Both, And
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Mark 2:1 - 12
August 21, 2011
David C. Wright

          A couple years ago on a Mexico mission trip, I was looking forward to our final worship service with the congregation, when the pastor of the church there came by and informed me that I would be preaching that night!  I was shocked.  I hadn’t prepared anything, so I had to do a lot of nervous scrambling at the last minute.  Since then, I’ve come prepared every year, and this year I wrote a sermon before I left Gettysburg.  Unfortunately, as we worked and lived in Chochola, it became clear to me that what I had prepared wasn’t the right sermon for that time and place.  So, I quickly outlined a different sermon while lying in my hammock during siesta time and I preached that one.  I’ve reworked that sermon for this morning, because I believe it is a good fit for our congregation here, too.  I apologize to the Mexico mission participants here today, because they’ve already heard the sermon twice- once in English and once in Spanish.  Perhaps you all can entertain yourselves by looking for the changes I’ve made in it!  The sermon deals with two things that occupied much of Jesus’ ministry, and that should shape our own ministry.
          The Scripture lesson in Mark 2 takes place in Jesus’ hometown of Capernaum, early in his ministry, a time when he was very popular.    When (Jesus) returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.  So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door;  and he was speaking the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2)  Jesus must have been a gifted, powerful  speaker.  Everywhere he taught, great crowds came to hear him.  Part of what made people want to hear Jesus was that he was so unpredictable!  You never knew what might happen when he was teaching!  That’s the case in this story.
          Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.” (Mark 2:3-4)
          The man couldn’t walk.  We don’t know why.  Perhaps he was born that way.  Perhaps he had been injured.  Perhaps he developed a disease.  But he couldn’t walk.  Fortunately, he had friends.  Good friends.  They had heard about Jesus’ ability to heal, so they brought their friend to him.  Unfortunately, they met a serious obstacle.  So many people were gathered around Jesus, that they couldn’t get their friend to him.  So they used a little creativity.  They climbed the outside staircase to the flat roof of that Palestinian home, figured out where Jesus was inside the house, and dug through the roof above him.  Roofs in those days were made of mud and brush stuck between the roof beams, so it wouldn’t have been hard to do this.
          Still, it must have been quite a surprise inside when it began raining dirt and sticks, and the bright Middle Eastern sun began shining through the roof into the house!  Then they lowered their friend in front of Jesus.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.”  (Mark 2:5)  Say what?  What a strange thing to say!  It was obvious that this man needed physical healing, but instead, Jesus offers him spiritual healing- forgiveness of his sins.  Now we all need forgiveness of our sins, but that’s not what this man and his friends were after!  Nonetheless, that’s what Jesus gave him.  Then things really got strange!
“Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way?  It is blasphemy!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” Mark 2:6,7)
          The religious leaders were offended.  Only God can forgive sins, they say.  And they’re right!  Ultimately we sin against God and ultimately, only God can forgive our sins.  In claiming to forgive this man’s sins, Jesus was putting himself on par with God.  That is blasphemy, as the religiously leaders pointed out.  No wonder they were angry.  I think all of us would have been shocked.  Who does this guy think he is?
 “At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves;  and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk?’  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’- he said to the paralytic- ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’  And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’” (Mark 2:8-12)
          What a great ending!  Jesus puts those doubting, skeptical, impossible-to-please religious leaders in their place, doesn’t he?  And his visible miracle of physical healing demonstrates that he has the power and authority to do the invisible, spiritual work of forgiveness.  Jesus has the ability to heal both body and soul.  That’s the main point of the story- that Jesus, as God in the flesh, has the authority to forgive sin- even your sins and mine.
          But this morning I’d like to talk about another point made by this story- the fact that Jesus cared for both physical and spiritual needs of the people he encountered.  He cared for physical needs in the many healings he did, and when he fed 5,000 people using a few loaves of bread and a couple fish.  Clearly, Jesus cared about people’s physical needs.  He also cared for their spiritual needs, when he taught about forgiveness, gave hope to downtrodden people, taught people how to have a relationship with his Father, and promised that God was beginning to restore his creation to the way it was intended to be.  Jesus cared for both physical and spiritual needs of people.
          And as his followers, we are called to do the same.  To address physical needs in our community and throughout the world- needs for housing, access to clean water, education, agriculture, and medical care to name just a few.  We are also called to address the spiritual needs of people, by proclaiming the Good News that God loves us as we are and wants to be in relationship with us, and that God invites us to join in his project of creating a better world characterized by justice and love which he calls the Kingdom of God.  As followers of Jesus we are called to meet both physical and spiritual needs.
          Unfortunately, some of our churches do the spiritual ministry part very well, but neglect meeting the physical needs of people.  Other churches, including most mainline churches like us Presbyterians, have done an excellent job of meeting physical needs of people, but have stumbled when it comes to meeting spiritual needs.  In fact, many of us here today lack the ability to talk about our faith simply with others.  Because this is such a vital part of Christian living, I’ll be leading a course Monday nights this October on “How to Share Your Faith.”  I hope you’ll come.
          The Presbyterian Church in Mexico, however, does a good job at meeting both physical and spiritual needs of their communities.  They have a real passion for sharing their faith with others, and church members do this routinely.  They are also involved with housing ministries and education.  This ability to do both spiritual and physical ministry is one way in which we can learn from our brothers and sisters there! 
          As a follower of Jesus Christ, how are you helping to meet the physical of people?  What are you doing practically to help? 
Are you helping with community organizations such as LIU, mentoring programs, the soup kitchen, Survivors, Circles, shelters, and jail ministry, to name a few?  Or, you could plan now to go on a mission trip next year.  You might even consider doing some kind of extended mission service.  That can be an excellent option for young people graduating high school or college, and for retirees.
          And what are you doing to help meet the spiritual needs of people?  Are you looking for opportunities to share your faith, to bring hope and healing to situations around you?  At home?  At work?  Here at church?
          Doug Rhodes, a businessman from the Vienna Church, oversees our eyeglasses ministry in Mexico.  This year we set up in the town plaza and had lots of “drop-ins”- in fact, we had more people than we were able to help.  One evening, long past the time we had designated to stop distributing the glasses, an obviously drunk man reeled up to the front of the line, wanting glasses.  Several local Christians attempted to steer him away, but Doug said, “No. Let him come.”  It was very difficult to properly assess his vision, given his inebriated condition, but Doug worked quite a while with him and was able to get him glasses that helped him a great deal.  When Doug told us about this experience, he said that he did it, because when he looked into the face of that man, he saw the face of Jesus.  And he didn’t want to turn Jesus away.

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