Mark 2: Calling All Sinners

When I was helping to excavate the synagogue at Wadi Hamam in Galilee, in my little area I uncovered a stone cylinder about two feet long and 8 “ in diameter and a dimple in each end.

From other work, I knew right away what it was – a roof roller to compact the earth on a roof and make it watertight.

When the building collapsed, that roller had been sitting on the roof and came crashing down to the floor.

I knew that, because immediately underneath the roller were the remains of a few nails.

The wood was long since disintegrated, but the rust from the nails in the roof beam still stained the soil there.

So we know that one may have to literally “dig” through a roof in a typical building in Galilee in this era, just as Mark describes.

Imagine the mess that would make; imagine the determination of those who dug, and the urgency felt by the paralyzed man anxious to be let down into the midst of the crowd around Jesus.

We have a classroom video of this scene, and in it the filmmakers have added a little detail that points out how confident the man's friends were that Jesus could help.

In this video, when they have let the man down to the floor, they drop the ropes; there is no way that they could pull the man up again!

That is how trusting they were in Jesus' help.

Could it be a sign of their faith?

Mark has an interesting detail that was not carried over to Matthew or Luke.

Mark says And when he returned to Capernaum, it was reported that he was at home.

So Jesus has left his hometown and made his home and headquarters in Capernaum, and the roof through which the men dug was not just any roof, but Jesus own house!

What a repair job he will have to arrange!

And what does Jesus say to the man, and his helpers?

Rather than berating them for the mess and expense, Mark reports: And when he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

He passes over the mess, the inconvenience, and all the rest, and gets right to the heart of the matter.

Faith and forgiveness are closely linked, and forgiveness is the healing that is needed even more than the cure for paralysis.

The response to this spiritual healing is varied.

Some rejoice in it and celebrate it.

Others are amazed and see it for its entertainment value.

Still others are openly hostile, challenging his claim and exercise of authority.

Jesus says The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

What does this mean?

For that title, we need to go back to the book of Daniel.

There we find one “like a son of man” is a representative of God's people.

Evil opposes him, but God vindicates him, rescues him, shows him to be in the right, and gives him authority to dispense judgment and God's forgiveness.

That is what Jesus is doing, isn't it; he speaks with authority to give judgment and forgiveness!

This foreshadows Jesus' answer in his trial before Caiaphas: You have said that I am the Son of God, and you will see him seated at the right hand of power.

Caiaphas and the others of course abuse him terribly for this pronouncement, but Jesus stuns us all with his forgiveness offered instead of retaliation.

One commentator has described this story as a picture of what happens in prayer.

Talking or speaking or writing a prayer is work.

It can be difficult work to get said clearly what we need to say in prayer about ourselves,

and even more difficult to say it clearly and concisely when praying on behalf of someone else.

But when we go through the work of digging through that roof –that is, when we spend the time to craft and speak the prayer – we discover that we are in the presence of God.

He will welcome us as our pallet is let down into his presence through the petitions of our prayers.

He will welcome us with forgiveness in the words of confession and absolution, as well as in the promise of Holy Communion.

He will welcome us despite our flaws, and transform us.

That is what he does with Levi, son of Alphaeus.

Capernaum was at the edge of the kingdom, and there was a toll booth there for business and travelers.

Levi held this very unpopular job.

He would have been taking abuse from those who accused him of being a collaborator with the hated Romans,

from those who resent that the kingdom had been divided in such a way that there needed to be a toll booth there,

and from those who hated taxes of any kind for any reason.

Jesus is perhaps the only person not to heap verbal abuse on him; he says “Follow me”, and Levi does.

The next incident Mark reports seals the proper understanding of his action.

Jesus is castigated by the usual leaders and Pharisees who see Jesus calling together “sinners” like Levi, anyone who could not keep all the details of the intricate legal code, and eating with them.

Eating together was another sign of the nature of Jesus' forgiveness.

It broke through every barrier that could be erected in Israel of old or by us today.

Isn't it wonderful news!

It means that it is time for feasting, a time of celebration, since God's forgiveness is given to us.

The fasting days of old were observed in memory of the great disasters in the history of Israel.

Our time now is not to be measured by the disasters, but by the victories of God in the Exodus and the Resurrection, and all the good things that flow from them, especially the gift of forgiveness.

We know well the games that we play, trying to fool God.

Now is the end of games; the cry is “Calling all sinners!”

Come, discover forgiveness here, and a fresh start. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.