Last week crystal talked to us about the sustaining andhealing power of what we do. And how we choose things that tend to keep us
where we are, rather than doing the difficult movement that actually causes
healing. Like an oxygen tank, many of us have chosen to do things that look
like they are healing, but they only coil around our necks and profess our coming
demise. How do we be still and allow for healing?
My friend Galen heals little kids for a living. I talk with
him once a week, and he tells me the crazy things that are happening in his
practice. He’s a pediatric physical therapist, but his skill level and
abilities move beyond simple muscle and structural manipulation. Weekly, I am
inspired and almost moved to jealousy about how visceral his faith and
connection to God is providing practical life change in others. He isn’t
prescribing Tylenol to lessen the pain of the hip dysplasia, he is doing the
work to heal the problem that is afflicting these people. He isn’t giving
oxygen to the dying, he is providing life.
This doesn’t immune himself from the pains of affliction, or
the inevitability of death. About once a year one of his kids dies, because of
the level of physical ailments that they have. He is rocked by each of these occurrences.
Yet he continues to learn new techniques of healing, and is very good at his
Job.
Sometimes, as I talk to him, I long for his abilities. The
cut and dry aspect of his job where “Hey this no longer hurts.” means the job
is complete. Listening to the techniques and knowledge that he is working with,
I am inspired and sometimes I feel a little shattered inside. Just because the stories
that are coming from my end of the conversation aren’t nearly as miraculous,
awe inspiring, and life changing.
Maybe you have never known anyone that has had the gift of
healing, but I’m sure you can imagine that sometimes the vicinity of that gift
might make you feel a little broken; or maybe act broken; or maybe just more
aware of your brokenness. Sort of like finding out your long time friend is a
practicing clinical psychologist, and thinking to yourself as you talk to her “I
wonder if she thinks I am fucked up?” I also think it also is the draw of
power. When someone can make you whole, there is great power in that. It also has the potential to draw a crowd.
People who want healing, and people who want the gift. The group of people that
are gathered around the guru to fix them so that they may be like the guru. They
are there because of what this guru will give them by proxy. When I listen to
my friend I am enchanted. I long to have my eyes opened where God and magic are
in the air.
I think that might be why a first century home in Capernaum was
packed to the hilt. There was someone who would make you whole there. He was in
town. He was at Gary’s house. This healer was the eye of the vortex in which
God and Magic swirled. Jesus, the person who was at the apex of the healing of the
earth was at Gary’s house.
Near him floated his group. People that had gone out in his
name and banished the dark forces that were housed within people. Healed their
sick. And forgave peoples sins with common water, not with a burnt offering
from the temple. The disciples did what Jesus did. But at Gary’s house was the
real deal. Not someone who was close to him. The guy himself.
Gary’s house was packed. People wanted to be there for all
sorts of reasons: maybe they had a bad back, there was a dude that would go
into epileptic convulsions, most of them were there because of a rash. Some
were there to watch the show. They wanted to see if it was true. Some of them
were there because they were looking for a story. And others were there because
they wanted to put an end to the hocus pokus.
Four weeks previous, three roofers were working. Sil, Tony,
and Jesse were good friends, and their families hung out a lot. Their kids
played together. Though he was usually very careful, Tony slipped and fell about
20 feet. He landed on his neck, crushing two of the 7 cervical vertebrae resulting
in paralysis. Sil and Jesse did what they could to help out their friend, but
it was getting to be a huge burden, and caused several fights in their home.
The two roofers found out about Jesus arriving at Gary’s
house. Could it be that this man had the power to heal Tony? They had to find
out. They got two of the people in their roofing company, and played hooky from
their job to see. Carrying their friend was slow going though; and they got
there late. The place was packed. There was no room for them. They couldn’t get
their friend close. There was just too many people. That was when Sil looked
up. The roof, of course! Back then the shingling was somewhat pliable, whether
it was thatching or whatever. A skilled roofer could peel up the roof and enter
through there. Sil and Jesse did their job, scaled the wall and peeled up the
roof, secured Tony’s pallet with a rope, levered it from the main beam and
lowered their paralyzed friend down into the living room to where Jesus stood. Perched
atop of the ceiling the four looked down to see this:
Jesus looked up and was dazzled by Sil and Jesse’s efforts.
He then looked into Tony’s eyes and smiled. Then came something they didn’t
expect. "Son, I forgive your sins."
Sil slipped. His grip
on the ceiling beam re-clenched to prevent himself from plummeting on top of
Jesus from 20 feet up.”What?” He thought as he was about to witness something
incredible. Instead of his friend
becoming whole. his sins were forgiven? Some religion scholars sitting there
started whispering among themselves, "He can't talk that way! That's
blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins."
Sil hardly cared about Tony’s sins, but he was disappointed
that this was the route the healing would go.
Jesus knew right away
what they were thinking, and said, "Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler:
to say to the paraplegic, 'I forgive your sins,' or say, 'Get up, take your
stretcher, and start walking'? Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man
and authorized to do either, or both . . ." (he looked now at the
paraplegic), "Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home." And Tony
did.—he got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there
watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying,
"We've never seen anything like this!"
Last week we talked about the things that we do to maintain
our life rather than heal it. Some of us have identified certain things that
act like the oxygen tank, maintaining our stabilization, but communicating the
death to come. Some of us have, as of this week, begun practicing things that
will promote healing and pull us out of stabilization into thriving.
It is my hope today that we become people who in their
entirety communicate the health and vitality of God. And it is my thought that
it begins and is replicated by the same means Tony received healing on that day
he was lowered from the roof.
Through forgiveness of our sins.
We do not use the word “sin” much here because it has taken
on a manipulative, and condescending air to it. Where, when the word sin is
used, it automatically creates a one up one down relationship where peers don’t
exist and only the righteous and the failed begin. You may have heard the
definition of sin as sidesteps on account of pain. Where you are doing your
best to dodge the bullets coming at you. And your dodges are usually using
others as a human shield. This world shoots its bullets fast and hard, and we
are doing our best not to get hit. Sin is our attempt at OUR stabilization. And
much of our time our best means is accomplished by throwing others under the
bus. Have you experienced being thrown in front of someone’s life bullets? Have
you done the throwing.
We have seen the billboard:” Jesus came to forgive sins.” And
it has been trivialized, and billboardized into a joke. Because the agenda of those
wielding the sign has not been to move in forgiveness but rather move in judgment
of sin. Really, do you have to tell me that shooting the man was messed up?
Really you have to tell me that the rape was something God didn’t like? The
people holding the sign on the street have not been interested in healing those
around them with forgiveness, but rather taking up the sign to promote their
own self righteousness and purity of thought. How sad that the message coming
from those who hold the sign is “think the way I do and you will feel good
about yourself as well”. Talk about an oxygen tank. Take this Tylenol and you
won’t feel the pain. Believe what I believe and you will be so occupied with
trying to convince people you are right that you will be so distracted that you
wont be able to take part in the words you are carrying. If only they heard the message of their sign.
That they are to look in the eyes of the person with paralysis and relieve them
of the terrible atrocities they committed to their fellow man just by living.
The time they cut that friend out of their life, forgiven,
the time they used that other person because they were feeling bad about
themselves, forgiven, The time they gave that man the bird for cutting them off
in traffic, forgiven, the time they manipulated that person to get their way,
forgiven, the time they got revenge, forgiven, the time they were cold to the person
who deserved it, forgiven, the time the person didn’t hold the same belief
structure… also forgiven.
Jesus purposely didn’t set up a government, because he saw
that a heart that is poised for good, governs itself. You don’t need to
extrapolate what would happen if all criminals were forgiven, you just need to
start where you live.
When Jesus taught us to pray, he was clear about the mark of
someone who was going to embark on healing the world. Not just the stabilizing
it. He said “‘And forgive us our debts (our sins, our trespasses), as we also
have forgiven our debtors (sinners, and trespassers).
In a time in which the temple held the monopoly on God’s
forgiveness through burnt offerings, John and Jesus used common Jordan water to
communicate the availability of forgiveness for all.
We may want the ability to restore healing to the body. We
may want the magic that was swirling within Gary’s house in Capernaum that day
of Tony’s healing. The thing is: we do. It has been trivialized and beaten on
all sides so it is a joke to those who hear it. But if you have ever
experienced confessing to someone your sins, and had them listen and say “I
forgive you.” And not hold it against
you … but continue to be your friend. You know how life changing it is. The weight
lifts. The wet cement that you are breathing dissipates. Perhaps that is the
reality that Tony felt that day, initially his arms and legs refused to move.
Yet his soul was saying “I AM FREE.”
Who do you need to forgive today? Who needs to be let off
the hook? How do you need to be let off the hook? Consider that Jesus came to
forgive you. How does that feel? What if you were to give that to someone else?
The stranger. The spouse. The enemy. What if healing started with a blank slate?
And maybe a smile.
Oh that we might become a people who have the ability to
peer through the veneer of those around us and offer the thing that will
provide our life to thrive. That we may do the hard work of not holding on to
our pride to say that we are above being wrong, and ask for a pardon for our
seemingly small injustices to our fellow man. Oh that we may take up the Godly
work of setting down the offense and forgiving those around us, especially the
hard cases. That we may see each other as peers and workers in developing a new
world, one that lays down the sword and works together in the field with the plowshares.
Grace is god working, healing and moving. Today consider
taking up the banner of forgiveness so that our world will be healed.
