Creekside Church Sermon of February 20, 2000 "Imagine That!" Mark 2:1-12	Rev. David Bibbee
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It's easy for Kermit to describe his experience as a miracle. But "miracle" isn't a word we use easily. If someone says they have received a miraculous healing, we don't want to appear close minded, but in our heads we hear a voice..."They may think it's a miracle now, but time will tell."

Several Sundays ago, Karen Eis told us her experience of healing prayer and how, the morning after, her chronic fatigue and pain had subsided. She could walk distances she couldn't the day before. I asked Karen how you responded to her testimony. She said everyone was kind and appreciative and wished her well. But some had a more measured response. On Monday Karen visited the doctor who treats her MS. What he saw pleased him. He told her she was the strongest she has been in the ten years he has been seeing her. She then related her experience and asked his opinion. "With the proper medications we see a decline in symptoms," he said. "But do you think there could be a connection with my improvement and prayer?" "Well, some aspects of the disease are affected by psychological factors."

Now before you call this physician, Doctor Doubt, let's admit that many of us, despite our wish to see concrete evidences of God at work in miraculous ways around us, are no different. It's wise to guard against the prime time, miracle-on-command expressions, but not so much that we close the door to miracles altogether. The earth and the galaxy in which it spins are far greater than can be imagined. As Albert Einstein said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is."

Mark's gospel has lots of miracles in it. He makes a point to show Jesus as a powerful healer who freed people from bondage and brokenness, and caused everyone to rethink what is possible and impossible. Before us is Mark's memorable account of the paralyzed man who dropped in on Jesus...literally.

Jesus had gone home and it wasn't long before people got wind of it. They wanted to get close to Jesus...to hear him, to ask questions, to make requests. The people were so packed into the house that none could get in and none could get out. They were clustered so tight and so deep outside the door that what Jesus said had to be telegraphed to those standing at the back. The paralyzed man's friends had brought him to see Jesus. It doesn't say he asked to come, or that he even wanted to come. All we know for sure is that his friends wanted him to see Jesus.

When they saw the crowd it would have been easy to simply turn around and come back when he wasn't so busy. But these friends were determined and had ingenuity. "If we can't get through the door," they reasoned, "we'll go through the roof." They went to work, and when the hole was big enough, they lowered the man through. One of the friends stuck his head through the hole and apologized for the mess. Said he knew a roofing contractor. Then something interesting happened. The paralyzed man said nothing, but because of his friends' faith, not his, but his friends', Jesus forgave the man's sins. Since they had done all they could, so did Jesus. And to everyone's astonishment, the healed man walked out the door.

Picture the crowd's reaction. I hear them sounding like Gomer Pyle. "Well, gollllyyy! We never seen anything like this before!" Have you ever seen a paralyzed man get up and walk lately? From our perch high atop the 21st century, we approach this story from an "enlightened perspective." Back then there was no understanding of the processes operative in nature, we say. We would explain in physiological or psychological terms what they understood as the effect of sin and demons. Mystery solved.

When you think about it, our supposed ability to draw clear lines between what can and can't be, is the height of arrogance. How arrogant of us to say that what cannot be touched or seen or repeated in the lab isn't real. Rather than try to understand ourselves in light of the Bible, we want to make the Bible credible and applicable to our experience. The physicians and priests no doubt told the paralyzed man nothing could be done for his condition. His friends believed otherwise. Neither professional opinion, nor a great crowd, nor a roof, nor any doubt they may have had would deter them. They had faith. They imagined a better life for their friend than sitting on the corners begging. They weren't satisfied adjusting to the situation; they had the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. They believed God desired a better life for their friend, and as a result, Jesus healed him.

Do you believe Jesus did all those amazing things the gospels say he did? In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, Alice tells the Queen of Hearts, "There's no use trying...one cannot believe impossible things." "I dare say that you haven't had much experience," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour each day. Why, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Do you believe in possible impossibilities? When we read the miracle stories of the Bible, our first thoughts usually are, "What really happened? Is it possible? Is it true?" These are the wrong questions. Before we accept something as true, we want proof. Show me the evidence. But miracles don't attempt to prove anything. Miracles don't argue. Something deeper is at work in miracles. The question is not, "Is this true?" but, "What is this story telling me about God?"

If our lesson today is only about Jesus healing a paralyzed man, so what? What does that have to do with me...here and now? We are not supposed to "figure the miracles out" or explain them. We are supposed to listen to what is being said about God's intent for our lives.

In the movie, "A River Runs Through It", there is a scene in which two brothers and their Presbyterian pastor father are combing the banks of the Big Blackfoot River. The father's not only teaching his sons the art of fly fishing, but schooling them in the marvels and mysteries of nature. He told them how the rocks in the riverbed were formed over millions of years, and that underneath the rocks, is the word of God...and if you listen patiently and carefully, quietly, you will hear it. And if we listen patiently, carefully, and quietly, beneath the miracles of Jesus we will hear the word...we will hear what the story is telling you about God.

Jesus never performed a miracle for its own sake. He performed them in response to needs. His miracles pointed people toward God's design for the world. Sickness and suffering were not part of the design. Prejudice and strife weren't part of the design. Hatred and indifference and poverty and injustice...it's not a part of God's design.

There's a reason people don't see anything remotely resembling a miracle. In a world where everything is explained and understood, and the spiritual, mystical dimension isn't a part of life's equation, we will see the world as it is, and give up on the world as it can be. Things being what they are, one thing we need more of is imagination. The current arrangement isn't all there is. We need confidence that God will have His way with the world...we need to imagine a new world coming.

The Bible doesn't just tell us that God cares. God responds. If we long for what God longs for, if we can imagine our lives and our families and our Church in a new way, if we refuse to be held captive by negative thinking and behaving which holds us hostage to the present, we just might begin to see miracles.

Now a story. Mrs. Paul directed the West Side Baptist choir in Beatrice, Nebraska. Her daughter Marilyn was the church organist. Neither had ever been late for choir practice. Never. They always came 15 minutes early. It's Wednesday, March 1, 1950, at 7:00 p.m. Practice begins at 7:30. Mrs. Paul calls upstairs for Marilyn. "It's time to leave!" No answer. It's now 7:15 and she discovers her daughter is asleep. As the rush to the church, they realize the perfect attendance record was broken.

But things got more interesting. That night, all 18 members of the West Side choir were late. All of them. All had valid excuses, but all were late.

Ladona Vandergrift, a high school sophomore, had homework troubles. She too was always early, but a baffling geometry problem detained her. Rowena and Sadie Estes were ready to leave on time, but their car wouldn't start. They called Ladona for a ride, and had to wait for the geometry problem to be solved. Mrs. Schuster was usually ten minutes early, but was detained at her mother's home.

Herb Kipf would have been early, too. But an important letter had to be written which he had put off too long. Excuses, excuses. Joyce Black would have arrived on time, but it was so cold that night she wanted to wait until the last moment to leave. Harry Ahl would have made it on time, but he and his two sons were invited to dinner, and he lost track of time. Lucy and Dorothy, two high school girls, were listening to a radio program and waited to hear how it ended.

Pastor and Mrs. Klempel were always on time for choir, but the pastor's wristwatch, the accuracy of which he often boasted, was for some inexplicable reason 5 minutes slow.

Eighteen people. Each with an excuse. Never before or since had everyone been late for choir on the same night. Choir practice was at 7:30. No one showed up at 7:30. At 7:30, a natural gas leak in the church basement was ignited by the furnace. The church blew up. The old furnace of the West Side Baptist was located directly below an "empty" choir loft.

An incredible coincidence? Everyone at the right place at the right time? A statistical longshot? Or was it a miracle? I imagine so.

I hope that we would have the imagination of those faithful friends who saw something better for their paralyzed friend. I hope we won't be content with things as they are, but instead, see things as God would have them be.

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