2024-07-28 - San Jose CRC - sermon only - Gil Suh

Mark 20:1-12

Unsung Heroes of the Bible - The Fantastic Four

Transcript:

 Good morning. Our scripture passage today is from Mark chapter 2 verses. Oh Is it 1 through 12 or 1 through 28? Okay 1 through 20 1 through 12 that can be found On page 813 in your pew Bible or you can follow along on the screen as I read Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man. A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, when he preached the word to them.

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it, then lowered that, the mat the man was on, lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now, when some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately, Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts. And he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier, to say to this paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up, take your mat, and walk? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.” He got up, took his mat, and walked out in full view of them.

All this amazed everyone and they praised God saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Gil Suh:

We are in the middle of this series called Unsung Heroes of the Bible, the ordinary people for an extraordinary purpose, I suppose every one of you, not every one of you, most of you have this experience that you have some issue, like whether it's a travel related or bill or medical something that you need to call and need to talk to somebody on the phone.

So you call that number, but then the other side, this metallic voice, says, “All of our representatives still are busy.” I mean, it doesn't sound like this, but you know, right? So your call is important to us. Please hold. Then, immediately, this annoying music kicks in, right? And you'll just wait, and then annoying music repeated again, and again, and again, and then just wait for a voice.

Then another voice comes in. “Our representatives are still busy. Please continue to hold.” And then the worst part: your waiting time is 35 minutes. And that moment you just feel like hanging up and pushing the button. So now you need to decide whether to hang up out of frustration or anger or just continue, stay on.

What makes you decide? I think what makes you decide is how important and how urgent this issue is for you to solve. If it's something that you can. Okay, well, I'm gonna just find another way to solve it; probably, you're not gonna wait for 35 minutes, or who knows why you're waiting on another frustrating part.

Sometimes, the connection drops, right? All those 20 minutes of wasting your time. So, you make that decision based on your understanding and recognition of how important and serious this call is. Faced with obstacles and resistance in life in general, not just in this kind of calling situation, we are tempted to give up, to try unless it's important, so important, and so urgent.

We don't persist unless we have faith that it is worth waiting for and it will solve the problem in the end. If we don't have that faith, yeah, we hesitate whether to persist or not. And many of us tend to just sit down and worry, thinking to ourselves, thinking to ourselves, Hmm, what am I going to do about this?

Some of us tend to react quickly without thinking or without faith. In today's story, we see an example of faith in action and action in faith that results in extraordinary things. He starts with these four unnamed men. So, this faith in action has three characteristics. I want us to remember these; this is kind of the outline of the rest of the message.

Faith in action seeks to find a way to restore or solve that problem, whatever it is that needs to be restored. Faith in action persists patiently when facing obstacles. That's the second characteristic of faith in action. The third is that faith in action leads to fulfilling God's purpose. So now, these four men, we don't know their names, but they live in Carponeum. Carponeum is one of the small towns in the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus, after he came back to Nazareth and people in his hometown persecuted him, made a home in another town called Capernaum. So it is some of his kind of, it's like a second home.

Of course, he didn't stay there. He performed miracles and did ministry, and then he went around the Sea of Galilee. These four men apparently heard about Jesus of Nazareth and what he was doing. And then they learned that Jesus was back in town. And they thought of their friend, a particular friend who was bedridden, isolated, and did not have any chance to do anything. So they took action, mobilizing themselves, telling their friend, “Hey friend, we're going to take you to Jesus, who can maybe heal you.” So they decide to bring this paralyzed man to Jesus. And we don't know why he became paralyzed.

There may be different reasons why this man became paralyzed. But what we do know is that at that time, the paralyzed man was ostracized, marginalized, and looked down upon. That's for sure. He was forgotten. He was depressed. But not these four men. They remembered him. And they tried to find a way for his healing. And I'll call them the Fantastic Four.

These are very cool four guys. Because, you know, we don't know much about it, but these guys just came and they did what they wanted to do. And then, we don't, we don't, we don't hear anything about, but they did a wonderful role in this story. So they made a decision, first of all, to bring their friend.

We don't know how heavy he was, but they needed to make a sturdy carrier. We don't know how far they walked, but it was not a paved road, remember? So they had to be careful. What they didn't want was to drop him on the way. So four guys carrying this paralyzed man. So they have to kind of plan things and coordinate, right?

To execute. So, it's hard work they put in, but they were set on that goal and aimed to bring their suffering friend to Jesus. When they arrived at the house where Jesus was, there were so many people inside and outside of the house. And we know the feeling. When you get to the DMV, restaurant, or hospital, there is a long line.

And then what do we do? especially if we are now in a group, like you went there, you know, with others. We even argue with each other, right? Should we wait? Is it worth it? Maybe we should come back another time or go to another restaurant. Okay, let's go to another place. Of course, it's different when we go to the hospital.

Usually, make a way for emergency cases, and you go to what? ER, right? And I've been to ER, of course, several times. And even ER, supposedly, when you get there, you're supposed to be tended right away. But that's not the case, right? You have to have a number of waits. I want to believe that there is a, you know, some reasonable and compassionate system that when the really urgent case comes in, they'll make a way for that person, although it's the ER.

So we wonder why they the crowd didn't make way for this ER ambulance. It's almost like an ambulance of the time, right? Why didn't they do that? I thought about what? Maybe many of them were themselves emergency cases waiting for their turns, or maybe they didn't want to give up their spots. Hey, wait in line, or they didn't notice or care about this suffering man because it is a small town.

They already knew who he was, so he's already excluded. They didn't care except these four men. Whatever the case. The crowd was in their way, blocking the access to Jesus. So now what? We could imagine now these four men, quite tired and sweating. Okay. What are we going to do now? Maybe one of them said, Oh, let's come back another time.

Then the other one said, Oh, do we have to go back? But there's no way. You can imagine they're just talking among themselves. Another just blurted out, I knew this, that's why I told you guys that we should just maybe send for Jesus to come. I heard that this, uh, the other fellow did that, and then he just, Jesus commanded, and then he got healed.

We should have tried that option, so they didn't know what to do then. One of them, as they're talking, looks at the roof. Hey guys, I have an idea. What? What about we climb up and then lower the mat through the They couldn't believe their ears. What? If you have watched the Mission Impossible movie, there's Tom Cruise.

It was like the old TV shows. There's a team of, you know, these people, group of people. They always face each other. Mission impossible. But then Ethan Hunt comes up with the idea or suggestion that they're always like, what? But of course, they always get to do it. And I think it was like that. But in the end, they agree.

Why? They love him, and they have faith in the end. It will be solved. So it was love and faith in action that caused them to do something unconventional, out-of-the-box thinking. Of course, it involves that kind of thinking; think about it. Now they have to climb up the house and make a hole. And of course, one of the objections was, maybe we have to pay for that later.

But they're not calculating. Like, this is important. We need to help our friend. So love finds its way and persists at the cost. And they decide to do that. So four of them carried out their friend. So we can imagine they found a way to get up, probably outside stairs. So I look it up. So, our archaeology tells us that the roofs of the homes in Jesus’ day were constructed not like our houses here constructed off timbers, like three poles, like 2 to 3 ft each apart. They put the timber first wood and on top of the wood. They put the big branch like, um, the palm branch cover and on top of the top the branches.

They put the third in leaves or mud so that technically means they could make the hole. They could make it kind of a section or tie. They didn't have to break the whole thing, so they knew it. Probably one of the four was a carpenter or a roof guy. So they made a hole, and they lowered the man. What a commotion you can imagine it must have caused.

Because people inside saw this all of a sudden, things were falling. What's going on? Yeah. And there's all of a sudden the hole and the paralyzed man was lowered. The reaction of people were probably not so pleasant. They are like surprised and in disbelief and they're upset, especially the house owner.

And some are just dumbfounded like they didn't know what to make of this. They had never thought of it; they had never seen anything like this. And in the middle of this reaction. What about Jesus? Let's imagine,

I think Jesus was like, wow, I think he was impressed. He was impressed by these four guys, what and why they're doing. Because we look at the outside, but Jesus always looks at the heart. And we are told by this passage, Jesus saw their faith. But what kind of faith? I think it's their belief that Jesus could help their friend who had no solution elsewhere.

So it was that sort of desperate and urgent hope. It was not just wishful thinking. If it were just wishful thinking, they would have just turned away and just gone back when the crowds were too much. But it was the deep conviction and desperate hope that moved them to such an action. So, that's a contrast in this story.

That's a contrast to these teachers of the law with death faith. These four men had a living faith in action that led them to Christ. But these teachers of the law were physically sitting inside the house with Jesus, but they didn't recognize Jesus. They didn't have their faith. We are told they're sitting while these four men are working and moving; they're sitting and thinking to themselves.

And when Jesus called this paralyzed man's son, Your sins are forgiven. And these teachers of the law are just thinking, questioning, and there's no sign of faith and compassion for these men or nothing. They're just looking for an opportunity to attack Jesus. Their heart was hardened. But these four men, their faith in action, First of all, blessed their paralyzed friend and then challenged the teachers of the law and brought that opportunity catalyzed the teaching moment of Jesus. And then at the end, leading other people, their amazement, and they praise God. It all starts with these four men's faith in action. So Jesus, not only at that time but even today, sees our hearts and our motives. Just think about that. Whatever we do, Jesus sees through our hearts and our motives. And he sees our faith in action, just like he saw faith in action of these four men. And then he not only sees the faith in action, but he turns that faith into action, blessings for others.

I said Jesus was smiling because I think he knew what he's gonna do. And Jesus was so pleased to see the heart and their faces inside their hearts were tuned, aligned with his. So we can imagine Jesus like, Hey, you guys really care about your friend. And doing this way. And I care about him, too, actually, more than you do. Because I care about his soul. As well as his body. That's why Jesus was addressing the sin issue. Your sins are forgiven. Of course, after he said that he healed him physically as well,

We can imagine Jesus saying, I came to save the sinners, not the righteous, the sick, not the healthy, not those who self claim, Oh, I'm fine. Oh, I'm okay, but those who are desperate and the faith of those four men, Jesus saw their faith. We don't know much about that paralyzed man. We want to believe that he also wanted, he agreed, or he wanted to be healed by Jesus too.

But it is such a comfort and assurance to us that sometimes Jesus sees our faith, and they use that faith to bless others. So that's why we pray for others in faith. Praying for others is an expression of faith in action, and God can hear our prayer and our faith in action and bless others by answering our prayers.

So Jesus could offer forgiveness of sins. So forgiveness is an invisible action. But Jesus healed a man visibly to prove that he's invisible act of forgiving sins was also effective. So he's healing then demonstrated that he had authority from God to do both healing and forgiving. So Jesus said to the man, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.

So he got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. Isn't that amazing? Because few minutes before nobody was made. Nobody made any inch, but now you could imagine almost like the Red Sea open up, like this man, like walking out in their full view and then like, whoo, and then they walk out.

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, we have never seen anything like this. What an extraordinary result from that ordinary poor man. I called them the Fantastic Four. He brought about this amazement and praise of people. The four friends had loving care for their sick friend and faith in Christ as one who can heal, and their love and faith are expressed through persistence.

How about us? Where is our love for others and faith in Christ?

What is Christ calling for you and me to exercise persistent faith in action in our life?

Who are those in our lives who need to be carried to Christ? Who are our other three friends? Because it's impossible for one person to do it. You need a group. Who are others who will, in spite of some argument, disagree, but in the end, because of sharing their common faith in action and loving compassion with a different personality, different strength, and different height, but we'll do it together?

These are some of the questions coming up as we think about the story from that perspective of faith in action. So faith in action, finding a way for restoration, faith, faith in persistence in facing obstacles, and faith action bring about God's extraordinary purpose. I tried to put this verse on the top of the slide but we had some difficulty. So, I want you to just reach out to your Bible. I want to finish my message by just reading this together. Galatians chapter six, verses nine and 10. Galatians. It's page 946 in your Pew Bible. Galatians chapter six. Verse nine and 10. So, let us read together in unison. Did you find it? Page 946, verses nine and 10. Let us read together in unison. 1, 2, 3. Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time, we'll reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Let us pray.

Lord, we come before you reminded of the power of faith in action. So, Lord, help us recognize that you use our faith to accomplish your purposes. Just as Jesus saw the faith of these four men and performed a wonderful miracle of saving the body and soul of the paralytic, we know that you see our faith and use it to bring about your will.

Lord, just give us that faith in action. Maybe like a mustard seed, but still living, and help us to be persistent in waiting on you. Let our hearts be filled with the same conviction and hope, believing that our faith in action can lead to transformation by your hand to guide us to be persistent and patient to overcome barriers and to trust in your ultimate plan.

May our actions, rooted in faith, bring glory to your name and demonstrate your love to the world. Teach us to live by the values of your kingdom, seeing beyond the worldly perspective. Our ultimate trust is in you to recognize that you use ordinary people in your time and your way for your extraordinary purposes.

You are a great God with power and love. In Jesus name we pray.