Pick Up Your Mat And Walk

There's story in Mark's Gospel about a man who was paralyzed.  Jesus, Mark says, was teaching to a packed house in a city called Capernaum when all of a sudden a bunch of guys dug a hole in the roof right above Jesus and lowered their friend to the ground so that Jesus could make him well.

Jesus' response?

Mark says that "when Jesus saw their faith (the faith of the paralyzed man's friends), he said to the paralytic, 'Child/Son, your sins are forgiven."

That's an odd thing to say, right?

"Your sins are forgiven."

It's weird for multiple reasons (2, in particular).

Number 1, the paralyzed guy never asked for his sins to be forgiven and neither did his friends.  No one said "the sinner's prayer", right?  No one looked at Jesus and said, "I am a sinner, please forgive me" or "my friend is a sinner, please forgive him."

None of that.

Number 2, his sins were forgiven not because of anything he said OR because of anything his friends said; rather, his sins were forgiven simply because of (what Jesus perceived as) a display of faith shown by the guy's friends when they broke through the roof.

That's strange, right? 

I grew up in a world where God forgave you of your sins if (and only if) you "accepted Jesus into your heart", repented of your wrong doing, confessed your sins, etc., etc., etc.  You had to pretty much admit that you were a no good worm without Jesus and see him as the only bridge that could get you across the dark chasm of your ugly soul, back into somewhat good standing with God.

BUT.

None of that happened here. 

Instead, the guy's sins were forgiven because of the faith of his friends.

In case you're wondering, later on Jesus tells the guy to pick up his mat/bed and walk home (which he does - he gets healed), but lately I've been pondering all the stuff that happened before the climax of the story, mainly the forgiveness of the guy's sins that came prior to the healing of his paralyzed body.

Why does Mark insert Jesus' statement that his sins are forgiven?

Why?

What's the point?

I'm in a place where I'm rethinking the Bible and what these Gospel stories mean and one of the things I've come to think is that the Gospel stories aren't a historical play by play of what Jesus did and said.

Right?

I mean, I used to believe that.  I used to believe that they were historical documents and that their sole purpose was to tell us the words and actions of Jesus as they happened.

He said THIS.

He said THAT.

He went HERE.

He went THERE.

And it all happened like THIS.

Now, though … nowadays I think that these books were written by specific individuals to specific communities who were all going through different and specific circumstances and so the Gospel writers (I think) took major liberties to tell the stories the way they wanted to tell them.

This story about the guy with the mat, for instance. 

In the 5th chapter of John's Gospel there's a story of a guy on mat, but instead of him being lowered through the roof by a bunch of his friends, Jesus finds him laying by a pool that was rumored to have waters that had healing qualities when they were stirred by angels. 

The story is different, yes, but the end result is the same - Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk.

This tells me that Jesus more than likely muttered those words at some point in his life, BUT Mark and John tell the story surrounding those words in their own (very different) way.

For Mark, they were said to a man who was lowered through the roof by his friends and they were preceded by Jesus speaking forgiveness over the sins and shortcomings of the man.

For John, though, they were said to a man who was laying by a pool and hoping to get into the pool before some angels stirred the waters and healed everybody who was in it.

The end result in both stories was the same, but the story around that end result was different so as to speak to the particular community that the stories were written to. 

You following me?

I don't think either Gospel writer was concerned with the details of the story; their concern, rather, was that the story they told would encourage their readers.

Anyways.

So Mark includes this statement that Jesus declared forgiveness over the sins of the paralyzed man not because of anything he did or said, but because of the faith of his friends.

And that makes me think.

Our shortcomings can paralyze us, can't they?  I don't know about you, but when I mess up or make a mistake or hurt someone or do something I know I shouldn't do … it's crippling.

A few weeks ago, for instance, I lost my patience with my daughter.  She's 5 and learning to follow directions and on this particular day she was jumping and running and squealing and being super crazy.  I asked her to stop multiple times, but she kept going and going and going and going. 

I asked once.

Twice.

Three times.

… And then I yelled - "JORDAN, HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO ASK YOU TO STOP BEING SO LOUD!?!?!" 

She wasn't being disobedient on purpose, she was just having fun like 5 year olds do - laughing, smiling, giggling, and glowing with excitement. 

But, me - I wanted her to stop and wanted her to stop RIGHT NOW because I had a headache, and so I raised my voice and changed my tone and as soon as I did I could see on her face that my words and my tone hit her spirit.  Her eyes filled up with tears and her bottom lip quivered as she walked away.

At first I felt accomplished, like I won - "finally, some quiet!"

But then.

But then, I started to feel like crap and the weight of my impatience with her was crippling so much so that after about 10 minutes of feeling accomplished and feeling like I won, I couldn't focus.

All I could think about were …

The tears in her eyes.

Her quivering lip.

And how I could have handled it so much differently - "Hey Jordan, daddy has a headache.  Would you mind being a little less loud OR going to play upstairs for a little while?"

Dana (my wife) and I try to be quick when it comes to admitting our wrongs to Jordan and so after I gathered my composure I went up to her room and asked her if I could talk to her.  She said I could and so I sat with her on her bed and apologized for not having more patience and asked her to forgive me. 

"You made me very sad with the way you spoke to me, daddy, but of course I forgive you.  Let's go play."

And that was it.

"Your sins are forgiven", Daddy.  And all of a sudden I felt my own paralysis lift and we went off to play hide and seek.

Yes.

Jordan helped me “pick up my mat and walk.”

I wonder if that's the point Mark wanted to get across to his readers?  I wonder if he wanted them to find themselves on the mat with the paralyzed man, paralyzed in their own sins and shortcomings and mistakes, and I wonder if Mark wanted them to know that their sins are forgiven.

AND.

They are forgiven not on account of anything that they did, but (perhaps) simply because of the …

Love of their friends?

Of their family?

Of Jesus?

The faith of others in their lives?

The faith that others have when they are running empty on their own faith?

I don't know what the point of all of this is, honestly, but I started this post out with one point I wanted to make today - you are loved, the Divine holds none of your shortcomings against you, and so may that knowledge drive out your paralysis and give you the strength to pick up your mat and keep walking.

Much love,

Glenn Siepert