Isaiah 43.18-25                                                                                                      Carol A. Solovitz

Psalm 41                                                                                                                 Epiphany 7B

2 Corinthians 1.18-22                                                                                           February 19, 2006

Mark 2.1-12

 

When “AWESOME!” Becomes “NO WAY!”

(Losing Sight of the Miracle)

 

           

            In a little book called, “I” Openers: 80 Parables, Herbert Brokering tells this story:

     Once there was a boy who lay on his back and counted the stars.  When he was 12,

   he knew the sky by heart.  He wears thick glasses now and studies physics and mathe-

   matics.  Now he leans over his paper and figures out the stars.  He can do it without

   even looking up.  Now his little girl looks up at the sky.  She wishes he would do it too.

 

I find this to be a sad little story. It describes an unfortunate human reality: that in our attempt to understand and control life, we have a tendency to lose sight of the miraculous things around us. Maybe we exclaim “Awesome!” the first time we see the Northern Lights or learn that a friend has overcome a huge obstacle, but we can get so caught up in applying logic and law to the universe that it becomes more natural to say, “No way!” when we hear of a wonderful event.

That is exactly what happened in today’s scripture readings – in Isaiah, 2 Corinthians and the second chapter of Mark’s gospel. God’s presence has been manifested among the people of God, and they are unable to see it because the veils of sins and anger and law have clouded their view.

In Isaiah 43, God is about to do a new thing. God promises to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. All the wild animals will thank and honor the Lord, yet God’s chosen people – for whom the water is given – will not. They have forgotten the Lord.  They have not brought offerings and sacrifices to God, but instead have burdened God with their many sins. In spite of the wondrous gifts they have received, God’s own people have not seen their miraculous nature. Even so, the Lord promises to blot out their transgressions and to remember their sins no more. Another amazing divine act that defies logic!

St. Paul begins his second letter to the Corinthians with a defense, telling the people of that congregation that he is not a false prophet. They have accused him, Silvanus and Timothy of lying to them. Paul had planned to visit Corinth again and accept their offering for the Church in Jerusalem, but he must change his plans and go to Macedonia instead. The Corinthians misunderstand his message and reproach him, saying that he no longer cares for them. In fact, they wonder if he ever truly cared for them; perhaps he intentionally misled them and made their lives more difficult by teaching them that Jesus is Messiah. Paul must assure them that the Gospel does not change; God’s Yes remains Yes. Paul’s Yes to them does not become No even though he must change his plans. He loves them and prays for them. God loves them and will continue to do so. Paul did not establish the Church; God established it. They must remember to worship God and not God’s apostles. However, their anger and hurt have blurred the situation. They were excited about the return of Paul and Timothy and Silvanus, and now that plans have changed, they are tempted to reject God’s Yes.

And then we come to the Gospel in Mark, chapter 2. It is a joyful story of healing and of such great faith in Jesus’ healing gifts that people tore off the thatch and went through the roof of a house in order to lower in a paralyzed man. We are amazed at the reputation Jesus has earned and the confidence people have in him. Jesus was amazed, too, and he healed the man of his paralysis, saying, “Son your sins are forgiven.” After such a miracle, there should have been great celebration. However, some of the scribes were there, and caught up in the Law, they only heard blasphemy from the mouth of Jesus. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” they asked. Never mind that Jesus was freeing the paralyzed man to walk again – or more likely, to dance for joy! The scribes were concerned that Jesus had broken the Law. Because Jesus perceived that the man was paralyzed by sin, he found it easier to forgive him than to say, “Your body is healed.” However, to please the critics, he also gave the command for the man to “Stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And to their amazement, the man did! Mark says that they were all amazed and glorified God. But I wonder if “all” included the critical scribes. They had cast the cloud of Law over a miracle.  It would not be the last time that the power of Jesus was challenged by insistence on rules.

How hard it is to celebrate a miracle! When told of a healing, people tend to say, “Yeah, well, let’s check back in a year and see if you’re still well.” When a promise is made to provide food and water, we hear, “I’ll have to see it to believe it.” Even when a loved one promises to visit, there is doubt that it will come to be. Sadly, the disappointment seems to come more often than the celebration, and we have learned to be cynical about promises of good things. 

I have been thinking about Presidents’ Day tomorrow and how hard it is to be the leader of a country. From George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush and all those in between, people have questioned the promises of good that presidents make. Should a promise become reality and good things follow, we still question the president’s part in making it happen. Not only is there disbelief but also disrespect.

Now the President of the United States is not God – we all know that, but we disbelieve and disrespect God’s good promises and good reality, too. We have to be reminded of the wonders we take for granted or of the things we question because of hurt and anger or fear.  And should God hand us a gift, we might hesitate to accept it because it might cause us trouble. It is too easy to lose the wonder – to say, “No way!” instead of, “Awesome!”

In Marilynne Robinson’s book Gilead, the Rev. John Ames is writing to his young son.                        I have been thinking about existence lately. In fact, I have been so full of admiration

   for existence that I have hardly been able to enjoy it properly. As I was walking up to

   the church this morning, I passed that row of big oaks by the war memorial - if you

   remember them - and I thought of another morning, fall a year or two ago, when they

   were dropping their acorns thick as hail almost. There was all sorts of thrashing in the

   leaves and there were acorns hitting pavement so hard they’d fly past my head. All

   this in the dark, of course. I remember a slice of moon, no more than that. It was a

   very clear night, or morning, very still, and then there was such energy in the things

   transpiring among those trees, like a storm, like travail.  I stood there a little out of

   range, and I thought, It is all still new to me. I have lived my life on the prairie and

   a line of oak trees can still astonish me.

 

Where is the wonder? Where is the joy in the ordinary miracles? And what about the extraordinary? Jesus is an extraordinary savior. Let’s open our eyes and thank God for the Awesome gifts of healing and forgiveness that are ours to enjoy. 

We pray:  “If we cannot be thankful, at least let us be aware and respectful of your power and love, gracious God.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”