Roof Work | FOUNDRYsermon 3.4.18

When was the last time you realized you needed to stop what you were doing, reassess things and begin taking apart what you had previously done?

Sometimes reassessment is a drag. It means losing time, resources, materials, and many other things. Sometimes, we are so hard headed we think we need to keep on plowing forward and simply make it work. But that whole square peg round hole thing? Right?

Sometimes we need to be willing to tear off the top in order to get to the bottom of things.

That’s the lesson Jesus is sharing with us in this story.

 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.

18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, 19 but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 23 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[d] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” Luke 5:17-26

This is one of my earliest memories of Jesus stories. It looks great on the flannel graph in little kids Sunday School. It has a great message about friendship and support.

But what if that is only the beginning? 

This is a story full of firsts. It’s the first interaction in Luke between Jesus and the Pharisee’s. It’s the first time we see Luke start talking about faith, one of the major themes of his gospel. And we’ve got this perfect gospel story of the man with his friends bracketed by the larger conflict between Jesus, the Pharisees, and who people see Jesus as.

This is a story teaching us about how we relate to Jesus. It’s a story about how we relate to each other. It’s a story about how we relate and interact with the whole church.