Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
February 20, 2000
The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN? WHAT SINS?
The Rev. William A. Kolb

Gospel: Mark 2:1-12

Son, your sins are forgiven. Now rise, you are healed.
In that order. That is the heart of today's Gospel reading.
Forgiveness, then healing.

Lots of preachers and Gospel commentators are very uncomfortable with one of the more obvious implications of this: that illness, paralysis, even early death, are caused by sin. Which of course means that if we are good we will be healthy. And if we hurt our neighbor or steal or murder, we
will get sick.

They say, of course that's not the way it works. Sin does not cause illness. People may have believed it back then (as in "what caused this man's blindness-- the sins of his parents or his own sins?). But we enlightened, educated, technologically brilliant folks do not believe such superstition.

Several things to think about here: first, the order. That is, first the forgiveness, then the healing. Sometimes we do need to be forgiven before we can be healed, because our lives can be paralyzed by sin. I am less than I can be -- part of me is not fully "alive," functioning at its fullest -- when I am living with sin -- my own guilt, or justification of that for which I should and need to feel guilt, etc. In that sense I would say that sin does bring paralysis, and repentance/forgiveness frees that part of me to have a chance to become fully alive, a chance to have the abundant life of which Jesus speaks as his hope for each of us

So Jesus forgives first, then heals. But surely we are not saying that every healing requires forgiveness first, or are we? We are not saying that sin causes physical illness, are we?

Well, there are some kinds of illness that do require forgiveness before we can experience healing. Healing of our spirit, for example. Some healing does not necessarily cure a physical ailment, but that nonphysical healing can be more important. A paralyzed person can remain paralyzed physically but can be healed in such a way that she no longer sees her infirmity as a curse, no longer feels that she has been singled out for suffering; she can be given peace of mind and spirit and rejoice at God's goodness and still not be able to walk.

We can surely be healed without being cured. But that kind of healing of the spirit requires us to let go of our anger, let go of our guilt, let go of our hiding of sins. We need cleansing and forgiveness before we can be healed.

But actually Jesus did cure the paralyzed man. After Jesus healed, him the man was able to walk. And the cure came after he was forgiven his sins. That would suggest that we need to be forgiven our sins before we can be healed.

But maybe there is another reason that Jesus right off the bat talked about the man's sins and forgave him. Not because that was a prerequisite to physical healing, but because Jesus just knew the man was a sinner -- as we all are-- and yearned for forgiveness, as we all do.

Perhaps Jesus spoke first about the man's sins because he knows that every man -- every person -- falls into sin because that is the human condition.

That doesn't sound good. That you and I, that each of us is a sinner. But wait-- just what do we mean when we say that? A very telling definition of sin is self-centeredness. As human beings we are by nature self-centered rather than other-centered. We have a strong survival instinct. We see the world through our own eyes, which is why it is sometimes difficult to see a situation through someone else's eyes, someone who has a different view than we have. It is instinctive to watch out for number one.

But as we grow and learn, as we fall or fail and experience pain, we often become more open to God's truth, to God's presence and influence. As we grow through life, our values and priorities change. We begin to know that we are not alone in this life, that the welfare of others has its effect on our lives.

Even though as human beings we are always potentially capable of great sin, when we allow God's light to shine on us and in us, we have a chance to become more and more other-centered.

The fact remains that we are all sinners, and we have to be open to God's influence in order not to be under the control of our own natural self-centeredness. Jesus implied that we are by nature in a state of sin when he said to those who were about to stone the woman taken in adultery, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

So maybe Jesus said to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven, just because he knew that the man was a sinner because the man was human, and not necessarily because the man's paralysis was caused by sin.

We never totally lose all of our self-centeredness. We are always potentially a sin waiting to happen. But the process of sanctification can bring wonderful change. Other-centeredness is a gift from God that changes our lives. The four men in this story were blessed with it:other-centeredness. They cared so much about their paralyzed friend that they went to a lot of trouble to help him. And they were men of some faith -- their hope and trust that Jesus could heal was strong enough for them to go to all that trouble, to risk the anger of their fellow townspeople as they cut into line, so to speak, to damage the roof of a house that may have been Jesus' house himself (note the first line of this morning's reading: "and when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home."

One last point: This healing was a gift to the paralyzed man, a gift of pure grace. He did nothing to get himself healed. He was entirely passive throughout the story. He does not come to Jesus on his own, he is brought. It is not even his faith that gets him healed. He may not have had any faith at this time. He may have been living a life of despair. But the man is cured because of the faith of his friends. Can we be healed by God through the faith of others?

Any one of us can get to where we need the faith of others. Have you ever found yourself so angry, or so scared, or so discouraged that you could not have faith in God's being able to help you? I have. I think we all go through times like that. Sometimes when we are so overwhelmed by what life has tossed at us and we find that we cannot muster any kind of confession of faith, is it possible that the community can do it for us? Think of people in what is known as the anger stage of grief. Sometimes they have neither the capacity nor the inclination to turn to God so -- in those moments -- their faith community does it for them, just as these four men did it for their paralyzed friend. And to be other-centered like they were, for us to be that way is actually a gift to us, really, a life-giving expansion of our humanity. To be a person for others is the most freeing thing that can happen to us.

I have seen time and again this wonderful phenomenon, when someone in the community is down, his or her friends rally round to lift them up. It may be in the form of intercessory prayer, or food taken to the person's home, or sending a card or calling them, or being a social activist on behalf of the powerless -- whatever it is, you and I have seen it here and in many faith communities -- just as we see it in the four friends in today's Gospel reading.

So, what do we learn this morning from Jesus and the paralyzed man and his friends?

• To be human is to be less than perfect, a sinner.
• We all have need to be forgiven.
• Sometimes we can be ill -- spiritually, emotionally or physically-- because we are in need of forgiveness.
• There is nothing that cannot be forgiven.
• We can sometimes be forgiven through the love of others.
• We can grow and live a fuller life by living for others.

Amen.

Copyright 2000 Calvary Episcopal Church

Gospel: Mark 2: 1-12
When he 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. 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. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 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?" 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!" NRSV

[back to top]