People Over Posessions and Piety

May 21

Read: Mark 2

Growing Opposition

“People Over Piety and Posessions”

“Why do you question these things in your heart?”

What a profound question from Jesus. Why is it that we question? Why is it that we doubt? When Jesus returns to his home in Capernaum, the crowds are quickly upon him. A faithful group of people carry their paralytic friend to see Jesus. Seeing no way in they pry open the roof to lower him down. Can you imagine the spectacle? The house is so packed that “there was NO ROOM there, not even at the door”. Literally it was shoulder to shoulder at Jesus’ house… quite a “small group” or “bible study” huh!?! All of a sudden the roof pieces start pulling up… the debris falling onto the crowd. Then… a paralytic man on a mat is lowered down. Can you picture it?

Now imagine that in the middle of this scene… this crowd… this spectacle… that the first thought that comes to your mind is "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (v.7) I mean, here is a paralyzed dude who just got lowered through a hole in the roof by his friends into the midst of a crowd so tight even the doorway is full and blocked and the first thing that comes to your mind is a critique of Jesus’ theology!?! Now I am not saying that theology is unimportant, or that we should not reflect on the teaching of those we are listening to… but this reaction gives us a look into the hearts of these men. Notice how these questions were taking place in their “hearts”. (v.6) The couldn’t pay attention to Jesus, or this man, or what was happening at a heart level because their hearts were caught up in a theological debate. They were not thinking of the paralyzed man. They were not thinking of what it took to get him there. They were not thinking about the damage to Jesus’ roof… or the headache of getting a construction worker lined up to fix it! LOL. Notice how their hearts had become so preoccupied with being theologically “right” that they were blind to those around them and pushing back against Jesus… the very author of “theology”. Right theology ALWAYS interests with others… with people… and it flows from JESUS. If our theology ever becomes untethered from Jesus or others… it is dead. If it becomes a distraction from following Christ…if it ties up our hearts so much we can’t hear the words of Jesus himself… that is a problem.

I bet the paralyzed dude LOVED the fact that these scribes were bustin’ Jesus’ chops. Think about it… the “questioning hearts” of the scribes moved Jesus to flex on them and heal the paralyzed man as well. How do you think he would have felt if the scribes didn’t question… and all Jesus did was “forgive his sins”. It is weird to think of right? If it all stopped there because no one challenged Jesus, then the man lowered down would need to be carried out. “But at least he would have had his sins forgiven…right? Isn’t that the most important part?” Do you think his friends would have been encouraged or discouraged if it stopped there? To Jesus’ question: Which actually IS HARDER anyways?… To forgive sins or to heal legs? It is funny how little we think of the forgiveness of sins… when in reality it IS THE HARDER of the two to DO… but the easier of the two to SAY. (cf. v.9) It was the questioning hearts of the scribes that played a pivotal role in that man WALKING OUT of there carrying his mat. That dude loves the fact that the scribes are a bunch of accusatory punks!

God uses opposition as an opportunity to demonstrate his saving love and power. The scribes have a role to play in the story… and even Jesus had “nay-sayers”. Questioning hearts that push back against the words of Jesus will be met by miraculous work and the power and authority of the Lord. Sooner or later, “every knee will bow down”. We don’t always no what role God has for someone… what GOOD things he will bring about because of their hardened heart… just ask eh dude who walked out of that house. Also, the forgiveness of sins is NO SMALL THING, and yet we scoff at it in light of other miracles. We know this because of how we would feel if the story ended without the paralytic getting his legs back. The good news is JESUS DOES BOTH.

My good friend Ed Sweeny has taught me something very important recently… he has helped me to see the importance of caring for people. He has a really long list of these dichotomies that all start with “P’s” and they are really good. One of them is this: “People over Possessions”. We choose to love people more than stuff… our things. I love the idea of these guys ripping a hole in Jesus’ roof at his house… and he says nothing about it! That is “people over possessions”. Jesus forgives this man his sins AND heals him… despite the theological uproar it was creating in the hearts of the nay-sayers. I don’t have a perfect pairing (see what I did there?) for this one… but this morning I called it: “People over Piety”; meaning our theology and our action in this world with others must intersect and be defined by Jesus and what he is calling us to do… it is the difference between the piety of these scribes and the heart of Nicodemus in John 3. Lord, give us faith to trust in what we cannot see… or have not yet seen! Open our eyes and hearts to you! Love you guys! - JDP