Notes for Epiphany 7
Mood:  happy
Topic: Sermon Staging Area
SEUSS 3
MOTIF: Review ... Horton Hears a Who.
> This is the longing of every human heart: ?See who I am---no matter how small or insignificant I may seem---and treat me as if I matter.?
DILEMMA: That's what Jesus did, that's why he attracted such vast crowds.
> How do we do the same? How do we care for people like Jesus did? [Some thoughts, Ortberg]
TEXT AND PRAY: 2:1: ?At home?: Which home? Simon Peter and Andrew's! (cf. 1:29-34)
> Archaeologists have excavated this house [basalt, built 50 years earlier].
> At first, I imagine Peter's pretty proud of this fact: ?Me and Messiah? Tight, man!?
> This was great for a while: Peter's mother-in-law gets healed, makes his wife happy! Jesus teaches in a new way, makes the people happy! But, then, things start to get out of hand.
2:2: The crowd, ?no room? ... living room's packed ... messy, disruptive ... Jesus is becoming highly inconvenient.
> WHENEVER YOU INVITE GOD INTO YOUR LIFE, YOU ALSO INVITE EVERYONE THAT GOD LOVES. Because, after all, a person's a person no matter how small.
> Simon: ?Jesus is great---but the rest of this riffraff??
> The same thing happens to us: ?'I'm fine with loving Jesus'---but ... loving Jesus means loving people ... and not just people that are easy to love. We find out: God needs someone to help him make better choices about who he loves. Some of the people that God loves can be real jerks.? Suddenly, loving Jesus becomes highly inconvenient.
--> God loves people with AS IS tags: Pasts: 1 Cor. 6:9-11/Still struggle in present: Heb. 12:1.
2:3: This day, someone showed up in Simon Peter's house with a huge AS IS tag (6'x3').
> ?A paralytic ... four men?: From perspective of culture, this man did not matter [no hope for surgery/no jobs for disabled/no Social Security program/lay on mat, cloak outstretched, hoping for coins/TREATED AS A NON-PERSON]. He was too small to matter, too shattered to be healed, too insignificant for most people to take the time to notice.
> From perspective of leaders, afflictions such as this always resulted from sin (cf. John 9:1-3).
> Four friends: Decided to take him to Jesus ... no way in.
--> Organizational guy: ?Brainstorm! No stupid ideas.? Youngest: ?Let's climb on roof, tear a hole above Jesus, lower him down.? ?Okay, I take it back ... at least one stupid idea.?
2:4: Roof was made of thatch, ladder going up the side ... still, this is not normal!
> At first, flecks of plaster ... Jesus needs some Head & Shoulders. Pretty soon, no one's listening to Jesus.
> Simon thought he was hosting Bible study; what he gets instead is a skylight. Everyone else is staring in awe; Simon's staring at his State Farm policy to see if this is covered. About the time mat touches floor, Simon's on his cell-phone with agent: ?Jesus is here! Doesn't that qualify as an act of God??
2:5: ?Their faith?: Not just the friends' but also the man's ... FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU SHARE ... you cannot be Christian alone anymore than you can get married alone. It requires you not only to believe in Jesus but also to believe with others. [A grit: ?Honey, they don't come by themselves.?]
> ?Son, your sins are forgiven [released]?: Friends, man, utterly disappointed! They've come for healing---and Jesus says is ... . [WHAT SINS CAN A PARALYTIC COMMIT?]
--> Why? Partly because release from sin is the man's deepest need ... another reason: To show that his sickness is not necessarily the result of sin. [He's received forgiveness---but he's still stuck to his mat.]
--> Forgiveness isn't everything's okay; forgiveness means, ?What you've done is wrong?but I will let a power greater than myself take care of it.?
--> By ?forgive? [?release?], Jesus isn't talking about the man being forgiven of something he's done to Jesus?the man's never met Jesus. He's saying, ?Your sins?--all the darkness within you is released.
2:6-7: Religious leaders don't buy this: ?If he's really been forgiven, he should be walking! Fact that he's not walking ... proves Jesus is a fake. Besides, only God can forgive [ISAIAH 43:25].?
2:8-11: ?Which is easier?? Forgiving sins is harder, but the results aren't as visible.
> ?So you know Son ... forgive??so you know I'm not only man but God??prove it outwardly.?
2:12: ?Amazed?? Existasthai: ?Standing outside themselves,? ?surprised out of their skins.?
> A man who is God, but most of all a God who loves the least ... a God who looks at all people as if, after all, a person's a person no matter how small. Peter Chrysologus: ?Carry the mat that once carried you, so that the sign of your brokenness becomes the sign that you are whole, so that the stretcher that bore your life's pain becomes proof of life's pleasure, so that the weight of your bed shouts for all to see that now, at long last, you are finally free.?
RESOLUTION: In light of Jesus' example, how do we do this?
(1)OPEN to reflection of God's presence in all people ... didn't say, ?I'm engaging in teaching session here, please go back on roof until our ten-minute break? ... ?Son.? Why? Looked for reflection of God's presence in all people. [Matt. 25] ... here, there are dozens who need someone to see ... need someone simply to notice [Ortberg, EN, 90].
(2)HONEST about real needs: ?Sins forgiven?: There are times when we have to give something different than what the person wants---not because we don't see reflection of God but because we aren't helping their real needs. ENABLE/TAKE ADVANTAGE. ?Sins are forgiven?: ?You're a sinner and you need forgiveness first.?
(3)AMAZED at the wonder of God's grace.
> How do we know when this really happens? When people show up broken and leave rejoicing.
> Are people desperate to bring their brokenness here? Why do most people not want to bring their brokenness to church? We are not in the business of polishing lives that have it all together; we are in the business of piecing together lives that have fallen apart!
APPLICATION: Everyone comes with a mat?a point at which others say, ?I don't love you quite that much.? Where's your mat? Where are others'?
> [Humane Society, Ortberg EN 88-90/Tony Campolo: Birthday party for a whore]