In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
I am sick and in need of healing, outside society and I feel alone. And yet four men carry me to be near the Lord. He is surrounded, the room is packed, but they do not allow anything to prevent them from their purpose and I am borne to His feet. And the Lord beholds their faithfulness. I have done nothing worthy, nothing good, nothing of faith: yet when the Lord sees their faith He says to me, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
And elation is tempered with unbelief, joy with incredulity, delight with scepticism, “So now what?” I say to myself. “Is this it, the totality of the Christian life? To come before Christ and be forgiven?” I am grateful but perplexed. But He has a plan for me. I have done nothing good but He plans for me to glorify His Kingdom, to allow His grace to work through me. And He commands me to do the impossible—not suggests nor requests, He commands me—“I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.”
And lying on my pallet, having received forgiveness not for my own sake but for the sake of the faithfulness of the four men, I am at a point of crisis, of decision. Will I accept the forgiveness and return to my former ways or will I accept the command of my Saviour and do the impossible?
Brothers and sisters, we are all at a point of crisis, of decision. The Lord has freely forgiven you and he has forgiven me. Our sins no longer have a hold over us, our iniquities have been washed away, our transgressions count as nothing against the saving power of Christ. And we could accept this forgiveness and get on with our existence, allowing sin once more to gain strength against us and death to take its hold, or we could do the impossible, “Rise, take up your pallet and go home.”
“Take up your pallet and you will bear Me in your hearts,” the Lord is saying to you and is saying to me, “Go home and take the Gospel with you that others may be borne to Me.” And if we take up this command from the Lord, if we become workers in His Vineyard, faithful in His Church, then we would glorify God and astound the world, we would be worthy to be called Christians, we would become inheritors of eternal Life.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are at a point of crisis, of decision. Let us not accept the forgiveness of the Lord while ignoring His command, but listen to His Word and bear Him within us. It is not just hard nor difficult, it is impossible. But if we allow His grace to work within us, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
Let us rise to the challenge, let us listen to the commands of God and keep them, that the forgiveness we have received may be available to all the more, that sin be banished from us, that death no longer controls us, that we offer true praise and worship to the living God Who by His death and Resurrection has saved us and brings us to the Kingdom, to His Church. Let us follow and do the commands of God, do the impossible, that we be true followers of Him and become inheritors of eternal Life.
That we may offer true glory, honour and worship to our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who freely accepted the Cross that we might be delivered from all that afflicts us, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning, Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end.” But to what angel has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet?” Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him.
— Hebrews 1:10–14, 2:1–3
At that time, Jesus entered Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak thus? It is a blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven, ‘ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-he said to the paralytic-“I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!
— Mark 2:1–12