Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity - October 18, 2009

The Church Season of Trinity
The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (October 18, 2009)

“Rise and Walk”

Readings:
Psalm 84
Genesis 28:10-17
Ephesians 4:22-28
Matthew 9:1-8

Sermon Form Deductive

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 9th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verse:

Matthew 9:1-8 (ESV)

1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Our Gospel lesson tells us that Jesus was, “getting into a boat and He crossed over and came to His own city.”(v. 1) There Jesus went to speak to a gathered crowd. St. Mark and St. Luke tell us that not only was this man was brought forth on a mat to see Jesus, the disabled man was lowered through the roof. By all accounts the man did not come to see Jesus under his own power, his friends brought him into the presence of Jesus Christ. And then the paralytic received something that he probably wasn’t looking for, because when those four people brought the paralyzed man to Jesus, Jesus did the unexpected. Jesus saw the faith of the men who carried the sick man and then Jesus spoke the words of forgiveness for the sins of the one stricken by paralysis.

Now, if you think about it, we aren’t really told all that much about the paralytic. But, we are told quite a few things about this miracle in eight short verses. We know the paralytic man rode a mat into that place of gathering. We know from the parallel accounts of St. Mark and St. Luke that his friends dug a hole in the roof to lower him closer to Jesus. We know at the end of the reading the paralytic is healed, and that he picks up his mat and goes home. We are told how the scribes reacted, that they thought the words of forgiveness were blasphemy. We are told how the crowd reacted to the miracle, “they were afraid, and they glorified God.” (v. 8) So, if you think about it, it’s really quite a mixed bag of people in that crowd, the faithful and the fearful, the indignant and the jubilant. And let us not forget that one who we think is the center of the reading ends up having no speaking part whatsoever.

Yet the person whom we would focus upon, the paralytic, is not the center of the reading. In fact, the paralytic receives God’s forgiveness through the direct Words of Jesus Christ. The paralytic is the recipient of God’s healing power as Jesus speaks directly to him and commands the paralytic to be healed. And by Jesus’ Word and command the healing is immediately accomplished.

Yet we still focus on the healed man rather than the healer. We ask to ourselves, “What is up with that sick man? Was he so stunned, or so rude, that he was able to healed from a horrible affliction, then pick up his mat and go home without ever thinking about saying anything to Jesus Christ?” Scripture doesn’t record a response, whether verbal or otherwise, so we are left to wonder how, or if it could be possible, that no simple thanks are offered in exchange for such a life changing event.

Life changing events happen to us all. I suppose many of us could relate to the healed man in scripture. Maybe we should give the poor man a break. Maybe he was just so stunned that he forgot to return thanks. One might argue it happened before, as we remember the 10 lepers whom Jesus healed? Remember only, ”15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.”

Maybe there is more to that paralytic man than meets our eyes. It has been said that, “The outward cure of the paralytic was both the image and the proof of the cure of his soul, which previously had been in a state of moral paralysis; but he himself represented another sufferer, i.e., the human race, which for ages had been a victim to the [paralysis] palsy of sin.” (Dom Prosper Gueranger, “The Liturgical Year” 11:405). Could it be that you and I are that man, whose morality is frozen and immobile? Could it be that you and I are the ones morally paralyzed unable to move ourselves away from the sin, distractions, evil that beguile us in this world? Maybe, just maybe it is truly us who are we are stuck immobile on that mat, woven by the strips of own sin, doubt, and worry? What if we were to contemplate, just for a moment that we are the ones who are paralyzed, unable to move by thoughts words or deeds, by what we have attempted to do and by what we have not attempted to do. Yes, so paralyzed that we are not only carried away by the actions, thoughts, words, and deeds of the all the other people in this world, but we are also so paralyzed that we can’t admit that we sin too? Will we admit that we are paralyzed just as much as that man on the mat?

We say, “Why no we’re not that man, we believe.” To that Martin Luther says to us, “We who have the Word at times do not believe and trust as firmly as those who do not have the Word. This is the devil’s doing, the result of original sin which causes us to be drawn away from the Word and the truth, toward believing the lie rather. In short it is the devil’s fraud and our flesh’s deception because our natures are so corrupted by original sin. When the Word is absent, we have faith galore; but when we have the Word, it is only with great difficulty that we ward off unbelief. That’s because our flesh and our reason want to have nothing to do with the Word; they are willing to believe only what they want to believe.”

Repent, for we are indeed that paralyzed man. In fact, we play the role of every character in this reading save one. We are that mixed bag of people in that crowd, the faithful and the fearful, the indignant and the jubilant, we are all of that curled up and laying upon the mat of our sinful lives. Oh were it to be easy to pick ourselves up off that mat. In the Old Testament lesson today, Jacob had a dream of a ladder into heaven, upon which the angels of God ascended and descended. But those were angels sent by God, not humans working their way up to heaven rung by rung. The poor unfortunate paralytic did not have that easy way to gain access to God in Christ Jesus. Neither do we.

But rejoice, for there is still one left in this reading, whose part we do not play. It is Jesus Christ who “came to take upon Himself our infirmities, and confer on us His grace;” Jesus Christ came, “to seek what is human, to give what is [us] the divine; to receive injuries, and return them with honors; to suffer affliction, and bring healing to others. For the physician who does not suffer infirmities knows not how to cure infirmities. And he who is not weak with the weak cannot bring health to the weak.” Had Christ remained with God in heaven, He “would have had nothing in common with [us] men. And unless He conformed to the way of life of our body, His taking upon the [flesh] would [also] have been in vain. He therefore shared our necessities, that by these human needs He might be proved a true man and offer us divine mercy and help." (St Peter Chrysologus)

Jesus Christ, true man and true God takes upon Himself all your infirmities, your sickness, your worries, your doubt, and all your sin. Jesus Christ took all that from you and took it to the cross with Him where He granted to all who would believe the promise of eternal life. We were born laying paralyzed before God, in your baptism the Water combined with God’s Word, lifted you up and made you well. In the crucifixion Christ gave His body and shed His blood which are poured out for you as a drink offering. In Holy Communion you eat His true body, you drink His true blood and Christ the Word speaks to you, He says, “your sins are forgiven.”(v. 5) Jesus heals our paralysis. Jesus has come unto you, Jesus will come again to you. One day when you close your eyes to this sin sick world, you will see Jesus. Jesus Christ will come to you and say to you, “Rise, pick up your bed,”(v. 6) you are now home, “Rise and walk”(v. 5) and you will join Him and a heavenly crowd glorifying God forever and ever more.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
+SDG+