"Lowering Your Expectations" (Mark 2:1-12)

"Lowering Your Expectations"

(Mark 2:1-12)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

Mark 2:1-12

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²So 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. ³Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴And 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. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ⁶Now 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?" ⁸At 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? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? ¹⁰But 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." ¹²And 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!"

INTRODUCTION:

A father and son were driving along and the father was coming down pretty hard on the teenager for not measuring up to the father's expectations. After a few choice words the father said, "Frankly, I'm just ashamed of you. You still don't have a job. When George Washington was your age he was working hard as a surveyor in the wilderness."

This young man, who obviously had no self-esteem issues, quickly fired right back. "Well, put in those terms, Dad, I'm ashamed you, too. You see, when Washington was your age he was President of the United States." (1)

Expectations. We all have them. Expectations sometimes drive our desire to succeed. Sometimes they drive our need for acceptance. Sometimes they motivate us and sometimes they bring life to a screeching halt. Unspoken personal expectations, especially of our spouse or family members, are probably the one area that cause the most strife in life.

One of my favorite books is "Great Expectations," by Charles Dickens. It's also one of my favorite names for a maternity store. I believe I saw it in either Dallas or Longview. But I love it.

This passage this morning from Mark is, in part, about expectations. Great expectations and small expectations. And it's about a group of men who were filled with those great expectations and then in a very real and physical sense, they lowered their expectations to Jesus. Let's look at story.

I. GREAT EXPECTATIONS:

A. The story begins by telling us that Jesus is back in Capernaum and is at the house of Peter and Andrew. Word has spread that He's home and people from all around start coming to hear him and ask for healing. The Scripture describes a scene of a house overflowing with guests. And it may explain the origins of the term "Open Door Policy."

You see, during the time of this event, the Jewish custom was to open the door to let people know you home. People could and did walk right in. It was natural. If you wanted privacy, you closed your door, otherwise people could and would walk in. And that's how the crowd got there. The door was open. People came in. And pretty soon, it was SRO in the house and the courtyard around the house. It was almost like a rock concert or George Strait concert today.

Into this mess came the four men and their paralytic friend on a stretcher. These guys had Great Expectations for Jesus and for their friend. These men knew that you can't live a life filled with hope and expectation with your arms folded.

The assessed the situation and realized there was no good way to get in. So, they put on their Ninja climbing outfits and made their way to the roof of the house.

Now they didn't have all the fancy tools of the movies. There were no mini lasers or mini oxygen acetylene torches like in James Bond. There was no clean way to cut a hole in the roof and enter. It wasn't a quiet and subtle entrance. No sudden, "Tah Dah." These guys made a lot of racket and they most definitely made a mess.

Houses back then were all built pretty much the same, out of stone and then a plaster was applied over the stone. The roofing support was made out of stone, too. These were laid on pillars and spanned from one side to another. They were spaced about three or four feet apart. Then palm branches or brush was placed across this. Then mud or a plaster was laid on this and rolled flat. It dried and another layer was added. They did this several times until the roof was about four to six inches thick. After every rain, then they would roll the roof again. So you see it wasn't hard to break through. They didn't need bulldozers or jack hammers. Just a sharp object.

Now imagine being inside with these guys digging through. Stuff was falling all over everybody. They didn't create a little hole. It was a stretcher sized hole. So, there was lots of debris. And lots of noise by the crowd as they pointed and grumbled and even laughed.

B. Now, can you imagine this going on today? Immediately, there would have been a class action suit, against these guys, Jesus and Peter, by all of the people who got clobbered by the bits and pieces, chunks and hunks of falling ceiling, dust and dirt.

Another would have been filed by the Chicken Littles in the group who were so frightened by the event that they thought the world was coming to an end. They would claim psychological damage. But then we knew that, didn't we.

Peter, Andrew and his mother might have taken the paralytic to Judge Judy asking for repairs. This once paralyzed now walking man, would have defended himself by saying he wasn't responsible, it was all his friends' idea. Sure, he was healed but only because of what THEY did. He would claim they were suing the wrong person.

Of course Judge Judy would have found in favor of the Paralytic. And the next thing you would have seen him on was The Jerry Springer show dealing with folks who had been healed against their will. Before the healing, he had a pretty lively begging business going on. Now because of the healing, he had to get a real job. But because he had been paralyzed for so long, he didn't have any marketable job skills. All he knew how to do was lay around, look pitiful and beg. And he sure couldn't live on the minimum wage they paid at the local Loaves and Fishes stand.

But back to the story. These four men, and probably the paralytic, too, all came to Jesus with Great Expectations. They encountered an obstacle and had to literally lower their expectations, the paralytic on his stretcher, in order for Jesus to heal him.

II. GREAT REWARDS:

A. These men had Great Expectations and they were met with a Great Reward. Jesus was impressed with their faith and with there tenacity. And I want you to notice one thing in particular. Jesus never once mentioned the roof.

Peter, Andrew and their mother might have been sitting there in shock trying to figure out where the money for repairs was going to come from. But not Jesus. It's obvious that Jesus cares more about the man who was brought to him for healing, than the roof or what anyone else in the crowd was thinking. Jesus zeroed in on this guys need and the faith of his friends.

The background music for this whole scene could have been either George Strait's song "I've Got Friends In Low Places" or the Beatles' song, "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends." Their friendship and their faith paid off. The paralytic was healed.

B. They had Great Expectations and received a Great Reward but not without a Great Argument, first. You see, Jesus didn't just reach out and heal this guy. The first thing Jesus said to this guy was: "Son, your sins are forgiven."

And the scribes went nuts. All of a sudden their attitude changed. You could see it in the set of their jaw and the jaw muscles clenching and unclenching. You could see it in the set of their shoulders and the daggers in their eyes that they were shooting at Jesus. The air around them got cold and tense. And then they started mumbling and grumbling indignantly amongst themselves, but loud enough, of course, for everyone to overhear.

Jesus did and confronted them. "Why are you grumbling? Isn't it easier to offer forgiveness than to heal? But to show you who I truly am. Son, not only are your sins forgiven but pick up your mat and stretcher. You're healed."

And the paralytic, after who knows how many years of paralysis, bent over, picked up the mat and walked out of that place. There was no atrophy. There was no stumbling on weak legs. And there was no hesitation. This guy bent over, picked up his mat and walked out of the house. I'm sure the crowd could hear whoops and cheers and high fives, or whatever they did back then, going on out in the street.

So what was the deal? Why did they object so much?

III. GREAT REMINDER:

A. I think this is a Great Reminder of a couple of things. First, it's a Great Reminder of what the faith of a few can really do. There were only five men involved in this healing effort. Six if you count Jesus. But these five men had a Great Faith. They believed Jesus could and would heal the one who was paralyzed. They had a Great Faith and it made a Great Difference.

A couple of weeks ago, we asked each of you to pray for 10 people, the five you put on a three by five card, and the five on someone else's card. And we've been lifting them during our prayer time each week. Why? Because we believe we can make a difference in their lives through our prayers. It doesn't take a truck load of faith and a bulldozer to move a mountain. Jesus said it only takes a mustard seed sized faith to move mountains. It can't take much more to move a friend or a loved one closer to Christ. So keep on praying, we've got one more week to lift them in prayer together. Like the four men in our passage, put your trust in Christ. And have Great Expectations.

B. Second, I think this passage is a perfect example of the conflict between the ideas of Law and Grace.

The Law was given to show us what NOT to do. It wasn't the Game Plan. It wasn't the Play Book. It was the Rule Book so to speak. It set the boundaries for the game of life.

We started off in the Garden of Grace. But because we chose to disobey God, God gave us the Rule Book. And it let us know, right up front, that there were stringent penalties for breaking the rules.

Like Hockey, for any infraction of the rules, you were sentenced to the Penalty Box. But unlike Hockey, there was no countdown clock. Once you were in, you were in and there was no way out.

It was sort of like ignoring the "Fresh Paint" sign and sitting on a freshly painted park bench. The evidence of your rebellion, stupidity or oblivious-Ness, follows you forever. Just like a Marks-Alot Permanent Marker stain on a white shirt, the stain of sin was there forever. It had become futile to try and remove it. Or even to try and live an unstained life.

That's where we learn a Great Lesson. That's where Jesus and God's Grace come in. Grace opens the door of the Penalty Box and lets us all out into a new life. And that Penalty Box door is closed and nailed shut with the nails of the cross. It is closed and shut forever because the Son of God took all of our Penalty upon himself at the Cross, when he died for our sins.

That's why Jesus gave these guys with Great Expectations such a Great Reward, he was trying to teach a Great Lesson but the scribes and Pharisees were just too tied up with the rules. They couldn't see how to play the game of life with Grace in Charge.

CONCLUSION:

R.G. Lee tells a beautiful story about a mountain school that had a hard time keeping a teacher. Partly because of where they were and partly because there was a group of big, rough boys who took pride in running the teachers off. The biggest and roughest of them all was named Tom.

A new young teacher won over the boys, however, by letting them write their own rules for the school. It turned out that the boys expected the rules to be very strictly enforced with a rod. This was during the days when corporal punishment was allowed in schools.

For example, cheating would be punished with five strokes of the rod, and stealing with ten strokes. All punishment had to be given with the offender's coat off.

Everything went well until one day Tom's lunch was stolen. A frail little boy in hand-me-down clothes that were too big for him admitted his guilt. The students demanded that this boy be whipped. When the teacher called the little boy up front, he came whimpering and begging to leave his coat on. The other students insisted that he obey the rules and take off his coat.

When he did, a deathly silence settled over the room. This frail little boy had no shirt on and his emaciated body looked like skin stretched over bones. The teacher gasped and dropped the rod. He knew he could never whip that little boy.

Suddenly, big tough Tom strode up and stood between the teacher and the boy. "I'll take it for him, Teacher, after all it was my lunch he stole." And then Tom pulled off his coat. Reluctantly the Teacher started. After the third blow the switch broke. The teacher threw it in the corner and said, "That's all. School dismissed."

The frail little boy laid his hand on big Tom's arm and through his tears said, "Thank you, Tom, it would have killed me."

That's exactly what Christ did for us. He took the full punishment for our sin, for our alienation, for our disobedience.

He took it upon himself for our sake. He went into the penalty box so we wouldn't have to.

The four men and their friend came to Jesus with Great Expectations for healing. But they left with an even Greater Reward, Healing AND Forgiveness. Their faith and this story challenge us to have Great Expectations in our life.

Where do you have or need Great Expectations in your life? Where do you need healing? Where do you need to lower the burden of those expectations through the roof of life and into the hands of Jesus?

Open yourself to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus our Savior. He promises you a Great Reward.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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Bibliography

1. The Saturday Evening Post, November/December 1992, p. 35, adapted.

2. From WHEN NOTHING ELSE WOULD WORK a sermon by King Duncan

Other References Consulted

William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, the Gospel of Mark (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975) electronic edition.

SermonMall.com

Dynamic Preaching, Jan/Feb/Mar 2000 Vol XV, No. 1. (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

Preaching Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000, Volume 15, Number 3. (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

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