February 19, 2006
(Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany)
Let's Raise the Roof
by The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean
Isaiah 43:18-25 • 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 •
Psalm 32 or 32:1-8 • Mark 2:1-12
(From
The Lectionary Page)
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than one person proclaimed that the resulting devastation was caused by God’s displeasure, if not outright anger with the people of the United States. Generally the statements make reference to moral laxity and abandonment of biblical principles, and specifically references dealing with issues of human sexuality. Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that few heralds of God’s judgment tie the natural disasters on how the poor are treated. According to the Scriptures, that group is number one on God’s Top Ten list.
Labeling natural disasters as being signs of God’s wrath against a people or nation is nothing new in history.
What you and I are more familiar with is when illness strikes us and those we love. The more devastating the effects of the illness, accident, or disease become, the more we grasp for answers, and if no answers can be found, these times of trial cause us to create answers. Lodged in the core of our being is an equation which reads something like this: When all is well, God loves me. When disaster strikes, God is absent, or God is angered. And for some of us there exists an even worse corollary: in order to get my attention, God will send disease or disaster upon me. In the wee hours of the night, or on the 14th day of your child’s illness, or as you wait to hear about lab results that are now four days later than the doctor promised - you know how easy it becomes to believe that somehow divine judgment and punishment is at work.
For all of us that have or are wrestling with this trial, hear again what the Spirit is saying to God’s people through the Prophet Isaiah. In the last three verses of today’s reading God makes it clear that despite Israel’s faithlessness and they way they have wearied God with their sins, God is nonetheless doing a new things. God givers their sins and promises a new beginning. Like water in the desert, Isaiah says, there is life-giving power in God’s forgiveness, and this life prevails even in the face of death. James Childs writes: "Living in the light of that solid promise, we should not be surprised that God does new things in our lives at times when we feel burdened by sin, exiled from our spiritual home, or dried up in spirit and body like the desert itself. Perhaps this new thing takes the form of hearing God’s forgiveness and love speak to us with new and unexpected clarity. Perhaps it takes the form of support from those around us that we never realized was there for us. Perhaps it is a brand new opportunity or a new lease on life in the midst of vexing illness."
When God does a new thing, it is manifested not in sickness, destruction, and death. When God does a new thing, life is given. Forgiveness releases our changes, light dispels despair, and even as death arrives, eternal life is born.
Yet we know how strong is that inner equation I mentioned earlier: If something bad happens, then God must be displeased with me. Thus the accident, the disaster, the illness, the injustice, the abuse – it must be my fault or due to my sinning or displeasing God.
There’s a theological term that responds to this equation. The original Greek roughly translates: hog wash.
The Gospel lesson today needs to be read with both serious but I’d also advocate implore a sense of humor or lightness.
One might readily imagine the paralytic thinking to himself him, “Thanks very much for the word of forgiveness, but that’s not exactly what I was seeking when I had four men bring me to you and lower me through the roof!” In a matter of moments, however, the paralyzed man learned that God had a bigger plan in store. In other words, god was already doing a new thing in his life.
You and I may lack that sense of perspective from time to time, and as a cathedral congregation we too can often get mired in our concerns and fail to consider the possibility that God’s plans for us go beyond what we can see at this moment. The paralytic’s concern to be healed was understandable and no small task. Yet even this high concern was not as expansive as God’s plan. The paralysis was used to manifest Jesus as God’s Son, and in this particular case, to prove that be his ability to heal and to forgive sins.
Now, what in your life is God using to manifest his Son. What trial that you prayed to be delivered from may in fact be the vehicle for God to be doing a new thing in your life? And what of our mission and ministry here? What trial, what problem, what bit of life here that pushes my button may in fact be God doing a new thing that will work a greater purpose?
Isaiah teaches us that even before we to God to forgive us our sins, God has forgiven us and is doing something new for us, giving us life and light. Mark’s Gospel story says that healing a paralytic was small compared to manifesting Jesus as God who forgives sins and creates new life in the midst of faithlessness.
In order for the paralytic to come into Jesus’ presence, the roof had to be cut away. We often call the outer limit of advancement or production as a ceiling. Jesus clearly sees ceiling as things to be broken. My sisters and brothers, how about raising the roof of this Cathedral? Jesus is God. He is the world’s true light. He has worked, and continues to work in us new life. No matter what comes our way: hurricanes, mudslides, illness, paralysis – and dare I say even different wording of the Our Father? – God will be at work in us and in our parish and n the world forgiving, healing, and bringing forth life fro death itself. To the glory of God and to the glory of his Son our Lord, let’s raise the roof, the light and life might pour out.
