“Raising the
Roof”
Preached
by Linda Jo Peters ~ February 19, 2012
Transfiguration of the Lord
Scripture: Psalm 41 read responsively and Mark
2:1-12
Unity Presbyterian Church ~ Terre Haute, Indiana
INTRODUCTION
SCRIPTURE
Psalm
41 read responsively
Many
people have pointed to near death experiences or other life-changing moments,
as when they turned to God or changed their lives. This psalm is a petition of
the sick, wrapped in a prayer of hope. It can be divided into three sections: a
beatitude for a righteous person who falls ill, a prayer for mercy for the sick
one, and a doxology of the recovered. Listen for the rhythm of praise, petition, praise.[1]
1Happy
are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
2The Lord protects them and keeps
them alive; they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of
their enemies.3The Lord sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
4As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.
6And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.
7All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Mark
2:1-12
Last
week’s reading in Mark was a healing that came with being made clean to know
the wholeness of God. Today’s reading
speaks to the need for forgiveness to be made whole. Our reflection will focus on the efforts of
this man’s friends to bring him to wholeness:
When
he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in
front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came,
bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could
not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and
after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are
forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their
hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can
forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they
were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do
you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and
walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, stand up, take your mat
and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went
out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying,
“We have never seen anything like this!”
SERMON
Have
you ever had someone go out of their way to help you? Of course you have! There is no way we can live in this world
without the sustaining grace of others.
When I first started work as an Associate Pastor for Westminster in
Decatur, Illinois, my mother called and said, “some woman is mowing our
lawn.” It was my introduction to Janet
Rund who became like a second mother to our son, Ray and taught me her abiding
passion for mission. Many of you have
gone way out of your way for me and my family.
I remember when the nursing home couldn’t find me and called Barb Potts
to come sit with my mother because they thought she was dying. I hope I have in some way touched your lives
as well. That is what church families
do. Like the friends of this man, they
see a problem and work out a solution and follow it through. If it takes raising the roof or making pot
pies or finding a treasure to sell, believers find a way to bring people to
Christ Jesus to love one another.I can almost hear this man object when his friends arrive at the house. “Don’t bother it is too crowded leave me outside and go in yourselves.” But they did not listen, they climbed the roof and tore a portion off and lowered him down into the midst of Jesus teaching. Jesus does not miss a beat. He knows what is needed and gives the man an amazing blessing. Not just healing but forgiveness of sins. He makes him whole in body, mind and spirit. I have a feeling that then hia friends repaired the roof the way Gary with our Trustees would do it. The roof would be even better than it was.
I
also believe that it is in doing these hands on services that we see God. Today is the day we celebrate the
Transfiguration of our Lord. Jesus takes
a few of his disciples on a mountain top retreat and while there Jesus “was
transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one
on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who
were talking with Jesus.”[2] Even with all of this demonstration of Jesus’
divine nature, the disciples are still clueless. Worry, fear even anger clouds their vision of
who Jesus really is. Just like us today
there is much that can distract us from what is important. Jesus was right in
front of them and through the body of Christ the church, Jesus is right in
front of us as well.
Our
Trinity Bible Study meets after worship today to study the sixth Beatitude
which is “Greatly honored are the pure in heart for they will see God.”[3] We need pure hearts to see who Jesus really
is and how he dwells among us right now.
That purity is found in the gift of love and living in love. In the musical “Les Miserables” there is a
line spoken by Valjean to Eponine as he is dying: “And remember the truth that once was spoken
to love another person is to see the face of God.”[4]
What a blessing it is every time I take my blinders of worry, fear and anger
and see God’s face in every one of you.
You are transformed as Jesus was transformed into a new creation. Forgiven, made new and beloved of God. Amen.
