Carrying What Carried You

2:1 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 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. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 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. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 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? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic-- 11 "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home." 12 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!"

Two times in my life this text regarding the healing of the Paralytic has spoken deeply to me. I want to open with one of those times and close with the other. The first time that I recall this scripture speaking loudly to me came about eight years ago. At the time we were taking ministers on a pilgrimage to Israel. At each biblical site we visited we recalled what had happened there, read a scripture and had prayer.

There in Capernaum I had the chance to read the story of the healing of the paralytic. And at that time it occurred to me that the amazing story that shocked the whole town took place, perhaps within sight of where I was standing. We had gathered just across the street from where according to tradition Peter’s house once stood and now there is a church on the site. Behind me were the remains of the foundation and part of a wall of a house like Jesus lived in. And it would be possible that Jesus home and headquarters for the movement was just across the street from Peter.

Being there made the report of the healing more real. I could be standing right next to the place Jesus had his sermon interrupted by four men who dropped the paralytic down through the ceiling. This reconstruction of time and place was enough to make me feel that as the hymn says, “I walked today where Jesus walked and felt his presence there.”

Moving beyond my experience at Capernaum, the report of this healing is an incredibly rich story – think about it for a moment! (As I look at this text, I feel somewhat like a mosquito at a nudist colony: I know what to do but there is so much I can’t figure out where to get started.)

First of all the whole community seems to be crowded at Jesus’ front door. He is teaching while they stand in stark silence listening to him. But inside his house sits a delegation of the Scribes of the Pharisees looking for evidence to accuse Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Coming down the dusty street, like Presbyterians late for church, four men are hauling a fifth on a homemade stretcher – perhaps they grabbed the corners of the mat on which he lay, lifted him and began taking him to Jesus’ house. I suspect that four or five of his disciples were also sitting there listening to his Word.

If you should imagine in succession that you were each these characters– Jesus, a Scribe, an unknown in the crowd, a disciple, one the four friends and the paralytic – you would tell five different stories. If you told it from Jesus point of view – it would be about the faith of the four and the healing. If you told from the Scribes point of view – would be about blatant blasphemy. If you told it from the disciples view, it would be confirmation that Jesus is the Christ. If you told it from the view of an unknown in the crowd, it would be about miracle and amazement (we never saw anything like this before). If you told it from the four friends, it would be a story of hope. If you told it from the paralytic’s view – forgiveness you did not ask for and healing that you did not expect! Put all this together and you have the making of a drama with a real punch!

While all these perspectives are highly suggestive, for today I want to focus on one person – the paralytic and his mat. I invite you to consider what it might have been like to be confined to the mat day in and day out, month after long month. In the morning family or friends lift you out of bed and place you on the mat. You lie on the mat all day watching the people go by and the clouds shift in the sky and if a dog comes by and licks you, you can’t even swat him away. In the evening they drag you back into the house and put you to bed on the same mat on which you’ve lain all day. The next day, you look forward to the same.

I have no idea what it would be like to be on the mat, paralyzed and always waiting for another to help you, respond to you or speak to you. I do recall a time at the House Church that I began years ago in which we were seeking new ways to worship and appropriate scripture. That morning we were working with Mark 2:1-11. Part of the interpretation called for each person in attendance to close his or her eyes and lie down on the floor in a frozen position like the paralytic. No one could arise or move until the leader came to you, spoke the forgiving words and then said, “In the name of Jesus, rise, take your mat and walk!” With that each of us, one by one, arose and stood and gave thanks to God. Though this was a simulation, it gave us a chance to partially feel what it would be like to be on the mat. Though no imaginary experience like this can substitute for the reality of paralysis of every limb of your body, it does give an inkling of what it might be like.

Consider again the paralytic! Imagine what it would be like to be on the mat! It would be to have feelings of …

Powerless -- To be on the mat means to be incapable of movement in every respect – can’t move yourself, can’t do anything on your own, can’t change your position.

Useless – What is the value of a paralyzed worker? Useless to himself, his family and other people.

Worthless – In a society that measures worth by production how could this man have felt worth very much. He could not measure up to societal expectations. How many days must he have lain on that mat wondering when life would end.

Hopeless – Hope is the capacity to imagine an acceptable or desirable future. What future could this man see for himself?

I want you to think about the mat as both metaphor and symbol. First as a metaphor. It is a metaphor for– a powerless mat, a helpless mat, a worthless mat or a hopeless. A metaphor is describing one thing by calling it another. A metaphor is a grownup simile. A metaphor has suggestive powers; it is almost endless in its implications.

Let me try to make clear what I mean by the metaphorical use of the mat. A few years back I did a weekend renewal in a church in Vienna, Virginia. On Saturday morning I asked each person to identify with a character in Mark 2 and to write a first hand account. A young lawyer chose the paralytic and in his reflection discovered he was the paralytic on a mat. He had felt inclinations toward ministry but he was paralyzed on the mat of indecision. Later he came to CTS and then became a minister at FPC here in Atlanta.

As an associate at First Presbyterian Church he began working with men’s groups, particularly lawyers. As he related this work to me, he asked, “Do you know what word we begin our groups with?” Naturally, I didn’t. He said, “Who is on the mat today?” Mat in this metaphorical sense speaks of human need, human hurt and concern. Who is on the mat?

Think about the world in which we live, who is on the mat? Would you say that the children of Ethiopia are on the mat? What about the victims of the train wreck in Madrid? Who in this country find themselves on the mat – the unemployed, the grieving, and those fighting incurable diseases? Who in Norfolk is on the mat this morning? For that matter, which of us sitting here in worship today is on the mat? All kinds of mats – vocational mats (doing what you do not wish to do); marital mats with conflict and estrangement; family relationships where children are breaking all restraints?

Do you know about the mat of powerlessness, uselessness, worthlessness or hopelessness?

Look at the mat as a symbol. I take a symbol to be more enduring and emotion laden than a metaphor. What does a symbol do? It is a constant reminder to us of something. I have a rock in my drawer. As a rock it is not important but as symbol it was given to me after a visit to the primacy of Peter where he kneels before Jesus with a Shepherd’s Crook and inside this rock in a hollowed out crevice there is a shepherd’s crook in the rock. That makes it something more than an ordinary rock

Do you see how powerful a symbol can be? Think about burning a rag or a piece of cloth. Does that mean anything? No. But what if that piece of cloth is red, white and blue striped – now does it mean something. It is not a sign or metaphor but a symbol of blood, sweat and tears. It is a nation! Our nation for which we have lived and died! Do you see how power the symbol of the mat is?

What do you suppose the mat symbolized to the paralytic? He got up, picked up his mat and went home? What was the changed the relation with the mat? (It had carried him and now he was carrying it.) Where did he put the mat? What did he think about every time he saw the mat? Friends came over and asked, “Is that the mat that ….”

Now I want to tell you about the second time this text moved me and liberated me – from metaphor to symbol. Thirty years ago after my divorce and my marriage to Nan, I began to feel the sense of call reawakening in me. The failure of my marriage had left me paralyzed with regard to my call. Add to that my culture, my theological training and my mother’s voice. Yet, I felt the twitching and moving of the call awakening but I felt unworthy, broken and in a sense paralyzed.

While jogging one day these words came into my mind: “Go see Bennett Sims.” He was the Episcopal Bishop of the Atlanta Diocese – I had never met him, did not know him but I determined to do it. I made an appointment and went to talk with him. I told him about the divorce and the struggle I was having. He said, “You need absolution.” And, he offered it the next Thursday evening. Though it was not Nan’s problem, she faithfully went with me. We entered the chapel. Bishop Sims in the pulpit in his vestments and read … you guessed it … Mark 2:1-11. After reading the text, he invited us to the communion rail where he laid hands upon us and prayed. When he had pronounced the benediction, Nan and I turned to walk out of the chapel and suddenly I heard the words, “Which is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘take up your mat and walk’.” And I heard, “Ben, which is easier to say your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and get on with you life? I say to you, “Get up and get on with you life!” I did get up and get on with my life. And, I took my mat with me.

On day a minister friend called me. He knew of some of my struggles and felt that I could be of help. He asked if he might send his choir director to my house to talk with me. I agreed. The man came, brought his wife and told me a story of disappointment and brokenness. His divorce hung heavily over him; his self-esteem was gone. He was on the mat of helplessness.

I listened, asked questions and thought with him about his future. I asked if he wished a new start. He did.

No matter that I had on docksides, shorts and a T-shirt, I slipped on my black robe trimmed in red. I got my mat and asked him to kneel down on it. There in my living room I said the prayer with the laying on of hands and he prayed. And that day he picked up his mat and got on with his life.

Even when the mat of helplessness and hopelessness has carried you, you can pick it up and get on with your life. Carry it as a symbol of what once carried you!

A few weeks ago I was in the church where he presently serves. We got re-acquainted and I did not need him to tell me that things were different, very different. He carried his mat with expectant joy that he could share it with another.