Mark 2:1-12 & Mark 9:2-9
For the last month we’ve been hearing one story after another about Jesus traveling from village to village, town to town, offering healing to the sick. The crowds that gather around him are getting larger and larger. Just look at the story we’ve just heard at the beginning of the service. The crowd surrounding the house is so large that in order to reach him those four people carry their paralyzed friend up onto the roof, cut a hole in the adobe or the thatch or the tiles, and lower him down on a stretcher to where Jesus is. It’s a wonderful story, not just Jesus seeing the paralyzed man needing help, but also that he was moved by the faith of the four friends who brought him.
I love picturing the scene. Jesus is in the house talking to a crowd that is jammed into every square inch of space, and then there is the rustling sound up above, then bits and pieces of the ceiling begun to drop down to the floor, some larger chunks fall, and people back away from the debris, and as the dust clears they all see that stretcher being
lowered down, feet first, to end up in front of Jesus. Try to imagine the look on Jesus’ face as this happens. I’m going to guess that his expression showed worry and concern about the paralyzed man, but also amazement and delight because of the extra effort of these four friends.
Think for a moment of an extraordinary thing that a friend has done for you, and an extraordinary thing that you have done for a friend. It takes me about three seconds to answer those questions: when I went with my friend Gary who was dying of cancer on his last journey to the wilderness at the bottom of his beloved Grand Canyon, and then a return trip to the same place with his cremated remains after he had died. And three seconds more to remember the incredible love and support shown by all of my friends after my terrible car accident in 2009. You all have similar stories, I know.
Then think about how Jesus notices acts of friendship like this, and, again, picture the look on his face as they happen. The extraordinary things that friends do for each other draw the attention of Jesus. It’s not that we have to call Jesus’ attention to anything, really, but when he sees acts of friendship he knows he has something good to work with, something good to build upon.
What really stands out for me in this story is that the paralyzed man never says a single word to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t ask him about what he needs or what he believes, or what he knows or understands about Jesus. All he needs to know is that those friends did an incredible thing to bring the paralyzed man down to him through the hole in the roof.
As we gather at the Lord’s Table this morning we remember those four friends, and how wonderful it is to have friends in faith, the people we help when they need it, and the ones who help us when we need it. Jesus invites friends like these, friends like you and me, to the table to celebrate the love, care and peace of God.
Make no mistake, this table experience is not about remembering God from long ago, or talking about God as if God is not actually in the room. This table is an intersection, an encounter, an interaction, an experience of the living God, the living God who gets involved, who takes initiative, who reaches out to you in the present moment, not just to touch you in passing, but to hold on to you with love beyond measure.
You may not have figured out yet exactly what the bread and cup represent or why they are so important in our divided and confused world. But, at the very least, try this – try picturing the look on Jesus’ face when he sees you and your friends approaching the table. Imagine his amazement that you are here, picture his delight for the people you are with, feel his kind regard and his high hopes for you, and know that he has something to offer you today, right now: an experience of the living God.
The story of Jesus on the mountain in the 9th chapter is one of the strangest stories in the Gospels, whether you read it in Mark, Matthew or Luke. It is one of the strangest stories no matter the translation you read, the King James, the New Revised Standard Version, the Message, or any of the others. Jesus and a few of his disciples climb that mountain, and at the top they see him in a way they’ve never seen him before, shining brighter than anything they’ve ever seen. They’ve known him as a teacher and as a healer, but now it is obvious that there is so much more. They’ve barely scratched the surface of who Jesus is.
All of these stories of Jesus offering healing have drawn crowds wherever he goes, and the crowds are getting larger. This story from the mountaintop opens our eyes to what is really going. Yes, the teaching is compelling, and the healing amazing, but what is really going on is that in Jesus our God is a living God eager to touch your life, not just on the surface, but at the core. The living God is not just a warm feeling or an old memory, but a powerful experience in the present moment.
Now the traditional thing to be said at this point, the end of my sermon is “Amen”. But today I’m going to offer that sentiment in contemporary language. Here it is: WOW!
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