Pray for the Healing of Our Paralysis

Mark 2: 1-2 (NRSV)

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.' Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 'Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?' At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, 'Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and take your mat and walk"? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' he said to the paralytic 'I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.' And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'

During the Season of Lent we are concentrating on prayer to draw ourselves closer to God. We are looking to go deeper into our relationship with God, to help us fix our center. We get so distracted by all the things of the world that we loose our focus and forget our God who loves us more than we love ourselves.

In our Gospel today, Jesus shows that he is so beyond what our past experiences have been. A man paralyzed has been brought to him, who was believed to have been that way because of his sins. Jesus is not interested in what the law had been, he is interested in bringing this man to wholeness in his relationship with God. Those who stand around Jesus and this paralyzed man are stuck in the dark ages. They cannot believe that God would come among them and forgive the sins of someone right in their midst. They are finding it hard to grasp that God came as one like us to forgive us of our sins, and transform our understanding about others around us. But God defies logic. God is beyond the status quo. God is not tied down by mere human opinion. God may have become one like us in Christ, but Jesus shows that God is so not the way others have made God out to be. With compassion and grace, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man and allows him to get up and walk. God's love has engaged this man and those around him with a new understanding about an older way of thinking.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are often thought of as being paralyzed because of how the religious right views homosexuality, bisexuality and transgendered people. Because Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Paul Cameron see LGBT people as sinners and distorted therefore we should not have our rights to serve openly in the military, or be allowed to marry the person we love, or have our employment, housing or allow partnered immigrants to become citizens of our country. The question then for LGBT Christians and all of us is, do we allow the opinions of others to paralyze us? Do we give opportunities for the views of anti-gay rhetoric affect our relationship with God, with our significant others and/or any other relationships? Do we allow the work of anti-LGBT ideologies to affect how we feel about ourselves?

This great story from Mark's Gospel tells us that God is very interested in every aspect of every person. God does not wish for us to be weighed down by what other people think of us. God's opinions of us are by no means the same as those of others. God does not see us through the thoughts and ideas of others. God who created every one of us in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity knows us intimately. God knows every cell of our body and every beat of our hearts. God knows every emotion, ache and pain that affects us. God knows when we are happy and when we are down right angry. Yet, when we often pray to God, we may find ourselves talking to God as if God sees us through the opinions of others. We need to pray for the Grace to see ourselves through God's eyes. We need to pray to be healed of the paralysis that makes LGBT people see ourselves as anything less than loved, cherished, forgiven and empowered by God's Holy Spirit.

As we read in today's Gospel God's power is all encompassing and all-inclusive. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are part of God's incredible plan for a diversified world where love is a many splendid thing. Mutually romantic loving and sexual relationships are not limited to people of the opposite sex, but include people of the same-sex who desire to share God's love with their special someone. In no way is God's opinion of LGBT people limited to what the religious right and the Roman Catholic church say.

The journey of Lent invites us to see ourselves through God's eyes and to understand that Jesus endured the Cross and all of it's shame to take away our sins including those that weigh us down. For LGBT people, the sin of heterosexism weighs down our work for equal rights protection. It is a sin that is all too alive and well. If we are going to see the day when LGBT people have marriage equality and equal rights under the law, we need to start calling heterosexism out by it's name. Like Jesus who turned away from popular opinions, we too need to turn away from the opinions of others who say that same-sex marriage should not be allowed and made legal. We must also turn away from those who say that being LGBT is a choice and therefore must be changed through ex-gay ministries like Exodus International or Courage. We can accept Jesus' invitation to get up from our mats of injustice and bias and walk knowing that God loves and accepts us as we are, and invites us to bring release to others who are weighed down.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 218).