There is perhaps no more familiar story in the gospels than this one. This account of a paralyzed man being carried to Jesus by four friends, who are stopped at the door by the crowds, but who persevere to get their friend before this man who has been healing people in wondrous ways by taking him up on the roof, breaking through the thatch and mud, and lowering him into the room right in front of where Jesus sat. Hollywood couldn= t have written a better script for a TV movie of the week. This story has no doubt covered many flannel graphs in church school classrooms everywhere.

I know personally it is one of the first stories I learned and I know it so well I must have heard it many times in Sunday School and church.

And now I have been there where this story took place.

I have walked some of the ancient streets of Capernaum.

I have seen a remaining portion of a wall to a house that may very well have been this very house where Jesus lived in that city on the shore of Lake Galilee. You can actually get the bird= s eye view of those friends of the paralyzed man for a church has been built suspended over the remains of this house, reputed to be the house of Peter. The modern day church is built so that it hovers over the house and in the center of the floor is a glass bottom so you can look right down into the remains of the house and the Byzantine Church that was built on the spot where the house was located.

As fascinating as that is, and as much as it makes the story breathe with life even more than Mark= s marvelous eye for detail already does, it is not what is important here. There are lots of lessons we can take from this story about faith and healing and the support of community.

But I think the real crux of the story is what it tells us about Jesus and his conflict with negative, controlling religion.

The conflict is there between Jesus and the scribes who have gathered to listen to this new teacher.

Jesus sees a man trapped by illness, by the restrictions of the society around him, by the expectations of his culture. The scribes see a man bearing the physical marks of his or someone else= s sin.

The conflict comes with how forgiveness and healing are obtained.

For Jesus it is a gift from God, freely given, for God is a god of life and wholeness and liberation. For the scribes and their understanding of the Law of God, no one, not even God= s anointed, can forgive sins.

Forgiveness can only be obtained through elaborate rituals of atonement, through blood sacrifice, not merely by hearing a word of assurance. Actually, Jesus understands their concern.

In a sense we can hear him saying: A Of course, anyone can SAY the words, > Your sins are forgiven,= because there= s no way to tell if the sins really are forgiven. But just to assure you that what I say goes@ C and he turns back to the paralyzed man C A get up and go home!@

This story is a powerful illustration of the truth about God that the apostle Paul expressed in his second letter to the Corinthians 1:18-20.

A As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been > Yes and No.= For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not > Yes and No= ; but in him it is always > Yes.= For in him every one of God= s promises is a > Yes.= @

Five year old Suzie thought her younger brother, two-year-old Tommy, was wonderful. He had just begun to learn a few words and phrases, and had managed to accomplish the word A No!@ quite clearly. He was not able yet to verbalize A Yes!@ So Suzie used his mixed abilities to her advantage. Whenever cookies were made and Mom said to share with her brother, she would take a cookie to him and ask whether he wanted some. The answer, of course, was A No!@ even as he reached for the cookie. The answer was always A No!@ Tommy did not have the capacity to say A Yes!@

Just the opposite is true with God.

It is God who by power and perseverance declares us alive. It is God who by will and determination assures us a place in the divine family.

It is God who decides to say A Yes!@ to us and on our behalf, even when we have clearly voiced our A No!@ to God and God= s ways.

And even we, who waffle in our commitment, who want to do what is right, but are never quite sure we can go all the way with it, even for us God= s word is always A Yes!@

And why is God so amazingly generous with us?

It is not because we are so wonderful, or so beautiful, or so good, or so anything. It has nothing to do with us.

The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 43, hears God calling to the children of Israel in exile in Babylon proclaiming to them that God is about to do a new thing. God is going to bring new life to them as a nation and to their homeland that had become a wasteland.

And God is doing this even in the face of a lukewarm response from them, for even though God has been extending this gracious invitation to new life, they seem to ignore it. Hear the prophet= s words:

A Yet you did not call upon me, but you have been weary of me! You have not brought me your sheep for burnt-offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices.... But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.@ They don= t bring offerings or thanks to God, but just continue in their obstinate, sinful ways.

And yet God vows not only to forgive them, but also to not even remember their sins. A I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.@

God does it not for their sake, but for God= s own sake.

Because that is the very nature of God and to do anything else would not be true to God= s self.

A man who had been the target of an intervention because of his alcoholism found his life changing after he went through treatment and began the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. As he began to work the steps he came to number nine: A Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.@ One of the people worst hurt by his former drinking and destructive behavior was his wife. When he went to her with a list of ways in which he had wronged her, there was a tearful rehearsing of these events. At one point, however, he was surprised to hear his wife say that she did not remember something he had done against her, even though it was heinous and reprehensible. A Surely you recall that!@ he said. A No,@ she replied. A I distinctly remember choosing to forget that.@ A But why?@ he asked, incredulous. A Because I could not remember it and still love you,@ she said.

Exactly. The truth of God= s action towards us.

It is so easy for preachers to name what is wrong with the world, with the church, with groups and individuals. It is far too easy to point out the feeble nature of our humanity. It is so easy to stand up and give witness to the darkness of our world today. It is not easy to accept the truth of God= s overwhelming A Yes!@ to us when the world around us and our own actions and our own lives are so dark. But we must stretch to see what new things God is doing, even in these days.

That is the tougher task for preachers, for all of us, to look deeply into our lives and into the world around us and the name the sacred presence of God. But it is there.

One of the learnings I bring back from Israel is the way God= s spirit is at work in Israel to restore the health of the land. There is a lot wrong in Israel, and especially after visiting Bethlehem behind the defense wall, I have seen some of it with my own eyes. I will talk more of that in the future but today I want to lift up some of the good.

Under the stewardship of the Israeli= s, the land of Israel has once again become a land flowing with milk and honey. They are planting trees and restoring forests to land where the forests had been totally wiped out by the crusaders. They are preserving and protecting the history, all of the history, in the land. They are managing the water resources and they are exploring ways to grow crops in the desert with limited water. There is healing and wholeness and hope in the land of Israel. That is certainly God= s A Yes!@

It is very easy for us to criticize the scribes when they complained about Jesus telling the paralyzed man his sins were forgiven.

We ignore the fact that the scribes were responding out of their own understanding of what it means to be faithful to God= s law. We overlook the fact that we ourselves sometimes object when we think someone is forgiven A too easily@ or when a person does not receive what we consider A just punishment.@ At those times, are we any different from the scribes when we cling to our own understanding of what is required in order to be forgiven?

Are we eager for all people to experience God= s grace?

In Jesus, God= s word to us is always A Yes!@ A You are forgiven!@

The only question is how will we respond?