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Enough is Enough Mark 2:1 – 12; Psalm 41 Most who are old enough to remember the Vietnam War also have seared in their memory banks a picture of the child who had been napalmed and was running down the street after her clothes had been burned off her body. You may also remember the girl — Pham Thi Kim Phuc — endured 17 surgeries, moved to Canada and became a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. The pilot and operations officer who coordinated the raid on that child’s village saw the picture shortly after that day, and he was tormented by the image. He carried the devastating pain for 24 years, nursing the secret that continued to give him nightmares. In 1996, the pilot attended a Veteran’s Day ceremony in Washington, D.C., knowing that the young woman would be speaking. She said in that speech: “if I could talk face to face with the pilot that dropped the bombs, I would tell him we cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present.” (R. Karen, The Forgiving Self: The Road from Resentment to Connection. New York: Doubleday, 2001) The story of their meeting also made major news. The pilot identified himself to her, sobbing and repeatedly saying “I am that man; I am so sorry; I am so sorry.” Her words of “it’s all right … I forgive … I forgive” began a relationship — a friendship that continues — but, more importantly, began the healing of a man who held a painful and deep secret. (M. West. Biblical Preaching Journal. Vol 19. No. 1. P. 20) Forgiveness is major. There is nothing easy or simple about it. It’s tough to honestly be able to forgive. It’s tough to receive forgiveness. Both sides — those who cannot forgive and those who cannot receive forgiveness — carry great burdens. Those burdens get in the way of our relationship with God. Those burdens get in the way of us becoming the ones God wants us to become. Our reluctance and slow moving souls 1) prevent us from realizing that we need forgiveness and then 2) often refuse to believe that we are forgiven. The fact is that God forgives us much quicker than we are willing accept. We get our timetable confused with God’s abilities! Jesus’ power to forgive, and Jesus’ power to heal are the issues of today’s Gospel story. Jesus’ critics were astounded at his power to heal and disbelieving in his power to forgive. This is one of those stories that I remember — perhaps the first one I remember — from Sunday School. The imagery of the sick man’s friends taking off a portion of the roof and lowering his pallet down so that Jesus could do the healing is still a movie ready-to-be-made. We have — in these first two chapters of Mark — been racing through some of the early pieces of Jesus’ successful ministry. Now we get to the conflict and controversy part. This is the first of five little episodes in which Jesus has to deal with opponents. Scholars think there was probably a reason for this clump of vignettes, showing the early church how Jesus stood up to the growing opposition. According to Mark, Jesus was living in Capernaum (and perhaps this setting was even his own home). There were scads of people — religious people, scribes, who had come in and made themselves ‘at home’ — so much so that the really needy person couldn’t break through the crowds. The people in this crowd, however, were like the rubber-neckers at a wreck, gawking and wondering but not really helping the situation AND preventing the important connection (like an ambulance or paramedic) from getting in and making good happen. Many of the people in the crowd didn’t really believe in Jesus. They were curious, and they wanted to question his authority. They wanted to argue about his intentions. They wanted to belabor the little issues. They wanted to set up all sorts of barriers to what people were seeing and hearing and believing about this Jesus. They literally had barricaded Jesus in his own home. But the friends of the paralytic — frustrated that they could not break through the barriers — dug off a portion of the roof of the house, tied the mat of their friend to rope, and lowered the roped mat (and their friend) into touching space of Jesus. Now, Jesus’ response is good. He didn’t get irritated that his roof was partially destroyed. He didn’t proclaim weariness because of his house being full of critics, and now he had to do a healing. As the story is told, Jesus hadn’t even expressed outrage — yet — to these people in his home. His response was – when he saw the faith of the friends he healed the man – forgave his sins. It is when those scribes began to berate Jesus (in their hearts …amazing the power of discernment that Jesus does have!) about who does he think he is that Jesus had had enough…ENOUGH ALREADY…ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! “I have the power to forgive. I have the power to heal. All it takes is for you to have the faith — like these friends — to bring to me the ones in need.” I believe Jesus is just as outraged and weary today. We have so many questions and stipulations — so many, many barriers that we put up that prevent the power of God from healing us and those who are in the greatest need. I can imagine Jesus saying “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” and turning to those who have faith enough to dare to bring their friend through the roof — through the barriers — because they know healing is available. We, thankfully, no longer link illness with sinfulness. We, hopefully, do not confuse hunger and poverty with alienation from God. EXCEPT: we, faithfully, know that any burden keeping us from the fullness of life, whether it be our need for forgiveness, our need to provide forgiveness, any one’s need for water, for food, for shelter, for healthcare, for decent wages, for safety, for education, for self-esteem and dignity is a burden for all of us. And for all of us to realize that until every child — every man and woman — on this earth has all of those needs fulfilled, every one of us carries a burden and God’s world is compromised and incomplete. And Jesus — seeing us carrying those burdens to him — will recognize and celebrate and heal. The pilot who napalmed that Vietnamese village had 24 years of carrying his burden, and was finally able to get to the source of a relationship that would bring healing. Do we believe that there is power to heal? As the church of Jesus Christ, our faith is based on that belief. We have no mission without belief. We begin the Week of Compassion today, which is, of course, more than a week but a ministry that allows us to cut holes in rooftops and lower our friends around the world to the healing touch of Jesus Christ. Offerings to Week of Compassion this past year have allowed us to be present in the myriad of disasters on every continent of this precious world of God’s — not because our scant dollars can feed, clothe, shelter the scores of hungry and homeless, not that any money can bring back the ravages of death but because our dollars joined with dollars from other Christians around the world can bring the presence of God to people who are needy and because we believe in the power of that healing presence. Skeptics will say to us, “why bother?” The poor will always be with us. The next disaster will take even more resources to clean-up. So, why not use the money for something we can see? And why do you think you can heal the world?” And Jesus, probably not so patiently, will be saying “ENOUGH is ENOUGH! Quit putting up the barricades to me, and look to those who have the courage to believe! Look to those who have the faith to bring their needy friends for healing, and who know their own need of the presence of God.” May we be so fortunate to know our need, and to know the needs of the world. And to know the source of all healing. SW |
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