“Rise, Take Up Your Bed, and Go Home” Trinity 19 2024

06. October 2024
Trinity 19
Matthew 9:1-8

Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

It is impossible to live our lives without trust. All of us put our trust in something or someone. And, of course, some people (sadly) find it very difficult to trust others. But it is easy for us to convince ourselves that we trust God very easily because we can have thoughts about God, and the idea of God can be comforting and can be something of a crutch in our lives. We have potent feelings about God, but strong feelings are not the same as trusting God.

We discover how much we trust God when things go wrong, when we suffer, when we are touched by the chaos of losing control. We discover how much we trust in ourselves, our own sense of control of life. So God will sometimes allow us these moments of suffering to bring us to our senses.

Because we trust God, we must recognize that our whole lives are in his hands. We are not in control of our entire lives. Even those moments of pain, fear, and real suffering are because we are called to carry our cross. Without the cross, there can be no resurrection. There can be no salvation. And so, when we see these moments of suffering as opportunities, as blessings, that draw us back to our senses, to let go of the illusion of being in control, it is possible to give thanks to God, to recognize this moment as a blessing; a blessing in something we would not choose.

This can be painful. It is like honey in the mouth. If a mouth is injured and wounded, honey will sting. But as the mouth begins to heal, the sweetness of the honey may be tasted. It is the same for the soul when it encounters God. The soul will grieve. The soul must grieve over its selfish need to be in control.

And so, when we encounter God, we cannot rush simply to a superficial joy. He must show us the depths of repentance, which only comes from the tears of recognition, the sorrow of recognition of our selfish cravings, and chasing after things that are, at best, temporary solutions to permanent problems. This is why Christ in the Beatitudes says, “Blessed are those who mourn.”

He’s not speaking of the billionaires who lose a few hundred million dollars and maybe mourn over the financial loss and those like them who mourn over superficial, worldly things. Christ is addressing those who mourn for their sins, as the Psalmist David said, shedding tears from the very morning, from the beginning of the day, grieving over his sins.

We are called to repent, turn back, and be released from what shackles us. And so we remember the paralytic who was lowered to be healed by Christ. Christ forgave him of his sins. His paralysis brought him to Christ, and he was able to find salvation also. We may also be paralyzed by our selfishness, by our ego-driven needs that always put us first. But we must shake them off.

Remember Christ’s instruction: “Take up your bed and walk.” Repenting and turning back means doing something, not lying in our beds and festering in our sins.

Remember the two men who died beside Jesus. One continued to curse and abuse Christ, while the other recognized the justice of his own suffering. He acknowledged his own sin. But also remember, both men died on the cross. Both men died, but Jesus promised the one that that very day he would be in Paradise with him. The one man recognized his sin and repented but still had to die on the cross.

We must not be led astray by false versions of Christianity, which promise the superficial instant fix. A life of repentance is a daily dying and being raised from the dead. That’s God’s baptismal promise to us. It is a daily pilgrimage, taking up our cross to recognize our selfishness, of mourning over the cravings and selfish chasing after temporary fixes that we have allowed to develop, letting empty promises wrap their claws around our hearts.

But like honey becoming sweet in the mouth, receiving God’s forgiveness of sins, receiving God's healing touch, and undergoing the change that God brings to us, make it so that our mourning may become sweet.

Nothing you suffer is beyond healing. Nothing you undergo is beyond God’s intervention and care. Nothing is happening to you by chance. Nothing is an accident, as those without hope in Christ would have you believe.  Your whole life is in God’s hands; He cares for you. God permits everything that happens to you and God allows all things out of his love for you, for your salvation.

That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin