He not see into the very heart and soul of the paralysed man ?
and it is at this very moment that Jesus
declares to this
suffering human being – Son your sins are
forgiven !
A terrible
burden falls away from the man, and within a few moments he takes up his mat
and walks home, restored. Yes, there may
be those in his home village, or somewhere in
but
the man who was once paralysed now knows through the word of Jesus that once
and for all
he is forgiven.
Forgiveness, this is the second significant thing here in Mark’s
gospel.
The teachers of the law are really very
unhappy about these words of Jesus.
Why, they say, does this
fellow talk like that ?
For the
teachers of the law – Jesus is a human being who does not, cannot have the
power, the right, to forgive sins, because only God can do that.
But, you see in the very first verse of his
gospel, Mark has already declared that this, this gospel, this good news is
about Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.
Who is the
One who says, Son, your sins are forgiven,
to the paralysed man ?
Mark has already made it
clear. He is the Eternal Son, who has come among us as Jesus of Nazareth, and
therefore has the all commanding authority, and the creative power to forgive
sins.
So what of ourselves ?
We are not
in
not lying on a
mat,
Where would we hear, where do we hear those words
Your sins are forgiven you
?
Well, at the
cross of Jesus Christ God declares to us
Your sins are forgiven..........
The cross of
Jesus Christ is God’s word to us,
Your sins are forgiven..........
The very
centre of forgiveness and life is in Jesus Christ is to be found
at the cross
this is the very
heart of the good news
at the cross of
Jesus Christ God says
Your sins
are forgiven,
and to hear those
Words of God, to drink them in,
to hold them
close, to cherish them,
to hear the
message of forgiveness is
to know the burden
of guilt loosed, taken away.........
At the cross
of Jesus Christ, the word of God is
Your sins
are forgiven.......
Christ knows
the human heart and saw in that man long ago the burden of guilt,
so, this is why
Jesus says to him...............Take heart
son - your sins are forgiven.
And for this
man new life begins,
the indescribable
burden of guilt lifted,
the anguish of
remorse soothed,
And Christ
knows us through and through, he knows our very heart and soul, he knows the
burdens we carry.
This message
is not a sideline, a an extra added on,
it echoes and re
echoes through the pages of the New Testament
God so loved the world,
says John’s gospel, that He gave His only Son, that everyone
who believes in Him may not die but have everlasting life……
There is now, no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus, says
Paul.
And there is
no condemnation because we are forgiven.
The cross of
Jesus is our peace, our life,
for God has
forgiven us there, and has restored us to Himself. And so the
healing power of God, of the love of Jesus Christ pours into our own lives, and
works its way through, taking away our guilt, restoring us, restoring us to the
life that the Father intends.
And like the
paralysed man, we walk again, we become whole.
Perhaps
others do not know, cannot know the burdens that we each carry
the burdens of
guilt, of regret, of sorrow, remorse.
But Jesus
Christ does, and His word to us is,
Take heart, your sins are forgiven.
AMEN