August 10, 2003, Lessons: Matthew 9.2-8; Mark 2.1-12; Luke 5.17-26

Sermon Title: Which Is Easier?

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INTRODUCTION:

One Sunday after church Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about.

Her daughter answered "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilts."

Needless to say, mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the Pastor stopped by for tea.

Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."

  1. The Comforter is here.

    1. We need the comfort that he provides.

    2. We need the healing that he offers.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Some time ago I acquired a unnamed Moravian Liturgy that I found so beautiful and so helpful that I would like to share it with you.

    1. I believe that it helps us to understand the lesson for today.

    2. I believe that it creates a deep appreciation for the ministry of Jesus, then and now.

  2. MORAVIAN LITURGY, (PART 1)

"When the whirlwinds of doubt,
Churn their way into your soul,
When your world's reduced to ashes,
Leaving nothing firm and whole
There amidst the broken wreckage
In the midnight of you day,
IN THE APEX OF THE STORM CLOUD,
HE'S THE QUIET PLACE TO STAY.

BUT YOU HAVE TO GET THERE

    1. You have to get there!

    2. You have to know where you are going.

    3. You need to know why you are going.

      1. The Ecclesiastics arrived at the home where Jesus was staying.

        1. The Ecclesiastics are the Pharisees and doctors of the law (Scribes)

        2. Why did they come to observe and to listen?

    4. Jesus is offering a new environment

    5. They are like the bear enclosed in a cage.

The bear walks back and forth 20 steps from one side to the other. It is decided to build the bear a new cage. A lot of money is spent to eliminate the bars and create a new open environment. Rather than bars there are high walls and a moat. The bear is placed in the new environment. The bear continues to walk back and forth 20 steps from one side to the other. The new environment does not resolve the problem.

        1. Being with Jesus does not resolve their dilemma.

        2. They came to gather evidence to indict and condemn

      1. The paralytic and his friends came to the home where Jesus was staying.

        1. Why did they come?

Lloyd C. Douglass, "The Mirror," The American Pulpit Series (New York and Nashville Abingdon--Cokesbury Press, 1945), book 2, page 74.

Douglass has Jesus ask Zacchaeus, "What did you see that made you desire this peace?" Zacchaeus replies, "Good master--I saw--mirrored in your eyes--the face of the Zacchaeus I was meant to be.!" In the eyes of Jesus we see the person we were meant to be.

        1. They came to see and petition Jesus for assistance.

        2. It is also how they came.

          1. They came through the roof.

          2. There was no other way into the building.

      1. Many people would have given up.

        1. It was too difficult.

        2. It was too crowded.

        3. It was filled with the curious or the hanger's-on.

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  1. MORAVIAN LITURGY, (PART 2)

When your mind gropes for answers
To the questions that you face,
When your past comes back to haunt you
And you need amazing grace,
There's an answer beyond question,
It's the truth for which you yearn:
THERE'S FORGIVENESS WITHOUT MERIT.
THERE'S A LOVE YOU DIDN'T EARN.

JESUS OFFERS FORGIVENESS AND HEALING!

    1. The paralytic needed forgiveness.

      1. His disease was probably the result of his lifestyle, his sin.

      2. He needed a change of heart which could only come through forgiveness.

In Reynolds Price's story, The Foreseeable Future, a man named Whit Wade returns from World War II severely wounded.

A spiritual healer named Juanita asks him, Did your brain get damaged, or any of your backbone? (1)

Whit said, Not actual physical damage. What hurts is my soul.

That WILL give you fits. Are you saved? she asked.

He said, Pretty surely. I'd rather drink lye than talk about it, but I accepted Christ when I was 13.

And you know he loves you?

Whit said, I do - his eyes were still shut. And he braced for an oncoming missionary spiel. If it came, he would thank her and fight his way out through whatever trouble [Juanita's] dogs threw at him.

But Juanita kept up a long, breathing silence. Then, with a first little yip in her voice, as if she might have waked herself up, she said, Whitley Wade, you are now alive. Any day you'll realize that you have been healed.

      1. The paralytic found his spiritual and physical health restored.

      2. He took up his pallet and walked out the door.

    1. In contrast the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were also in need of forgiveness and healing.

      1. They did not find it.

      2. Jesus did not live up to their preconceptions or predispositions of what a Messiah should be.

      3. Instead they accuse him of blasphemy.

They remind me of this story that I received on BeliefNet

The Rewards of Lying (2)

A clergyman was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.

The group surrounded a dog. Concerned lest the boys were hurting the dog, he went over and asked "What are you doing with that dog?" One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."

Of course, the Reverend was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie."

There was dead silence for about a minute. Just as the Reverend was beginning to think he'd gotten through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."

      1. The Ecclesiastics got a dog instead of a Savior!

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  1. MORAVIAN LITURGY, (PART 3)

When you're weary of the struggle
And you need a place to rest,
When you lose more than you're winning
And your failing every test,
There's no need to win a battle
That's been fought before;
When your worried and you're fearful
LET A LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER SHARE
EACH JOY AND DRY EACH TEAR.

HEALING BRINGS JOY AND PEACE

    1. There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God.

      He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with donuts and a six-pack of root beer, and he started his journey.

      When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.

      The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him a donut.

      He gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.

      His smile was so incredible that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Once again, he smiled at him.

      The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

      As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man and gave him a hug.

      The old man gave him his biggest smile ever.

      When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?"

      He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? He''s got the most beautiful smile I''ve ever seen!"

      Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy on his face was asked by his son, "Father, what did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I ate donuts in the park with God."

      But before his son could respond, he added, "You know, he''s much younger than I expected.""

      --Author unknown.

    2. We can imagine what the Ecclesiastics felt.

      1. They were very unhappy.

      2. They had not been successful in their attempts to brand Jesus as a blasphemer.

    3. We cannot begin to imagine what the paralytic must have felt.

    4. We cannot imagine what the friends experienced.

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CONCLUSION

Hal Brady of Dallas, Texas tells a story of a rabbi in a European village, who one day summoned the townspeople to the village square. He said he had an important announcement. The people gathered, but not without much grumbling at the inconvenience. The merchant resented having to leave his business. The wife complained because she had so many errands to run. But, out of respect, they went unwillingly to the town square.

When all were present, the rabbi said, "I wish to announce there is a God in the world." That was all he said. But the people understood. They knew they had been acting as if God did not exist.

  1. Are we living as if Jesus existed?

  2. As Jesus forgave and healed a paralytic, may he also forgive and heal us, every one.

1. Reynolds Price, The Foreseeable Future (New York: Atheneum, 1991), 84.

2. Found at http://www.funnybone.ws/

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