Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we found that Jesus went to the desert to be alone and pray but because of the disobedience of the leprous man who was healed Jesus had go out to the desert for people to come to Him - the desert was no longer a place to meet with God but with people.

Today we find that Jesus returns to His home base of Capernaum and no sooner has He arrived that people start to crowd the house both inside and outside.

It makes me wonder just how big this house is! Remember that this house is not owned by Jesus but by Andrew and Peter.

Now in this crowd are not only fans of Jesus but critics too.

They are all curious about this man from Galilee in their midst.

Most, I would hazard a guess, were there because they really wanted to see Him as well for Him to perform a miracle.

I wonder if they felt their hopes were being dashed when Jesus, we are told.

was teaching them instead.

People no doubt had come for healing but they were hearing a message instead.

We know that the content of His Word would have been to “repent and believe for the kingdom of God is near”.

There would have been much more substance to what He was saying, the kind of thing we will discover in the Sermon on the Mount, which we will start to look at, God willing, next month.

I am sure there were many who needed healing that particular day but because of the size of the crowd they could not get near.

Then there were these five men who turned up because they had heard that Jesus was there and that He had the ability to heal.

One of the men was on a bed and paralysed and four of the men were carrying him.

As soon as they saw the crowd they knew that there was no way of getting in through the door, let alone actually finding it!

We’ve all been to visit places on the tourist trail and come across queues where the entrance was not even visible.

Hopefully there would be some sign saying how long the wait is going to be though oftentimes there’s not.

And isn’t it annoying when people jump the queue?

It makes my blood boil.

It’s bad enough that they will make me wait longer but also all those who are behind me.

My sense of justice rises and often, as Irena will attest to, I cannot help myself saying something to them.

It is a very British thing to queue.

You know which countries Britain had some influence over in the past for they would still have some semblance of queuing!

But where we have had no influence people know they should queue but it is a free for all.

In Macedonia they do not queue in traffic at the traffic lights for someone from the back of the queue will drive around and edge in front of you at the white line.

Maddening!

And when one does it suddenly there are five cars in front of you where you think that there was not even space for five cars…

A friend of Irena’s from Macedonia was here and Irena said to her, in giving directions at the airport, “follow the queue”.

Well in the airport she looked for this queue high and low and did not find it - the queue she was looking for was the letter ‘Q’! Queues do not exist in Macedonia!

The whole concept of queuing is foreign to them!

Patience is learned the hard way here or not at all!

And this is not something I find easy to deal with!

Well, the point of all this was; here were some queue jumpers.

“Wait.

No. we’re not going to wait!

The queue to the door is massive and who knows whether we’d get in before Jesus leaves.

I know!

Let’s go up the roof and see if there is a way in that way!”

Well, getting to the roof of this Galilean house was no easy task - there were no steps, no ladder so it required some adept climbing - no wonder no one was trying to do this!

When they go to the roof, which like all houses in that area was flat, they found no way in but did that stop them!

No! They removed the tiles and then dug through the rest of the building material of clay, straw and mud to break through it completely and make a gaping hole.

Goodness knows how much noise they were making whilst they were doing all this.

Did I say that this house did not belong to Jesus but to Peter and Andrew?

Yes!

Well, this house did not belong to these five men either.

Is anything made of this?

Did anyone say anything?

You know, something like, ‘What do you think you are doing!’ or ‘You’ll pay for the damage!’

Curiously nothing is said at all.

At least not what we are told.

I don’t know that I could have stopped myself and so it is even more surprising for someone as impetuous as Peter to keep quiet.

Peter could of asked Andrew ‘did we order a sun lounge for the front room?’

But perhaps Jesus shook His head and gave some eye contact to Peter to keep schtum.

This was very bold of these men as well as very desperate and compassionate for their friend.

What would we do for our friends?

Would we go to these kind of lengths?

What kind of friend are we to those whom we call friends?

We have an example of really good friendship in this passage - I am not suggesting we should cause criminal damage but to what lengths do we show our loyalty?

These friends really showed themselves to be friends for nothing was going to stop them from helping him.

From the roof they let him down in front of Jesus.

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What did the friends want Jesus to do? Heal their friend, right?

Yes.

So, it was a bit of surprise after all the hard work they had put in, to place the man in front of Jesus that He said: “Your sins are forgiven you”.

This was the reward of trusting Jesus to heal their friend.

I don’t know about you but I think I might have been aggrieved.

Jesus saw their faith so it had not gone unnoticed, as if that was possible to do.

But, they thought, we brought him here to be healed.

Jesus knew better.

The one thing that someone needs above all other things is to be forgiven; to have peace in one’s own heart.

Is Jesus saying he is sick because of sin? No.

Many commentators think this but surely if that was the case as soon as he was forgiven he would have got up.

The sickness of his heart and soul needed to be dealt with first for it is more important than physical healing and this is true of every person on the planet.

Jesus dealt with the spiritual condition of the man first for, after all, with physical healing you still have to die one day.

Healing does not mean that you will live forever.

Spiritual healing, though, is forever; there is no end, no further death.

The man may not have realised his need necessarily, as most don’t today, but as soon as we realise that it is God we offend with our sinning above all then our need to be cleansed rises to the top of things to be sorted - and it needs to be on everyone’s bucket list.

Were the scribes right when they thought that only God who can forgive?

They were definitely right.

And this is what we find in Scripture:

But then it is only God who can forgive.

Isa 43

Fantastic promises give by God to His people.

But who is this man Jesus to forgive?

It was understandable that the Scribes thought that this was blasphemy for who was Jesus to forgive anyone?

There can only be one of two answers: Either Jesus is self-deceived and thinks He is God or Jesus really IS God!

It may not have been immediately obvious to those who were there but here Jesus is revealing who He is.

The divinity of Jesus is constantly under debate but as a Christian it is heretical to suggest that Jesus was not both fully man and fully God at the same time.

This passage is one of the key ones among so many others to show that Jesus is God.

He forgave sins.

Who can forgive someone else’s sins?

Only God.

Therefore Jesus is God.

Can we forgive sins committed against someone else?

We cannot forgive crimes that were not committed against us.

A judge cannot say, I forgive you for burgling my neighbour’s house.

I think the neighbour would have something to say about that!

He is blaspheming his neighbour’s name.

But I can forgive someone who burgles my own house.

The Scribes understood this well: they knew Jesus was claiming to be God by forgiving sins for He is saying that you are sinning and offending me when you sin.

And that is also true today: when we sin we sin against Jesus because He is God.