Seventh Epiphany
Mark 2:1-12, II Corinthians 1:18-22, Isaiah 42: 18-25
Blasphemy. Not a word common to our daily experience or even easily defined by most people. Yet, as I read the lessons for this morning, I was struck by this word that seems to sit squarely in the middle of our gospel lesson for this morning surrounded by events that are probably best described as a celebration of miracle and faith. The story in its simplest form can be told in two sentences. A paralyzed man is brought to Jesus by his friends to be healed but they find their way blocked by the crowds so they cut a hole in the roof and lower his bed through the opening. Jesus, impressed by their faith, forgives the man's sins, but the religious leaders judge such a declaration to be blasphemy, so rather then create a theological controversy, Jesus heals the man.
We are so used to hearing stories about Jesus and the miracles he performed, that stories like this one have lost most of their power to amaze or astonish us. We tend to forget that we are still in the Sundays of the church year that are known as "after Epiphany" which means that we are still supposed to be focused on the brilliance and wonder of God becoming human as we celebrated at Christmas. It is expected that our lessons will shine forth with the light of God in stories that lead us to discover again the God who became one with us. But we know the stories so well. Especially this one, with a paralyzed man lowered through the roof into a crowded room. And likewise, we are not surprised by some of the religious conservatives of the day making accusations against Jesus' teachings and actions.
In our lesson, the word is blasphemy. Not a common word to our daily vocabulary but one that our global community has found need to declare in recent weeks. To blaspheme means to speak of sacred things in terms of irreverence. In the more intense application it means to intentionally mock, profane or contemptuously revile God, sacred persons, places or things. The Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in various forms have been condemned by the Muslim community as insulting to their faith and the prophet. Blasphemy was the verdict of various Moslem leaders. Such verdicts are not limited to any one faith. The Roman Catholic church had declared certain scenes in the film "The Last Temptation of Christ" as blasphemous. Recently the Greek community condemned a satirical comic book about the life of Jesus as blasphemy. Meanwhile, blasphemy of another kind has continued to occur in Alabama where ten churches have now been burned to the ground over the last two weeks.
I would suggest this morning that we give pause to consider a lesson that has at its core a question of offending religious sensitivities. The underlying question that the religious leaders and most of those who witnessed the beginnings of Jesus' ministry was, "Who does he think he is?" Blasphemy is an assumption of power either real or mistaken that is usually reserved to the holy or divine. Mistaken perceptions about who someone thinks they are or who they are thought to be is the stuff from which great offense and wonderful humor is made. Upon reading today's gospel lesson I immediately thought of familiar story types that have hundreds of variations but which all derive their energy from their potential to offend even as they capture our imagination.
One of the most familiar examples is a story of a man who dies and upon arriving at the Pearly Gates of heaven is told "Welcome to Heaven, everyone is equal here." The man is then given a tour of Heaven and finds that it is indeed true. Everyone has an equally nice place to live and equally nice clothes. There are no distinctions of importance or power. All are equal. The man sees a cafeteria and decides to get something to eat. He stands in the cafeteria line waiting his turn like everyone else when a man in green hospital scrubs goes rushing to the front of the line and gets his food ahead of all the others waiting in line. "Hey" says the waiting man, "I thought everyone is equal here. Why did he get to cut the line?" "Oh, him?" St. Peter replied. "That's God, he thinks he's a surgeon." The underlying presumption in this story, of course, is that surgeons think of themselves as God while God's power is to be found in being a surgeon. There are similar versions of this story about orchestra conductors, opera singers, jazz artists, football coaches (especially Vince Lombardi), corporate executives, and various other professions and individuals of significant ego strength. The stories all end with the same final line, "Oh, that's God, he thinks he's..." The interesting thing is that all versions of this joke risk being blasphemous even as they make light of some human presumption to divine power. There are some communities of faith today who would judge the very act of telling this story, especially from the pulpit, as blasphemous. The consequences for any such preacher at some times in our history would have meant removal from this congregation and probably from the community as well. There still are states that have laws against blasphemy and there are many countries in the world where this is no small matter. To offend the holy or at least those who would claim to define or defend the holy has significant consequences as we can tell from the headlines around the world.
There is only one teaching in the gospels about Jesus that has Jesus commenting on blasphemy and that has to do with rejecting the Spirit that God sends to each of us. This is the act of ultimate despair. The denying that God's grace can transcend the sins and suffering of our world. All the other references to blasphemy in scripture are references that are intended to provide some social or religious order. The Biblical view of blasphemy is very serious when applied to the community of faith but it is not a category that Jesus uses to judge or guide his ministry. It is a charge that is brought against him not by him. There is no question who God is to Jesus.
The essential question in life is who do we think we are in relationship to God. The Gospel lesson presents the story of a man and his friends who are so convinced in the power of God's grace that they let nothing stand between them and the grace Christ brings. Even Jesus is impressed by the extremes to which the paralyzed man's friends will go and responds in wondrous affirmation that their faith alone has brought this man into God's grace and forgiveness. But that is where some of the religious community start whispering the B word. Only God can truly forgive sins. Who does this Jesus think he is? The high priest granting absolution on the high holy days? What good could a paralyzed man have done to deserve favor with God? Jesus knew that it was faith alone that mattered not his good works. But faith does not exist without grace flowing from it. We see this most easily in the deeds and meaningful lives that flow from those who believe. So it is that the paralyzed man is told to stand up and take his mat and walk. In our second lesson for today we find Paul writing to the church at Corinth declaring that the power of God is found in the great "yes" of faith. Jesus said yes to the man and a miracle is recorded. Yet we are so familiar with such stories that they do not surprise or offend us.
Blasphemy? To be offended you first have to encounter the unexpected word, image, action. To be offended you first have to have respect for the holy and sacred. To have the holy and sacred we must first admit to the existence of something other than ourselves. The holy is that which is set apart by faith, tradition, revelation, or just mutual decision to be reverenced and respected. Sin violates the order of our relationship to God, self and others. Sin is ultimately God's to judge and God's power alone. To forgive sins was part of that judgment. To the religious leaders in our story, if Jesus forgave sins he was acting as the very voice of God. But to be the voice of God meant to be one with God and that would make God human which was blasphemy. God was God. God was not human. But Jesus proclaimed God to be intimately enfleshed with humanity. Jesus declared not just forgiveness of sins by faith alone but the possibility of creation moving in a new direction. Miracle we call it. The unexpected. The offense to every logical and scientific mind. The man picked up his mat and walked home.
What would offend you? Oh, there are all kinds of little things that are socially inappropriate. Much of the reality television these days derives its "entertainment value" from presenting potentially offensive activities involving a variety of ridiculous dietary or simply gross activities. Social offenses may range from the untimely burp to the use of the wrong eating utensil. So called "civilized society" has established a range of behaviors that we strive to teach our children only to find that the real world can quickly turn such practices into meaningless gestures. Blasphemy is more then a breach of etiquette. It is no small thing, yet it is definitely a matter of perspective. We cannot easily live in a world without proper respect and reverence for the orders, traditions and rituals of others. Yet we also realize that not all people value all things the same--including the holy. When the world as we know it is broken, what then? What can possibly make sense or give order to the chaos of our world? We look for the power of the divine and risk blasphemy.
There is another story that like most stories has hundreds of variations. This one embraces the eternal quality to sports which makes it no surprise that three heavenly golfers were out for a day of golf and teed off. The first golfer was Moses who had a magnificent drive that bounced on the fairway and rolled straight for a water hazard. Quickly Moses raised his club, the water parted and the ball rolled safe and sound on dry land to the other side of the pond.
Next up was Jesus who hit a less impressive ball that landed directly in the center of the pond but did not sink, hovering over the water until Jesus casually walked out on the pond and chipped the ball onto the green.
The third golfer stepped up and sort of randomly whacked at the ball. It headed out over the fence and into on-coming traffic on a nearby street. The ball bounced off a truck, hit a nearby tree which deflected it up onto the roof of a nearby shack. The ball rolled down the roof into the gutter, dropped down the downspout, back out onto the fairway heading right toward the aforementioned pond. As it rolled the ball hit a small stone that made it bounce onto a lily pad where it was snatched into the mouth of a large bullfrog. An eagle flying overhead swooped down and grabbed the frog. As they passed over the green the frog croaked up the ball which dropped on the green where it bounced twice before rolling into the hole for a beautiful hole in one. Moses then turned to Jesus and said, "I hate playing golf with your Dad." A story of miracle, blasphemy or the reality of living in God's world. There are some who would be offended by God playing golf. There are some who would be offended by God manipulating the world to his will. The true measure of our faith may be in what offends us. Jesus never condemned any person as standing outside the reach of God's love and grace. Again and again he found ways to embrace the very ones that offended the community the most. The physically deformed leper, the emotionally and psychologically demented, the socially unacceptable, the religious outcast, the politically opposite, the militarily empowered. The list has no end. There are those in the world who offend me, who I can easily declare blasphemously outside the orders of all that I hold sacred. I am offended by ignorance, poverty, war, hunger, disease, abusive and exploitive power, class distinctions, racism, sexism, terrorism, long list of "isms" and an even longer list of phobias that limit and diminish the world community. I wonder why God does not simply make things roll together into one harmonious direction, but then such a thought blasphemy to someone, I am sure.
Maybe the point of our lessons for today, can be found most clearly in the first lesson. An Old Testament prophet who simply said it was time to move on. Time to forget about the former things and discover the new thing God is doing. Humanity knows blasphemy when it sees it and hears it. We love our sacred and holy. We need our God to be in places where we can find him. We call them holy writings, holy places, holy disciplines and practices. But every once in a while there comes a time for something new. A breaking from the old. There will be those who call it blasphemy and it will not be easy to love those people. Yet Christ loved even them. He even asked the question. What will it take to convince you that this is not blasphemy? What will it take to stop the riots over Danish cartoons? What will it take to stop the burning of churches? What will it take to end suicide terrorist attacks? Jesus said first a declaration that sins are truly forgiven and then an act of faith, a miracle of faith. To forgive our enemies. To be as generous in love as we are in power and judgment. To be motivated only by the example of grace rather then merit, gain or profit. That is what this epiphany journey has been about.
The question was asked, "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy!" Jesus never denied or refuted the accusation. The new thing that he was doing was as offensive in his day as it is today. A God who can pretend to be any one of us is a humorous or terrifying idea. A God who plays golf his way means our lives are going to be very interesting. Blasphemy. God's new way to discover the holy in our lives. So we cut a few holes in the roof and live by faith.
Blasphemy or miracle?
Amen