| October 05 2005 |
The Rev. William Klock: "The Life of Renewal"
From the Rev. William Klock of Christ Church REC in Oregon, we have the sermon The Life of Renewal, based on Ephesians 4:17-32 and St. Matthew 9:1-8. Rev. Klock does his usual excellent work in exegeting these passages, and I like what he writes here about the passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew:Our Gospel lesson illustrates the renewal that St. Paul writes about in the Epistle. Look again at St. Matthew?s gospel:
And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, ?Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.? And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ?This man is blaspheming.? But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ?Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ?Your sins are forgiven,? or to say, ?Rise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins? ? he then said to the paralytic ? ?Rise, take up your bed and go home.? And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew 9:1-8)
Our natural state is like the paralytic in our lesson; we are weak in our wills and in our principles. Like the paralytic, our sins have put us in a place where we are unable to do anything to cure ourselves. Like the paralytic we are spiritually paralysed ? lying on our beds unable even to reach out to Christ for a cure for our souls. His friends brought him to Jesus for healing, but even then there was nothing he could do ? he couldn?t even reach out to touch Jesus and neither can we. But just as Jesus is the Lord of every physical disease and ailment, he is also the Lord of the disease of sin. In his death he conquered it and now comes to conquer it in us.
The miracle in our Gospel lesson teaches us the blessing of renewal. Physical healing is always a great blessing, but the healing of the soul is an even greater blessing. This man?s friends brought him to Jesus to be healed of his paralysis and they no doubt thought that this was the most important kind of healing he could have, but Jesus saw something deeper when he met him. Jesus saw an inner burden and misery and he gave the greatest blessing first. In fact, according to St. Matthew?s account, he healed the man of his inner burden of sin and only healed him outwardly as evidence to the others present ? I don?t think the paralytic needed the additional evidence ? Jesus healed his body as evidence to the others present that he could indeed forgive this man?s sins.
The lesson also shows us the conditions of renewal. Christ will not deny forgiveness to those who feel and know their need of it and who understand that they need this blessing more than anything else. Christ will forgive those who look for him and fight every obstacle to get to him ? like this man who had to be carried on a stretcher by his friends. Christ will forgive those who desire to be forgiven so that they can devote themselves to his service. I think these three conditions can be equated with repentance, which feels our need; with faith, which seeks Christ; and with obedience, which desires to serve him. May we take comfort in the fact that if we come to Him, He will indeed receive us into a new life with Him: He will not deny forgiveness to those who feel and know their need of this, as Rev. Klock tells us.
Posted by Will at 12 : 01 am |
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