Mark 2:1-12 * Epiphany 7 * February 23, 2003 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

If you looked at the theme for today’s sermon you already know the answer, but in the event you didn’t, let’s begin with a riddle. What three word phrase is a parental admonition, a business axiom, a time management principle, and a stated strategy in just about all the “success” literature on the market? Let me personalize this…

Maybe you can remember wanting to do something as a child or a teenager before your homework or chores were done. You suggested this inverted arrangement to your parents with the promise that you would certainly do what needed to be done, only later. They quietly listened, but then said no. The reason, they told you, was summed up in these three words.

Maybe later on you took a course in business or attended a seminar on time management or read one of the thousands of books on how to be more effective in your life, work and play. And there on the top of the list of strategies to be implemented was the same three word phrase.

The answer: “First things first.” Meaning, do the most important things – the first things – right away; then do the other things. It’s not that these other things aren’t important; it’s just that they’re not as important as the “first things.”

In the portion of Scripture we’ll be considering today Jesus gives us a striking example of how He put this principle into action in a far more significant way. When it comes to the lives of God’s people – and in the case of our text, one man in particular – Jesus did, and does

FIRST THINGS FIRST

1. First He meets our greatest need
2. Then He meets all our other needs as well

Jesus is well into the second year of this three year earthly ministry when this incident takes place. This second year was marked by growing popularity toward Him on the part of the people and growing agitation toward Him on the part of the religious leaders. This will become apparent as we work our way through the text. Let’s do that now…

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Capernaum was in Galilee, the northern part of the Holy Land of Jesus’ day. It was located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, and had become his ministry headquarters – or “home” – while in the area. Taking residence in a house, Jesus began to preach and teach.

As mentioned earlier, Jesus was in His year of popularity. People wanted to hear Him, see Him and generally “check Him out.” On this occasion such a large crowd gathered that the people spilled outside the house…

³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” At this point in His ministry, bringing the sick or the infirm or the physically disadvantaged to Jesus had almost become commonplace. So the four men bringing their paralyzed friend attracted no special attention, and the crowd didn’t automatically part to let them in. Now they had a decision to make. They could wait, but sensing that an opportunity might be lost, they got creative.

Archeologists tell us that many first century Holy Land houses had an exterior set of stairs to the roof. Or if not, the houses were connected to each other and one could use the neighbor’s set of stairs to get on top. One way or another, the men got up there. The portion they removed probably was more of a porch roof, which enabled them to lower their friend just in front of the front door – and more importantly, just in front of Jesus.

This must have been quite a sight. Even at a time when the marvelous had become routine, this is a striking example of both great faith and great determination. Try to picture the scene. Slowly descending is a paralyzed man on a pallet. We can only imagine the silence of expectancy that now came over the crowd. We can only imagine how hard the paralyzed man’s heart was pounding as he turned his eyes upward to Jesus. Everyone was wondering the same thing. Could He? Would He?

But He who knows the unspoken thoughts of man knew what was truly uppermost in this man’s heart and mind. As is human nature, maybe this paralyzed man equated his infirmity with something he had done. Or as Job’s friends incorrectly told him, maybe he associated his condition with a past sin…

Whatever the case may have been, this man had a far greater need than the restoration of atrophied limbs. Jesus addresses it head on when he said: “Sons, your sins are forgiven.” And we can imagine the heart pounding with fear just a moment ago was now replaced by one filled with the “peace of God that passes all understanding.”

With this pronouncement, Jesus was also making a clear, unable-to-be-misunderstood statement about who and what He was… which did not escape the religious leaders that were present.

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” It is interesting to note that these men were “thinking to themselves” as opposed to verbalizing their thoughts or confronting Jesus. In the court of their hearts Jesus had been tried and convicted. His crime: blasphemy. That is, ascribing to Himself an act reserved only for God.

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” He said to the paralytic, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” The point: Jesus proved His authority to do the first thing – the pronouncement and provision of forgiveness – by doing the second thing – the miracle.

And as the formerly paralyzed man got up and took his mat, we can envision the crowd parting to let him through. The silence of expectancy had been replaced with the buzz that comes from those who have witnessed the extraordinary. The people were “amazed” because they had “never seen anything like this.”

The lesson of our text is this: First things first. Jesus met this man’s greater need – his spiritual need – before meeting the lesser, physical need. And I don’t know about you, but whenever I read this I am left with the belief that had Jesus stopped with the first pronouncement, this man would have gone home happy…

Most importantly, Jesus has applied this same principle to each one of us.

When it comes to our needs, Jesus has done first things first. When he took on our flesh and blood and became one of us at Christmas; when – as our substitute in accordance with God’s demand of us – He lived His life sinlessly for every minute of every day of every one of the thirty three years He walked our planet; when on Good Friday he carried all our sins to the cross; and when He gloriously rose from the grave on Easter Sunday to declare to the world that we are redeemed; Jesus met our greatest need. Through his doing and dying and rising He has provided us with forgiveness…

And with forgiveness comes a whole bunch of other good things. Listen to what Isaiah says in 32:17: The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. In his various epistles, the Apostle Paul adds to the list: joy, hope, comfort, the absolute assurance of eternal life and the ability to persevere in this life because we know the best is yet to come. All these are the blessings that come to us because in His grace and through His Son God has done “first things first” and provided us with forgiveness…

And when we recognize He has lovingly met our greatest need, we are also filled with the confidence that in His grace He will provide for all our other needs as well.

Nevertheless, we sometimes forget this. In commenting on this text, the church father Augustine makes the telling remark that “one need not be paralyzed bodily to be paralyzed inwardly.” I think he is referring to some of the worries and concerns that preoccupy us and emotionally paralyze us.

So, what are some of the things on your mind right now?

Maybe you’re worried about your job. Maybe there is a dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over this part of your life.

Maybe you’re a student and it just hasn’t become clear to you yet what exactly you want to be doing with the rest of your life. Maybe you wonder if you’ve made the right choices. Maybe you’re getting a little lonely and find yourself wondering if God really has someone “out there” for you.

Or maybe you’re a parent or grandparent concerned about the direction you see your children or grandchildren going. Or maybe you’re worried about your family life or your parents or other loved ones. Maybe you’re concerned about the way some of your relationships are turning out.

Or maybe the economy has had an impact on your plans. Maybe you’re wondering if you have enough to retire on. Maybe you are struggling with declining health or medical issues you’ve never had to deal with before, and you find yourself easily frightened at the prospect of what may be.

Maybe current world affairs are bothering you more than you think. We wonder about what’s going to happen in Iraq. We wonder about what North Korea is going to do. Those of us who lived through those years of decades past see a growing protest movement and wonder if we as a nation are going to be embroiled in a time of civil unrest.

All of these are important concerns and worthy of taking to the Lord in prayer. All of these are needs that we fervently ask God to meet.

But in the midst of them, let us never forget that our greatest need has been met. Our sins are forgiven. And the God who took care of the greater will also take care of the lesser things in our lives…

That is the message of our text. That is the truth to be applied to our lives. When it comes to us, Jesus Christ has done first things first. As it did for the man in our text, may that knowledge fill us with confidence, hope and comfort. Amen.