A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. Our lord came back to Capernaum after a lapse of several days and word got around that he was at home. I noticed they all sometimes that Christ had no home. Well, you heard what the good book says. Jesus came back to Capernaum after a lapse of several days, and word got around that he was at home.
At that, they began to gather in great numbers until there was no longer any room even around the door of the house. While Jesus was delivering god's word to them, some people arrived bringing a paralyzed man with him. The four who carried the man, the paralytic, were unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd. They couldn't get him in the door. So they began to open up the roof over the spot where Jesus stood below.
When they had made a hole, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, my son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, why does this man talk in that way? He commits blasphemy. Who can forgive sins except god alone?
Jesus at once was aware of what they were thinking, though they kept it to themselves. And he said to them, why do you think these thoughts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, stand up, pick up your mat, and walk. You may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, and he said to the paralyzed man, I command you, stand up, pick up your mat, and go home. The man stood up, picked up his mat, and went outside in the sight of everybody.
They were awestruck. Everybody gave praise to god, saying, we have never seen anything like this. And this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. This is I have many favorite parts of the New Testament.
This is one of my favorites. This is a humdinger. It's about as dramatic as anything you can get. It's a good solid argument. The logic is incontestable, if I may bring up that little word logic.
Our lord was very logical. It is dramatic. It brings home without that because we can controvert anything, and we do. But the thing is, it's indisputable what Price was doing. It's indisputable what he said, and it's indisputable what the conclusion has to be drawn from what went ahead, from the antecedents.
It's absolutely inescapable. There's a great deal here. Now this opening of the roof, you mustn't think that they got up there with a lot of jackhammers and opened up a roof. Most of these houses, even now in the East where it's so blooming hot, you have openings in the roof which can be opened and closed to let the hot air out and cool air come in in the night. That wasn't extraordinary at all.
But the drama of this situation, to see a house filled with people so filled that they're jamming all over the outside, pushing the doors in. And here comes four man carrying a paralytic, four of them. So there's no doubt the man was paralytic. Notice that. Unless somebody was putting on a really first class act.
And then how they must have gone up the outside staircase, got up on the roof, and then, I don't know how they did it, they must have brought some rope with them or something. Anyway, they lowered the man down in front of Jesus who was standing right under this place, under the opening. Now notice, nobody said anything. Our lord's the one who said your sins are forgiven. No.
He didn't say, what do you want me to do to you? Nobody said cure this man. Nothing. They lowered the man down, and Jesus said, your sins are forgiven. In other words, he was throwing the gauntlet at his enemies because they and they and they they snatched the bait like a trout.
Because he immediately said, this guy's he's saying your sins are he's forgiving sins. And then they shout out, who can forgive sins but god? And they're absolutely right. That's why I'm saying it's in dispute. They are absolutely right.
Nobody can forgive sins except god because he's the one who's offended. And notice our lord does not enter in in a sense. He doesn't contradict them. He doesn't agree with them. He just goes on ahead.
And he says, is easier, to forgive sins or to cure this guy? And they don't answer him. They don't say a word. And then he continues right on. He commands the man, get up and walk.
Get out of here. The man stands up and walks, picks up his mat. Notice he didn't need any period of convalescence. This is extraordinary. Because where you have some of these so called cures, it it doesn't work this fast.
But here, immediately, a man who took who who couldn't who got into that house because four men carried him, at our lord's words, a command, he stands up immediately, picks up his mat, and walks out on his own power. Now this is a this is an argument in in drama. First of all, you have the you have the major premise. Only god and, you see, I'm I'm insisting upon this because today there's a great deal of of of controversy about who was Jesus Christ, I mean, in the Catholic church. Or they'll say, did he know who he was?
Or they'll tell you he grew into a knowledge of himself. This is commonplace. I'm not this is this is no windmill out of Cervantes. And this is one of the most outstanding texts of the New Testament where the divinity of Christ is asserted. Now whether he was asserted with truth or not, that's something else.
But there's no doubt about the assertion here that Jesus Christ, the son of a virgin Jewish girl, claimed to be god. He did works that only god can do. So draw your own conclusion. Did he know who he was, or did he have to grow and have the people tell him who he was? Did the community create him?
And so here it is. Only god can forgive sins. Christ says your sins are forgiven. He forgave sins. He was accused of it, and they accused him of blasphemy, which meant he should die.
It put him on the cross. This is one of the instances where he claimed to be god. And you can't escape it. You cannot escape it. If only god can forgive sins and he forgave sins, therefore, you're you've got a problem.
You have a problem which you can't escape. You can't say he was a good man. Only, as CS Lewis says, that's one thing you cannot say about Jesus Christ. He would that that he was only a good man because that is ridiculous. Because then he was either a first rate liar or a lunatic.
Now these are the words of CS Lewis, and he's he's absolutely right. Absolutely right. There's no question to this text, the authenticity of it and all that. And so as our blessed lord said when John sent his emissaries, go back and tell John what you have seen. What have you seen?
You see, listen. Don't take your faith in Jesus Christ for granted. The cards today are stacked against you. Do you realize that? They're stacked against you even in your own church.
You need to read and to see Jesus Christ. You need to have your faith confirmed. You need to hear them say, only god can forgive sins. You need to hear Jesus Christ saying, your sins are forgiven you. What do you make of that?
Jesus Christ only a good man? Forget it. He was either a liar and a hypocrite or a lunatic, but certainly not a good man, if that's all you can say for Jesus Christ. The whole point of Jesus Christ at his god you mustn't forget his man because that has been forgotten down the ages. And it's the church who stood up and maintained the humanity of Jesus Christ against the Gnostic and against the great ethereal thinkers.
We have them around us today, you know. We mustn't be too physical. We must be spiritual. Oh, sure. That's old Descartes shooting off his mouth.
And so today's reading is to me, it's absolutely it's not just good drama. It's not just good theater. It certainly is that. But this is one of the keynotes of Christ's life. This is the incident that gave the Jews the ammunition to say he blasphemed.
Why did he blaspheme? Because he made himself out to be God. Where? In today's reading he not only claimed to forgive sins. As far as we can see, he he forgave sins, and then to prove it, he performed this astounding miracle before everybody.
Notice he the man didn't come in saying, Lord, cure me. Or it wasn't anything like that. The man had just plopped down before Christ, and Christ says he doesn't say, do you want me to do? What have you come for? None of it.
Your sins are forgiven. Only god can forgive sins. I forgive sins, ergo, I claim to be god. And Jesus proved it with a miracle, an astounding, spectacular miracle. In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit.
Amen.