For the next few weeks, we will be reading from the gospel of Mark. Mark’s gospel is the shortest and probably the first to be written down. Mark doesn’t contain any birth narrative. Mark begins with Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus called the first disciples from their fishing nets and then then he began to teach and heal.
In Mark 2:1-22 news about Jesus was already starting to build. Jesus came home to Capernaum, maybe hoping for a bit of rest and still, the crowds of people found him there. The house filled up and people were crowding around outside the door. So, imagine the crowd filling the house and spilling out into the yard. Then there’s a bit of commotion as someone arrives to be healed. This person is being carried on a mat and with all the jostling and the crowd, there’s no way they will get to Jesus. Their friends climb up on the roof, dig through the mud and thatch, and make a hole big enough to lower the stretcher through.
Jesus saw the faith of the friends who had brought the paralyzed person and declared, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” It is interesting that Jesus begins not with a physical examination of symptoms but with the spiritual. Our spiritual lives shape the way we experience the world. Our spiritual lives shape our behaviour and—to a certain extent—our physical health. In Jesus’ time, the common belief was that any physical ailment was the direct result of sin—either their own or their parent’s sin. The religious scholars would have believed that only God could forgive sins and that the priests—and the proper temple sacrifices—were the vehicles through which sins are forgiven.
In that moment, Jesus put himself in direct conflict with the scholars. He isn’t saying he is God. He is taking authority for forgiveness of sins out of the hands of the priests. Forgiveness is no longer strictly the domain of the temple and the priests. Forgiveness belongs to God’s people. Jesus’ actions directly threaten the power of the priests and the structure of the society.
But there’s more to this than just threatening the authority of the temple. For us, the priority would be healing the body but for Jesus’ listeners what would make a real difference was being restored to the community. Being associated with sin meant being an outcast in the community. Without the forgiveness of sins, the person on the stretcher remains an outcast. This person had people in their life who cared enough to risk their own social standing to see their friend restored. They wanted their friend to be part of the community again and so they carried their friend to Jesus. What kept the person isolated was not the physical ailment but the sin that was assumed to cause the ailment. That’s where Jesus started.
Jesus started with the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is somewhat nebulous. There’s no way of outwardly knowing whether sins have been forgiven. I have things in my own life that I thought I had figured out and let go of, that come back again as a pattern which I have to address again. Forgiveness of ourselves and others isn’t necessarily a one-time event. It is often a process. There is no way Jesus can prove the person’s sins are forgiven. In theory, the person on the mat cannot be a part of the community until the priests say their sins are forgiven and they have done the necessary rituals to be restored to the community. Jesus can say that God forgives the sin but there’s no way of proving that.
But outwardly, Jesus can prove that a physical ailment has been healed. He tells the paralyzed person to pick up their mat and go home. They roll off the mat, stand up, pick up the mat and head out the door. The physical healing is a sign of Jesus’ authority to act for God. It is a sign that the priests and the temple authority are no longer the only access to God, forgiveness and the restoration to community.
Jesus continues creating controversy. He goes out for a walk along the lake, but he is surrounded by people the whole time. He walks past the tax office and invites Levi to follow him. They go to Levi’s house and there his co-workers and colleagues have gathered. The tax collectors were considered traitors by most of their community. They collected taxes for the Roman empire and took a profit over and above what they were required to collect. When Jesus eats with Levi and his friends, he is gathering with a group of people who are disconnected from their community. There were very strict rules within Jewish society about eating with those outside the community.
And again, the scholars are annoyed. Jesus has stepped out of bounds yet again. The scholars challenge Jesus and he responds: “People who are healthy don’t need a doctor; sick ones do. I have come to call sinners, not the righteous.” Jesus is addressing the spiritual illness that allows the tax collectors to profit from the occupation of their community and the oppression of the Roman empire.
There is a stereotype of church people that we are all good, we have our lives together, and we’re all very nice people. If that were true, Jesus wouldn’t be hanging out with us. Jesus would be hanging out with the people outside the church who know that their lives are a mess and often feel unworthy and unwelcome in a community that appears to be disconnected from the realities of so many people’s lives.
No one wants to be told they are a sinner, and yet we are all human. That means we all make mistakes. We hurt one another, often unintentionally. We all sin and yet Jesus calls all of us, just as we are. Jesus calls us with all the messiness of our imperfect lives. We don’t have to wait until we have our lives together and everything figured out. There is always going to be something new to learn, a new mistake to forgive.
If we don’t acknowledge our need for healing, we become stuck in a façade of righteousness. We become the stereotype of good church people who actually don’t need Jesus or the healing God offers.
Today is the first Sunday of Epiphany, the season of light. In this season, we remember Jesus as the light of the world. Jesus’ light allows us to see the places in our lives that we might want to avoid. Epiphany and New Year’s are good times for self-reflection. What are the things that we need to let go of in order to live more deeply into our communities and relationships with others? What are the things we need to forgive in ourselves? What are the things we need to forgive in others? Jesus invites us into God’s healing love. Jesus invites us to be part of a community that loves and supports us in spite of all our humanness. Jesus invites us to be disciples who learn, grow in faith, and spread the gospel.
Just like the first disciples who left their fishing nets to follow Jesus and Levi who left his tax booth to follow Jesus, we also recommit to following Jesus—not because everything in our lives is the way it should be but because Jesus calls us just as we are. This is a time for us to recommit ourselves to the call of Jesus. Way back in November, we wrote discipleship commitments on poinsettias. As we follow the call of Jesus into this new year I want to offer a summary of some of the things people in this community of faith offered as part of their call to discipleship. There are six areas of discipleship: Prayer, loving service, worship, bible study, generosity, and sharing faith.
Prayer: meditation, praying at home and at church for family, friends and the world, keeping a gratitude journal and engaging in self-reflection.
Loving Service: be present, serve others through the food shelf, affirm, youth group, visiting sick, driving people, supporting refugees, visiting at the nursing home, supporting seniors, spreading the gospel, be kind and show love.
Worship: attend worship more often, offer leadership including music ministry, scripture and coffee, do devotions at home, enjoy stories of Jesus.
Bible Study: On-going learning, attend bible study, read bible, read other faith books, learn more stories.
Generosity: Increase pledge/PAR, volunteer for: food shelf, committees that contribute to church and community, give to other charities, share the blessings.
Sharing Faith: Be bold, build relationships, invite family, co-workers, show by actions and examples, be the living word.
These are some of the many ways that this community of faith follows Jesus. Through actions like these, we commit ourselves to a life of discipleship and life in the community of Jesus. We open ourselves to healing and the forgiveness of God’s love.
Twirling Jen 