Last Sunday, during his weekly address to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis counseled his Catholic flock to never fear death for Christ, as Lord over life, is no less Lord over death. Instead, he warned they should fear SIN, which hardens and kills the soul: “Jesus is the Lord, and before Him physical death is like sleep: there is no reason to despair. A different [thing] is the death to be afraid of: that of the heart hardened by evil! Of that yes, we must be afraid! It is the death of the heart.” But then he qualified his remarks by saying, “But even sin, even the mummified heart, is never the last word for Jesus, because He has brought us the infinite mercy of the Father.” The Pope explained that “even if we fell down, [Jesus’] soft and strong voice reaches us: ‘I tell you: get up’ It is beautiful to hear those words of Jesus addressed to each one of us: ‘I tell you: stand up! Go. Stand up, be brave, get up!’”

Our New Testament lesson for this morning concerns the very same New Testament passage with the same timeless message that the Pope proclaimed last week. It begins by informing us that Jesus was at Capernaum, at most likely the home of Simon Peter which he seems to use as his home base throughout much of his Galilean ministry. When people start to figure out where Jesus is, a crowd begins to form, filling the small house and even the roadway leading up to it. In the middle of teaching them, a group of four men come bearing a young paralytic, either a boy or young man who was unable to walk. We are told that they could not get him to Jesus due to the press of the crowd, but refusing to be denied, his friends climb up upon the roof and begin removing tiles so that he can be lowered down to him. They would not be denied as they would not let anyone or anything get in their way; they were determined to have an audience with Jesus ONE way or another.

Marveling as to their faith, Jesus responds by declaring, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” As appreciative as they may have been for those words, that was certainly NOT what either the paralytic or his friends wanted to hear at this time. They’d come all this way and gone through all this trouble because they were told that Jesus was a healer. Hopeful that he could do what others COULDN’T, the young man had come because he wanted to walk and lead a normal, productive life just like everyone else. 

But what he and the rest of the crowd don’t understand is that by declaring the paralytic’s sins forgiven, Jesus is performing an even GREATER miracle- one SIGNIFANTLY more important than making the blind to see or the lame to walk. He announces that the gulf between that young man and God had now been bridged so that he was no longer a sinner but rather a SON, a member of God‘s holy family. After all, that IS what divine forgiveness is all about- the restoration of a relationship so that rather than a spiritual outcast or moral lawbreaker, God sees us as his own son or daughter. We, in turn, no longer behold some vengeful judge ready to punish us for the slightest infraction but rather the face of a Heavenly Father who loves us with an everlasting love. Regardless how bad we may have been, EVERYTHING is changed as wenowhave the opportunity for a new beginning, the chance to start all over again with a fresh, clean slate- what the Bible calls “grace.” The past with all its shame and guilt and failure has been replaced with a present and a future now charged with a new hope. ALL THIS was bound up in Christ’s offer to the young man when he said to him, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Of course, upon hearing those words of pardon, the Scribes and Pharisees are quick to condemn him. They call him a fraud as ANYONE can declare someone’s sins as being forgiven. But even MORE damning is Jesus’ claim that he has the power to forgive sins. That was SHEER BLASPHEMY for only GOD could forgive sin and by declaring the paralytic’s sin forgiven, Jesus was in effect declaring HIMSELF to be God. 

Perceiving their hearts, Jesus asks them, “Why are you reasoning about these things? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ’Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ’Arise, take up your bed and walk‘? But in order that you may know that the Son of Man HAS authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home.” We are told that the young man arose, took up his mat, and then left the house under his own two feet. Here, Jesus is making the claim that the forgiveness of sins is more important than restoring his ability to walk. But in order to PROVE his authority to them, to show that he DOES have the power to forgive sin, he heals him of his lameness. Cured of his paralysis, he picks up his mat and leaves knowing he would NEVER AGAIN be the same person he was.

If you ask yourself why you come to church Sunday after Sunday, what would your answer be. Might it be to hear some good news from the pulpit after a week of bad reports and negative reviews. Or might it be that it makes you feel good to sit in the pew and sing your favorite hymns, or possibly to be back among friends you normally don’t see otherwise. I’ll bet, however, that not ONE of you would say that the MAIN reason you are here this morning has been to hear those familiar words that follow the Confession of Sin in our Presbyterian order of worship- those Words of Assurance meant to remind us how by the grace of God, every man, woman, and child in Jesus Christ has become a new creation; that the old has passed away and all things are now new. In fact, you’ve probably heard those words uttered so MANY times and in so MANY services that it’s become little more than a ritualistic formula you listen to without giving much thought to.

And yet, the REALITY is that they are the most IMPORTANT words you or I will ever hear in this or ANY Christian service. That declaration of pardon is intended to be more inspiring than the sermon and far more reassuring than all my prayers for they address the greatest need and the deepest desire of every human being. They remind us that there is STILL a chance for a new beginning, that there exists the opportunity for a fresh start which comes when we receive God’s gracious offer of love and forgiveness in our lives.

You see, there is no GREATER disease than the sickness of unforgiveness- it is a raging cancer to one’s body, mind, and heart. A couple of Christmases ago, an Italian man, age 99, initiated divorce proceedings against his 96-year-old wife of 77 years after rifling through an old chest of draws and discovering some ancient love letters written by the wife to her lover during a secret affair she had had back in the 1940s. Guilt-stricken, she confessed everything but was unable to persuade her husband to reconsider his decision. Together, they share five children, a dozen grandchildren and one great-grand child.

One of the wildest videos I’ve ever seen was one taken several years back at a Canadian Football League luncheon in Vancouver, Canada. Joe Kapp—73 and the only person to play quarterback in the Super Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Grey Cup (the Canadian version of the Super Bowl)—was seated on stage with Angelo Mosca, also 73 and a former professional football player. All at once, Kapp went over to Mosca and began punching him in the face and kicking him all over. The audience was in complete shock as all Mosca could do to defend himself was strike back at him with his cane. And what provoked this sudden attack? It was the result of a 48-year-old grudge between the two that began with in the 1963 Grey Cup game. Mosca hit Kapp’s running back Willie Fleming with a shot that many, including Kapp, thought was dirty. It knocked Fleming from the game which the Ticats won 21-10. Afterward, Kapp refused to shake Mosca’s hand. For 48 years, Kapp had nursed this grudge and vowed to one day get even with him- such is the enduring power of hatred and unforgiveness in a person’s heart.

But on a more POSITIVE note, I want to tell you about a Methodist minister and former alumnus of the graduate school I attended. His name is Walter Everett and in 1987, Everett’s son Scott was brutally murdered in his apartment building by a 27-year-old drug dealer named Michael Carlucci who had been out drinking with friends that night and was high on cocaine. For the next year, Walter Everett saw his life spiral downward, seemingly out of control. He felt depression, rage, and despair, and it put severe cracks in his already shaky marriage. He prayed to God asking that he might show him a way out of the darkness but he seemed to get no response. 

Eleven months after the murder of his son, he sat in the courtroom as Carlucci was being sentenced. Everett spoke first but he says he doesn’t even remember what he said. Then it was the defendant’s turn. He stood and uttered the words: “I’m sorry I killed Scott Everett. I wish I could bring him back. Obviously, I can’t. These must sound like empty words to the Everetts. I don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry.” That simple expression of remorse would change Everett’s life. “It was,” he said, “as though at that moment God said, ‘I’ve been asking you to wait. This is what I’ve been asking you to wait FOR.’”

Exactly one year to the minute after he learned of his son’s murder, Walter Everett sat down and wrote a letter to Mike Carlucci in which he recounted the suffering that Scott’s death had inflicted on his family. “The pain,” he wrote, “is almost unbearable at times.” Yet he also thanked Carlucci for the apology he had delivered at his sentencing. But then, Everett went even further. “I know also that I will not be able to move on with my life unless I can accept your apology,” he wrote. “And so, although words seem so trivial in some ways (yet they are all that we have now), I do accept your apology, and, as hard as these words are to write, I add: I forgive you.” His decision to forgive Carlucci, he says, was not meant to ease the guilt that weighed on the soul of his son’s killer. It was more selfish than that. He actually offered him forgiveness to save his OWN life. “You need to feel good enough about yourself in order to forgive.” When he stuck the letter in the mail, he says, “I felt the burden start to lift.”

That letter initiated the beginning of a relationship that would profoundly affect the lives of BOTH men. Eventually the two would have a face-to-face meeting in prison which would lead to more repeated visits, and as time went on, he began to see a transformation take place in someone who had once been a drug-addled street thug, a change he interpreted as the work of God beginning in his life. As time went on, the relationship grew so that when Carlucci’s father died while he was in prison, Carlucci received a furlough to attend the funeral. Everett not only loaned him a suit to wear at it but at Carlucci’s request, he delivered the eulogy. 

Because the prosecutors had reduced the criminal charge against Carlucci from first-degree to second-degree manslaughter as part of a plea arrangement, he’d been sentenced to a term of just ten years in prison with the sentence to be suspended after five. When he told Everett that he was considering asking the state parole board to grant him an early release, he asked Everett if he would testify on his behalf which he agreed to immediately. On June 1, 1991, Carlucci was released from prison—largely, he believes, on the strength of Everett’s testimony. He had served just thirty-five months for killing Walt Everett’s son.

As time went on, the two men developed a most unlikely fellowship- they began making public appearances together—in churches, schools, prisons—with Everett advocating for the abolition of the death penalty and Carlucci testifying to the power of redemption. Since his release from prison, Carlucci has stayed completely sober and worked steadily as a supervisor for a trucking company. At an appearance together on The Today Show, Matt Lauer asked Everett if he could ever look at Carlucci and not think about what he had done to his son. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I can never forget what happened to Scott. It has forever changed my life. But when I look at Mike, I don’t see the person who harmed Scott. I see somebody who’s been changed by God, and I celebrate that.” Then Lauer looked at Carlucci and asked him what he’d learned from Everett. “Unconditional love,” Carlucci said.

When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins forgiven, sure it seemed like an easy thing to do. Those cheap faith healers with their traveling tents get away with that stuff all the TIME. And yet, as we have come to see, those words of pardon and absolution would become the most IMPORTANT words that young man would ever hear, CONSIDERABLY more than “Take up your bed and walk.” This was because more crucial than his PHYSICAL healing was the healing of his RELATIONSHIP TO GOD; it was knowing that had a heavenly Father who loved him and would care for him throughout this life right on into the next. And when his days here on earth have ended, this same God has promised to escort him across that mysterious threshold we call “death” to experience an entirely NEW life, one where lameness and blindness and sickness and death will be no more- ALL THIS was bound up in our Lord’s declaration of forgiveness. Once he came to believe and embrace it, then the REAL healing could begin- healing in his soul, healing in his emotions, healing in every one of his broken relationships. 

That’s what the families of the nine men and women murdered three years ago last month by Dylann Roof in a Charleston, South Carolina church did when they addressed him at his hearing. One by one they stunned the court room, not with words dripping with hatred and vengeance, but with love and forgiveness. While the blood of their loved ones was still fresh, they looked straight into his face and said they could not bring themselves to despise him. “I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of one victim said. “We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive,” said the sister of another. “I pray God on your soul.” 

Their example touched not just the Charleston community but it resonated across the ENTIRE WORLD. However, more than an expression of grace toward an unrepentant killer, it becomes the means by which the healing in their lives would begin. It did not obviate or excuse the demand for justice for their loved ones, but it DID relieve them from having to go through life contending with those vengeful self-destructive attitudes that could render THEM victims AS WELL. In doing so, they refused to allow the joy and the peace of God to be stolen from them in the same way the remaining years of their LOVED ONES were. 

So I stand before you this morning to declare to you those same simple words of assurance- that your sins have been forgiven and that in the sight of God you have now become a new creation. SURE they sound cheap and easy, but the reality is that God’s forgiveness is the most powerful healing force in all the world. If we TRULY believe that, then the burden of guilt and fear and loneliness in our lives will start to give way to a love and a joy and a peace unlike any we’ve ever experienced. By learning to receive God’s forgiveness, then REAL healing--the healing we need on EVERY level of our lives--can finally begin. And if you feel the weight of your sins are TOO GREAT to repent of and thus TOO UNWORTHY to be forgiven—and the truth is we ALL are—then remember what Pope Francis reminded his flock of last week, how “even if we fell down, Jesus’ soft and strong voice STILL reaches us: ‘I tell you: get up’- the words of Jesus addressed to each one of us: ‘I tell you: stand up! Go. Stand up, be brave, get up!’” Let us pray...

Our gracious and forgiving Heavenly Father, help US to accept the love you are forever granting us, to demonstrate towards others and EVEN OURSELVES a forgiveness that allows us to face the future not with hatred and vengeance and guilt but with love and joy and peace and hope in our hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.