Fill My Cup, Lord...with Freedom! Mark 2:1-12

As we take a closer look at Mark's story we see that Jesus' first reaction to the gapping hole in the roof and a man on a mat being lowered through it is to be "impressed by their bold belief." This small group of fellow travelers on the road of life believed that Jesus could heal their friend and they put their faith into action -bold, dramatic action! And so we see two important things about faith. First, faith does not occur in isolation. It is true that no one can have faith for another, but it is equally true that no one can have faith without another. We cannot possess faith for another, but we can open the door to faith as we share with one another celebrating each others joys, bearing each others burdens, witnessing to the power of God's love in our lives and creating a safe and welcoming space where people are free to discover and grow their own faith. These four nameless, faceless friends step beyond what is easy, comfortable or even safe in order to carry their companion to Christ. They will never see their name in lights, but without them their friend would have remained paralyzed and the light of Christ's love would not have transformed his life.

To me one of the most powerful ministries we can create with and for one another is the creation of small faith-sharing study groups; places where we can dive more deeply into the stories of faith, seek to grow as Christ's disciples, honestly share our struggles and find the support of other seekers as we journey together in faith. I think that one of the strengths of our youth ministry program is that it has such small groups where trust is built, faith is nurtured and discipleship is grown in a safe and loving environment.  We adults have far too few of these opportunities; partly because we don't make or take the time to participate in those that are offered and partly because we don't understand the true gift that such faith-sharing can bring.

Secondly, faith, in addition to being communal, is active. So often we think of faith in terms of intellectual belief held or trust given and it certainly does have those elements. But faith is also something we do. As the letter of James puts it:

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? ... ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. [James 2:14-17]

Our faith is reflected in all we do and say, not just in the hour of worship, but in the living of our lives. Many years ago in a small faith-sharing group someone said, "Did you know that you might be the only gospel some people will ever read? If that is true will they hear and see the good news of God's love in you?" These actions of these four nameless, faceless friends call us to remember that what we do matters, how we live matters, the way we treat one another matters! There are indeed people who will remain paralyzed, stuck in fear, grief, doubt, shame, hopelessness or despair if we do not risk, individually and collectively, embodying the light of God's extravagant love.

But there is still more in this story that can fill our cups. Notice that the first words spoken by anyone in this story come from Jesus when he says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." What a strange and potentially troubling response. The man did not ask for forgiveness, in fact he did not ask for anything. So what's going on here? What does Jesus see in this man's heart that evokes such a powerful pronouncement? Perhaps it was the look of utter despair born not so much from the man's physical aliment, but from the sense of shame that he had somehow in someway done something to deserve his suffering. Perhaps it was a sense of worthlessness or hopelessness that shut him off from God's love and grace and thus from his own value and worth. Perhaps it was his fear that he would have no place in the coming reign of God because he was paralyzed - according to the understanding of the day not a whole man. Whatever it was, as Jesus spoke he reached across the chasm that separated this man from God and offered words of grace that set him free. "No matter who you are or what you have done or failed to do, God loves you! You are and always have been a beloved child of God. Right now, just as you are, God loves you!"

The Apostle Paul writes, "In Christ, God was reconciling the whole world to himself..." [2 Corinthians 5:19] That is, in Jesus of Nazareth, God was reaching beyond our separation, our fear, our alienation from one another and from our own truest selves and inviting us to feel once again the embrace of Divine Love. And therein lies the greatest scandal of this story: not that God loves and forgives, but rather that God chose to proclaim this love and forgiveness through an ordinary carpenter. And Jesus said to his followers, that all "who believe in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these," [John 14:12]. And Paul tells us that because we have been reconciled to God, we have been called as ministers, agents, instruments of reconciliation.

A nurse had lost her faith after she came to the big city. One night a young woman was brought to the emergency room after she had been stabbed in a drunken brawl in a disreputable quarter of the city. There was nothing the doctors could do to save her and since she seemed to have no family or friends the nurse was asked to sit by her side until she died.

As the nurse looked down on the coarse lines of this girl's hardened features, the girl's eyes slowly opened and she spoke, "I want you to tell me something and tell me straight. Do you think God cares about people like me? Do you think he could forgive anyone as bad as me?"

Startled and uneasy, faltering in her own faith, the nurse hesitated; surely she was not the one to answer this question. She wanted to call for the chaplain or at least for someone with more faith than she had. But something held her there and she heard her own voice saying, "I'm telling you straight: God cares about you and he forgives you." Smiling, the girl slipped back into unconsciousness and died a short time later.

Some days later the nurse went to her pastor whom she hadn't seen in more than ten years, and she told him this story and then she added, "You know, something happened to me that night. I felt that somehow it was me who was being forgiven, me who was being loved."

Sometimes we will be the ones who are stuck, paralyzed by fear, despair, shame, grief or a sense of our own inadequacy, in need of others who will carry us. Sometimes we will be the ones asked to carry another. Sometimes we might even be both at the same time. But one thing is sure, in the heart of Christ we will always meet one who says to us "No matter who you are or what you have done or failed to do, God loves you! You are and always have been a beloved child of God. Right now, just as you are, God loves you!" These are the words of grace that set us free from all that would keep us bound. These are the words of grace that release us to become all Christ calls us to be. "So pick up your mat and follow Christ into the fullness of life!" Amen