Sermon for January 12

The reading

 Mark 2:1-22

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!" 

13 Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. 15 And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." 

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19 Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."

The message


Thursday night I went to Neir’s Tavern for the first and what I thought was the last time.  (It turns out after lots of visitors, viral social media and the mayor, other city officials getting involved, Neirs will remain open).  It is a historic bar in the Woodhaven area of Queens that has been operating for 190 years.  They reached some fame about 10 years ago when PBS ran a special on the place, granting them the award “the oldest bar no one has ever heard of”.  Some researchers consider it the oldest continuously operating bar in NYC.  (there are much older buildings and places like Francus Tavern but some of them shut down or stopped serving alcohol during prohibition, were used for other purposes, closed for years and then re-opened, the definition of a bar and what is means to be operating actually gets incredibly complicated and serving particular interests).


I have wanted, thought about, considered going to see Neirs for a few years.  It is not too far away but something always came up or I put it off to another time, made other plans.  What led me to finally go was a facebook message a friend shared.  After those 190 years, Neirs was to close its doors Sunday night (that’s today).  The owner posted a very honest and difficult message, after about 15 years of restoring, investing in and trying to revitalize the historic bar, they have been losing money, a lot of money every month for the past year.  The landlord has demanded a large rent increase and he could no longer afford to operate.  That combined with personal obligations and no interested buyers, no bailout, meant the end for Neirs.  The note was apologetic and I felt so sad, not that I had any particular connection to or memories of this place but it seemed like a piece of history would be lost and forgotten, this great effort to save something failed.  All of a sudden it was urgent that I go to that place I’d go to next week, next month, when the weather was better or when I happen to be in the area.


Urgency is a big part of Mark’s Gospel. The urgency that brought me to Neirs on Thursday night is how we should see the Gospel of Mark, the kingdom of God is here, the son of God is here, now is the time to listen and experience the kingdom.  Jesus does not stay put in one place too long. There is urgency in Jesus work and a mission to reach everyone and every city. The kingdom of God will be shared widely, everyone will have only a moment, which is great but it means Jesus may not walk through your town again.  That is why the 4 friends of the paralyzed man do not wait for the crowd to disperse, for things to quiet down, for an aisle to open up and get to Jesus. Sure they could have waited and maybe saw Jesus, maybe Jesus would stay another day or two or come back, maybe one of Jesus disciples could heal their friend, maybe a team of disciples could help, maybe he just needed a doctor or motivational pep talk or to eat a bag of herbs, maybe one of the religious authorities could help, but they had faith, they knew Jesus could heal their friend and now was the time to act. 


Instead of waiting, they carry the man to the roof, tear a hole through the roof and lower him down, interrupting Jesus teaching and I assume angering the owner who is in there yelling “what are you guys doing”, who is going to fix this, wait your turn, the house is going to fall down, I assume most of the crowd was thinking, this nobody is disturbing us, who cares about him, hes just some paralyzed beggar getting in the way, don’t stop for this guy.  (Jesus own disciples will later make the same claim about unimportant children getting in the way, after which Jesus scolds them and insists let the children come).


Jesus does stop, this paralyzed guy in everyone’s way matters to God, Jesus forgives the man’s sins and heals him.  Not only that but Jesus gives the restored man an odd command, "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home." Stand up makes sense, show everyone you are new restored, go home makes sense, now that your life is back, go back to it.  “take your mat” is where things get odd, Jesus says this a few times, the narrator is sure to mention that the healed man immediately takes the mat and goes.   


I get a lot of people who ask me if we accept, collect, want or know anyone who needs used medical equipment, from canes, crutches and toilet seats to wheelchairs and hospital beds.  Part of this is the need for storage space, an authentic desire to help someone else (a lot of this stuff is very expensive, complicated to order, wait for and assemble). Another part goes beyond a practical “I don’t need it anymore, someone else could use it”, there can also be a get it out of my sight, I don’t want to remember those difficult weeks, months or even years, I don’t want to imagine needing it again, even I want to imagine I never needed any help.


The mat was this paralyzed man’s medical equipment, what he sat on, what he was carried around on, what he was lowered through the roof to Jesus on, what brought him some small amount of comfort and made life on the streets a little bit better.  I would think it was not in great shape, its torn, smelly, probably gross.  Since Jesus does not even blink about the torn roof debris all over the place, I doubt it’s a neatness issue.  The restored man will go forward knowing he was healed, God reached out to him, while he was sick.   Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."  


The healthy have a place in the kingdom of God, the sick have a place in the kingdom of God, the restored have a place in the kingdom of God.  This mix of new and old, the walking man still carrying his mat, comes out in the parables, the new wine in the old wineskins, the new patch on the torn cloak.  In both cases, the old is worth something, there is a concern about ripping the garment or bursting the old wineskin, we are called to remember we are sinners saved by grace, again and again.  As we go through Mark, we are reminded again and again, that the work of the church is urgent and messy