Sermon at The Church of the Holy Apostles, New York City,
February 19, 2006, The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany: Year B
by The Reverend Peter R. Carey

Isaiah 43:18-25
Psalm 32
2Corinthians 1:18-25
Mark 2:1-12

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Life is a kind of journey, a journey toward God, a journey that is meant to end in God’s embrace. It’s not a literal journey, of course, but a journey of the heart. St. Augustine wrote: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Because we’re Christians, we make that journey toward God with Jesus. He is our guide along the way. He is our comforter in time of need. He is our hope when we’re tempted to give up. He is also the source of our joy and happiness when things go well for us. “Through him and with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours.”

It is Jesus Christ who leads us to God. We know that he is able to do that because he is the bridge, the unique connecting link between us and God. “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

It is therefore crucially important for us as Christians to make that journey toward God in the company of Jesus. With Jesus as our friend and guide.

All of humankind is journeying toward God--for sure. But the Christian makes the journey explicitly and consciously with Jesus.

Sometimes Jesus seems to seek us out and to walk with us and to talk with us with ease. Those are the times when the journey is a joy. At other times the journey is harder and we have to seek him out.

And so we need to look for him because we sense that we really need his help. We sometimes feel weak and sick and feeble -- sometimes even paralyzed. Unable to make the journey. Unable to walk.

But then we think: he can help us. He can heal us. He can forgive our sins. He can make us walk again. If only we can get to him.

“And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’” And then a little later he said, “I say to you, arise, take up your pallet and go home.”

The paralytic, who yearned so deeply to walk again, could never have gotten to Jesus if it were not for those four people who carried him there. And how those four friends had to work and how ingenious they had to be. To push and drag that pallet up to the roof! Then to open up the roof and to lower the man down! My goodness, what determination.

What made them do it? Was it their faith that Jesus could help their friend? Yes, for sure. Why else would they have come to that place and why else would they have sought out the teacher and miracle worker known as Jesus.

But the answer must also be that they loved their friend a lot. They wanted to help him because he couldn’t walk and he was in pain. They loved him. He was their friend and they were willing to work and strain and push and pull and be yelled at and even ridiculed. Because they loved him. That’s what friends are for. That’s what friends do. We all get by with a little help from our friends. Sometimes with a lot of help.

Sometimes we are the man lying on the pallet. In pain and unable to walk. Unable to get to Jesus. Unable even to ask him for his help. Sometimes that’s where and who we are.

And sometimes we are the friends, willing to do whatever it takes. To tear the roof off the house if necessary to carry our friend to wherever and to whomever he needs to go for help. Sometimes that’s who we are.

We are making our journey together. There are times as we move along that we want to skip and shout for joy. And there are times when we think we can’t take another step. Those are the times when we need each other most.

The journey to God is not made alone. It is made in community. St. Paul said, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Notice what the Bible says when the paralytic finally gets to Jesus: “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son your sins are forgiven.’” And then he says, “I say to you, arise, take up your pallet and go home.”

“And when Jesus saw THEIR faith,” not just the faith of the paralytic, but the faith of his friends, the faith of those who had carried him there, the faith of those who had supported him -- our faith when we carry and support others.

There are really many ways for us to carry each other. There are many ways for us to be friends to one another, ways that flow from our faith.

Some of those ways are what we actually and concretely do for one another. But we can also help and support each other with our prayers.

At the moment, for example, there is a friend of ours whom we love a lot and who has recently been laid low and who needs our help now. A man whose life and ministry and whose journey of the heart toward God has been made as much for us and for the whole church as for himself. I speak of course of Gene Robinson who is presently being treated for the disease of alcoholism.

We need to lift him up and carry him. We need to tear off the roof with our prayers. We need to lower him down and place him at the feet of Jesus and plead with our Lord to heal him.

“And when Jesus saw THEIR faith, he said, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your pallet and go home.’”

Amen.
 

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