Reverend Ref +

Sermon
Epiphany 7B
Mark 2:1-12

God says through Isaiah, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Through Jesus, God is doing a new thing. Through Jesus, people are drawn to God, they are healed, cleansed and made whole, and they rejoice in that new life.

The gospel readings from the past few weeks bear this out. “What is this? A new teaching, with authority.” The healings of Joyce (remember Peter's mother-in-law?), the leper and the paralytic. Yes, these were miraculous healings, but Mark is using these miracle stories to demonstrate the authority of Jesus and the power of God.

That healing power manifests itself in different ways. When Joyce was healed, she began serving, or ministering, to the others around her. The leper went out into the community and proclaimed to all who would listen that Jesus made him clean. And today the community of witnesses began to glorify God because of what Jesus had done.

These are exciting times. God is doing something new, do you not perceive it? People are being cleansed and healed. People are being drawn into God’s loving embrace. People are proclaiming the gospel and the community of the faithful, our community, is growing.

Still, I can’t help but wonder . . . Yes, this gospel is about faith and people clamoring to get to Jesus, and that’s all well and good. As you know, one of the things I like to do is to put a different spin on things in a way that might get you to think about your personally comfortable interpretations – I like to challenge you occasionally. So today, I might do just that.

Mark has often been described as an extended prologue to the Passion. The focus of this gospel is Christ’s passion, and all of the stories Mark tells set us up for that. We are getting into the Markan controversies, stories that show Jesus becoming less and less accepted by the religious leaders.

It begins quietly – the scribes questioned in their hearts. Notice that it isn’t the general populace who has trouble accepting Jesus; rather, it is the members of the religious establishment who are troubled. It is the religious orthodox who have trouble seeing that God is doing a new thing in the unorthodox methods of Jesus.

People are coming out to see and hear Jesus. Today they crowded around the house so that there was no room for them, not even in front of the door. This group of people includes the scribes. They want to make sure he isn’t preaching anything heretical, you know.

The result of all this crowding is that the door was blocked. The door into the house of Jesus was blocked! Think about that image for a moment. It was blocked by those seeking Jesus, certainly, but it was also blocked by those who got there first and by the religious authorities. It was blocked to the latecomers and it was blocked to those needing healing, both spiritually and physically.

Imagine, for a moment, Jesus preaching from a house that is surrounded by so many people you can’t get to the front door. And now imagine a paralytic being brought for healing, but he is prevented from doing so. The religious leaders won’t let him through. The other people who came early refuse to give up their place. He is effectively being told that he is not welcome.

There is, however, one group of people who are determined to get him in to see Jesus, and that is his friends. They may not be able to get through the front door, but that doesn’t mean that there are other, maybe even unorthodox, ways to get to Jesus. So they open up a hole in the roof and lower their friend down.

It would be easy to demonize and canonize the two groups. It would be easy to say that those blocking the door to the house of Jesus are more concerned with rules and with determining who can and who can’t have access to Jesus. It would also be easy to say that those outside of the religious establishment should be given access to Jesus and should be admired for their persistence – or as Jesus calls it, their faith.

But rather than demonize and canonize, I want to ask a series of questions. Where do you see yourself in this gospel? Are you part of the group that comes early to meet Jesus and get the good seats? Are you part of the religious establishment that wants to ensure we don’t break any rules? Or are you someone from the outside that is eager to do whatever it takes to get inside?

Can you be both? Can you be part of the group who came early, or part of the religious establishment, and yet be willing to make room for the outsider? Can you be an insider with the faith of an outsider?

God is doing something new, and if we are to perceive it, we must be willing to look at the gospel from all angles. Are you ready for where that might take you?