“God Will Make A Way”: Mark 2: 1-12

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, February 18, 2024

When we lived in Africa, Joe and I marveled at village homes that were built by hand, out of local materials. If I had to build my own house with only what I could find in nature, I would be living under a brush lean-to – maybe. I saw people making bricks out of local clay, and firing them with wood or charcoal from nearby forests. After constructing a simple home from these bricks, people made the roof out of wood and thatch. Nowadays you sometimes see old-fashioned roofs of this type in the village with a solar panel on top so that phones can be charged and a small lightbulb or two turned on at night.

Bible time home construction was not much different – except for the solar panels! During Jesus’ day, houses were usually constructed of stone and mortar, rather than fired bricks. Roofs were flat, and were used for a variety of activities, such as storage, drying laundry or grain, or just as an extra room to sit and talk, pray, or even sleep. A stairway led from the ground up to the roof, for easy access.

To build such a roof required straight and sturdy beams, placed a couple of feet apart, then covered with branches, cane, or reeds, then with thick layers of plaster made of earth, straw, and lime. A final layer of dry earth, ash, and chalk was poured over the plaster just as it began to stiffen up, and compacted by using a large rolling stone. Once all the layers dried, the roof was safe to walk on. Each year it would have to be repaired during the dry season, before the autumn rains, to keep it free from leaks and cracks.

Two weeks ago I talked about Jesus’ first two miracles in the book of Mark: healing a man with an unclean spirit and healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever, how Jesus took her by the hand and lifted her up. Mark tells us, “That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door.” The next day, Jesus took his newly-called disciples and went throughout Galilee, healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching in the synagogues. Word spread far and wide about Jesus’ healing power.

So many people sought him that he “could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country, and people came to him from all over.” When Jesus returned to Capernaum after his travels, it is no wonder people crowded around the house where he was staying. Mark says, “So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door.” This was the scene that confronted the four men when they brought their paralyzed friend for Jesus to heal. When they couldn’t get through the crowd, their hearts must have sunk, but they were undeterred. Instead they took him up on the roof of the house, and began to dig through the layers of plaster and open a hole. It must have created quite a stir below when pieces of plaster began to fall down. They probably opened just enough to lower the man down, maybe using a cloth sling, as is pictured on the front of your bulletin. I doubt they dug such a huge hole, since there might have only been about two feet between the rafters, but people were skinnier in those days! I wonder what the owner of the house thought, and if the four offered to come back another day to fix the roof.

I titled my sermon “God Will Make a Way,” and I believe that is true. But in my life, God has most often made a way through others who have helped and counseled me, rather than by miraculous means. God used these four friends to help the paralytic overcome all the barriers he faced in getting to Jesus.

These four must have cared deeply about their paralyzed friend. In those days, disabled people did not have the rights they have today. About all a paralytic could do was beg – that is, if they had someone to carry them to the marketplace, city gate, or synagogue – wherever passers-by might take pity on them and toss them a coin or two.

In Tanzania, I visited a program for disabled children and their families. It had been started by local churches and their partners in the U.S. and Europe. These children were often left alone at home while their parents worked in the field or went to the market to sell produce. Sometimes they were locked inside the house all day alone. People were ashamed of them and didn’t take them outside. It was impossible for them to attend school – they would have had to walk there.

Anyway, there were no special education classes to cater to their needs. So the churches set up centers with specially trained volunteers, and one or two paid teachers, to care for the kids during the day, so that their parents had a safe place to leave them while they worked. The children receive meals and education or therapy appropriate to their condition. For example, one center that focused on young adults with Downe’s syndrome trained them in gardening, house-cleaning, and other simple, marketable skills, so they wouldn’t have to depend solely on their parents for their entire lives, and could contribute to the family income.

I have digressed from the Bible passage here, but we don’t often think about the lives of the disabled in developing countries. It probably wasn’t that different in Jesus’ day. There wasn’t much hope for a person with a disability. People thought that disability and illness were punishment for sin, and that the person deserved what had happened to them. Maybe that explains why Jesus said, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” I don’t think Jesus believed that the disability was due to sin, but the man himself may have believed that.

We are all sinners. We all need forgiveness. Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves. Jesus forgave the man and healed him.

This story leads us to wonder how far we would go to help a friend or neighbor in need. How far would we go to bring someone to Jesus, so that they might experience his healing touch on the soul and body? Would we allow ourselves to be inconvenienced, to take a day out of our lives to help them? Would we be discouraged by barriers and obstacles or would we do everything we could to break those barriers down?

Our society puts many barriers in front of people who truly need help. According to the Urban Institute, there are structural barriers that cause poverty, quote: “For programs providing cash, nutrition assistance, and other supports, eligibility requirements are high, benefits are low, and sanctions are harsh, with the goal of ensuring only the most desperate can access assistance. A focus on individual responsibility is rooted in the assumptions of the American dream, which promotes the idea that if someone works hard, follows social and moral rules, and takes personal responsibility, they will be financially successful.

So, under this assumption, if they are struggling financially, they must have done something wrong or aren’t working hard enough. And too often, these expectations are seen through a racist lens, which perpetuates harmful stereotypes.” End quote. How is this idea that some people deserve to be poor because of their own bad choices any different than the idea common in Jesus’ day that people deserved to be sick or disabled because they had sinned? (pause) Jesus forgave the man’s sin and healed him. Maybe it’s time we forgive people for being poor, even if they have made some bad choices. Maybe it’s time we try to break down the barriers that prevent people from getting the help they need. Food for thought.

Heather McGhee writes in her book The Sum of Us: “A healthy, functioning society, rests on the foundation of a web of mutuality, a sense of social solidarity, ‘a willingness among all involved to share enough with one another to accomplish what no one person can do alone.’” That web of mutuality, she convincingly argues, arises from altruistic “good Samaritan” behavior. It’s been found  that when people experience altruism, they become more likely to help others, creating a “virtuous spiral.”

Let’s move on from the four men who broke through the roof to bring their friend to Jesus and spend a few minutes thinking about the paralyzed man himself. He seems totally passive in this story, but I don’t think he was. I doubt if his friends would have dragged him kicking and screaming to Jesus. I think he had to cooperate. He had to be vulnerable to accept their help. He had to admit he was helpless and needed others. How often do we find ourselves in need of assistance but are too embarrassed or too proud to ask, or to accept an offer? Last week Pastor Jenni talked about how one of her grandmothers, when she was aging, didn’t want to accept help gracefully, but the other did. She said, “Our willingness to put ourselves in a position to be cared for is an act of faith. Accepting help can be one of the most difficult things we do, but it is needed in the life of a community. As difficult as that vulnerability is, we create opportunities for others to care for and serve us in a way that helps them grow in their faith.

By not resisting weakness and by gratefully receiving another’s care, we call forth community, and provide our caregivers an opportunity to give their own gifts of compassion, care, love, and service. Our needs create ministry opportunities for others, and there is a dignity in that.”

Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR Jewish Community in Los Angeles shares the following, story, and I will close with it. “An ancient Hebrew text, the Mishnah, describes a pilgrimage ritual from the time of the Second Temple. Several times each year, hundreds of thousands of Jews would ascend to Jerusalem…to climb the steps of the Temple Mount and enter its enormous plaza, turning to the right en masse, circling counterclockwise. Meanwhile, the brokenhearted, the mourners, the lonely, the sick, and the outcast would make this same ritual walk but they would turn to the left and circle in the opposite direction: every step against the current. And each person who encountered someone in pain would look into that person’s eyes and inquire: “What happened to you? Why does your heart ache?” “My father died,” a person might say. “There are so many things I never got to say to him.”

Or perhaps: “My partner left. I was completely blindsided.” Or: “My child is sick. We’re awaiting the test results.”

Those who walked from the right would offer a blessing: “May the Holy One comfort you,” ... “You are not alone.” And then they would continue to walk until the next person approached.

This timeless wisdom speaks to what it means to be human in a world of pain. This year, you walk the path of the anguished. Perhaps next year, it will be me. I hold your broken heart knowing that one day you will hold mine. Amen.

©Deborah Troester 2024