Luke 5:17-26
In this season of Epiphany, we’re remembering that Jesus is light for the whole world. The Gospel of Luke is helping us remember stories about Jesus that explain why those who knew him saw him as light. Today we learn that when Jesus was teaching, people crowded in to hear him. Yesterday at the ND Human Rights Coalition meeting we had to add tables twice to accommodate the people who wanted to be there. When there’s good news going around, it attracts people.
Part of the reason the room was so crowded was that the religious leaders in the area had heard that Jesus was talking about God. That was their portfolio, and they had come to see if he was getting it right. This week one of our church members posted the long list of words people with federal research grants were no longer allowed to use in their publications. It seems the same to me – big brother checking on whether or not you are saying banned words. Jesus knew they were there to catch him in a mistake, but he kept teaching anyway.
While Jesus was talking, some people came carrying their friend on a stretcher. They had heard that Jesus had the power to make people well, and they wanted their friend to have a chance at that healing. They couldn’t get in the door, which tells you something about how interested people were in what Jesus had to say. These friends took the steps up to the roof, dismantled it a bit by setting tiles aside, and lowered their friend’s stretcher right in front of Jesus. Imagine, just for a minute, what a disruption that was. It has to have taken a while for them to accomplish this, and people must have noticed. Jesus didn’t say, “Stop interrupting me!” He had compassion for the man, waited until he was in front of him, and said, “Your sins are forgiven.”
“Your sins are forgiven” doesn’t make much sense to us, but to the crowd it made perfect sense. There was wide-spread belief that if someone was ill, had a disability, or suffered a setback in life, it was because they or their family had done something wrong and God was punishing them. There’s another story where Jesus is asked about someone who was blind, “Who sinned to make this person blind?” His answer then is no one. That’s not how it works. But here he goes along with what everyone is thinking to give this man some relief: Your sins are forgiven. He’s upsetting the common assumption that God wants harm for this man and replacing it with forgiveness and mercy.
At that moment, the visiting religious leaders sprang into action: You can’t forgive sins! Only God can forgive, and clearly God hasn’t because this man can’t walk. They are telling Jesus that he can’t change the status quo and tell the people about God’s love and compassion. They want to control the people by telling them about God’s rules. Don’t break the rules or God will get you! Jesus isn’t having it. Okay, if you don’t want me to tell him about forgiveness, I’ll just heal his paralysis. “Get up and walk home,” he tells the man. And that’s what happens. I suspect people made way for him to walk out the door. Maybe there was plenty of room because those who challenged Jesus were quietly slinking away.
I know that I’m supposed to be able to tell you what all this means, but you’re out of luck. I can’t explain ho this man was able to walk away. Maybe being relieved of the burden of past mistakes did it. Worry and health are connected. I’m convinced that I have shingles because I’m worried about all the people the current administration is hurting. Maybe forgiveness set this man free to walk. Or maybe it was a miraculous healing we no longer understand. At any rate, it’s a good story. Jesus takes on the religious leaders and this man gets healed in the process.
There are a lot of people wanting to tell us who God is and what God wants these days. For instance, JD Vance has explained that God wants us to care about our family and then our neighbors and then our country and then the world. Jesus clearly says we’re to love everyone, not in layers. Diana Butler Bass cautions us not to listen to people who try to co-opt Jesus for current political movements, but to stick with Jesus as the Bible reveals him to us. Clearly Jesus upset the status quo in favor of those at the margins. He didn’t much care about preserving the status quo in favor of the wealthy. And those in power were not pleased with his influence with the people.
Again, Diana BB tells a story of a friend who years ago was working to organize workers in central America and attending a Bible study after hours. The passage for the night was the story of the rich young ruler who asks Jesus how to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus tells him to sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow him. The American missionary explains to the group that this means we should value Jesus above other ideas, and he’s met with stunned silence. Later he asks a friend what he said wrong and is told, “The group isn’t sure you can be part of this Bible study because you clearly don’t believe Jesus.
Jesus’ teachings are revolutionary. They favor the least among us. They challenge us to do more to help others. When leaders tell us God wants to help the rich, they are wrong and we need to call them out.
I also am intrigued by the friends who bring the man who is paralyzed to see Jesus. They dismantle a house to get him in front of this new teacher who can cure what’s wrong with him and give him a new life. They go to great lengths to help a friend. Right now we all need that kind of friend. We need to be that kind of friend to the refugee community who are in danger. We need to be that kind of friend to those who are losing jobs because of layoffs or impoundment. We need to be that kind of friend to those who are facing discrimination in ways we thought had ended.
And we need people to be a friend to us. We need friends who will stand with us as we stand up to new rules that hurt people. We need friends who will watch the Super Bowl with us to give us a break. Friends who will tell us a joke and remind us that there is still good in the world, even if good isn’t in charge right now. We have made a commitment to each other to follow Jesus, to act with love, to believe in the possibility of change and the power of hope. We can commit to lifting each other up, taking turns seeing the light in the darkness. We are learning together who Jesus was and who he is and what it means to follow him. Sometimes that means we can stand up and walk, even when we never believed we could. Sometimes that means our friends help us learn to walk in new ways and walk with us.