"Yes means….YES!"
Mark 2: 1-12, Psalm 41
February 19, 2006

Jesus was speaking a "Yes!" He was offering grace/healing…free of charge. He was sharing the Word with the crowd, a crowd so big it overflows into the house, they were crammed IN the house. The paralyzed man and his friends couldn’t even get to the front door, let alone in it.

Now, these weren’t just any people who were in the crowd around Jesus. Sure, there were the poor, the weak, the desperate, the paralyzed. But we learn the house was full including scribes, people who spent their day studying the scripture, pouring over the Word of God…church people.

These scribes were not only inside the house, but on the inside of the faith….just like us. They are in the know. And they are not bad people; in fact, like us, they are probably good people. They have heard enough of Jesus to want to come inside his house. They are listening, hoping to gain even more insight into the scriptures they are studying.

They are just like us, here together today. You have come out…a goodly sized crowd of us…to listen to Jesus. Not everyone in town got out of bed this morning and went to as much trouble as you to hear Jesus. You are the insiders, the inner circle, the disciples of the Master. You are good people.

And the story says it was these good, religious, informed, dedicated people…people just like us…who quite unintentionally kept a person in need from getting to Jesus. Because of them, there is no way to get this one utterly paralyzed person…totally dependent on his friends helping him…no way to get to the door, in the house, to Jesus. In a sense, the insiders are the open crowd and the shut door. But through determination…in their yes to their friend and their yes to God…not a soft yes but a loud yes…the friends tear a hole in the roof and come on down….despite the crowd, the door.

By the way, no fuss is made over the hole in the roof…not a word….no worry about the damage, the repair, the cost, who is responsible…

Sad, isn’t it? ….when you have to tear the roof off Jesus’ house to get to Jesus because of a good intentioned, unaware crowd. Sometimes those who listen to Jesus get so engrossed, they cut off the way for others to get to him….unconsciously, but in real ways. Well then, you have to do what you have to do….to get to Jesus…receiving his grace…given even when others are ungracious.

There was a church, an Episcopal congregation. They built a beautiful new church, but it was on the edge of a poor neighborhood. People warned them not to build there…such a fine church in that part of town. Sure enough, no sooner was the church building built and dedicated to God than one night somebody knocked the lock off the door and broke in. Next morning, they looked around and couldn’t see that anything was really missing. The locks were repaired and a week later, broken into again. Nothing appeared missing.

The next week the janitor happened to be talking with the priest and said he had never worked in a church where so much toilet paper had to be ordered….he’d already re-ordered twice.

And then the priest realized why people were breaking into the church. He said, "This church doesn’t have to go looking for a mission. When people have to break into the church to get toilet paper…take that lock off the door." Open a hole in the roof.

They broke the lock/tore a hole in the roof to get ….to Jesus….to get his help, their basic life needs met, desperate for help.

Like Jesus, we are to do no moralizing about the hole, about the stealing….that misses the point. You can go there if you want, but if you do, you will most likely miss the point….like the scribes.

I meet people all the time who don’t want to be around Jesus…they had a bad experience with the church as a child, they’ve taken a religion course and now have big doubts, they like to sleep in on Sundays, and on and on go the objections and resistance to come to Jesus.

But some do want to come. In today’s story, in our story, there is someone who wants to come….someone, a paralyzed person who desperately wants to come….and the good people, so focused on themselves…keep this desperate person from coming through the door, into God’s house, to worship….until thier friends…if they still has any…..do the absurd, and break in to the place, come to Jesus no matter what….if not through the front door to worship, then they try the roof: the missions we support, the classes we offer, our prayer chain and groups, Healing Circles, a warm building with warm hearts in it, the pastoral care and personal support we give ….they come in any way they can get in….they come to Jesus. They are desperate for grace.

Of all the reasons I hear about why people don’t come in a church, the one I keep hearing is…not so much their schedules (although tough), not even the Christian faith (although they have issues) …the reason most people won’t come to church is: the church itself….the people who are the church…who are self-engrossed to the point they don’t even see who wants to come and can’t get in….the door, the cliché, the meeting….to get some grace.

Who are we keeping away as we put all our energy into ourselves?

Who are we keeping away as we are distracted by the hole in our roof?

Who are we keeping away by keeping Jesus to ourselves? Where is grace?

Happy are those who consider the poor and the weak….the paralyzed. Those who consider them will stay alive and be protected in this world where "no" is often disguised as an outward "yes"...the passive aggressive world we live in. Those who maintain their integrity, keeping their focus on the poor, the weak, the paralyzed….who keep their focus on those trying to get in, through the crowd, to listen to Jesus….they will not be destroyed by the empty words of others, the mischief in the hearts of others, the betrayal of those closest to them.

People in need, people paralyzed and desperate, go ahead…come on in….knock a hole in our roof….please! Help us…..so Jesus can touch you and make us whole. It’s not fair of us to keep him to ourselves! Show us your faith and so shape ours!