David Dault

Sermon for 2.23.03, Central Presbyterian Church, Culeoka, TN

Texts: Isaiah 43: 18-25, Mark 2: 1-2, and 2 Corinthians 1: 18-22

***

Writing an essay is easy.

At least in one simple, or oversimplified sense, writing an essay is easy. At least, that’s
what my fifth-grade teacher told me, over and over, until it stuck. A formula that, in the
thick and thin of my life as a student, I have stuck with—or deviated from—but always,
in some way, kept as a beacon:

Tell them what you’re gonna tell ‘em, then tell ‘em, then tell them what you told ‘em.

It may not have been a magic formula, but it was a formula—a way in—a way of getting
at the problem of writing something down. In short, it was a way of beginning.

What’s interesting about this formula is that, in the final analysis, you are only really
saying one thing. One key message. One key point—or even one set of key points—gets
repeated. In fact, it gets repeated, and then it gets repeated again. Tell them what you’re
gonna tell ‘em, then tell ‘em, then tell them what you told ‘em.

Now the trick—if you’re really only saying one thing, over and over—is how do you
keep that one thing interesting? Because, after all, it’s not enough—as my fifth grade
teacher, way back when, used to tell me—it’s not enough to just repeat the same words
over and over three times. That’s really boring. What you have to do, so she told us,
over and over, is to say that same thing—that same one thing—but say it in a new and
different way each time.
That’s the hard part—and that’s what makes this essay writing stuff so tricky—tricky
way back when in fifth grade, on up into college, and even now: tricky. You have to say
that one thing—but you always need to say it in new ways—to find language and
delivery that is fresh enough to keep that one thing fresh. That can be a tall order for
anybody.

So it’s in the spirit of my fifth grade training, in the spirit of this essay formula, that I
begin today. I’m going to tell you what I’m gonna tell ya, then I’m gonna tell ya, then
I’m going to tell ya what I told ya. In the end: just one message, and I’m going to say it a
number of different ways, because I think it’s important—and because I think each of
you is important, and because your attention and time is important, I’m going to try to say
this one thing in a series of ways that will engage you—keep your interest—and give you
something good you can walk out of here with.

So, to begin this morning, what I’m going to tell you is this: God is gracious, and God is
faithful in that graciousness, up to—and even beyond—our ability to be faithful to God.
This morning, that’s what I’m going to tell you. That’s how I’m going to begin.

2.

There are, of course, different ways to begin.

If you’re like me, when you start out to do something for the first time, you’re a bit timid.
Imagine that you set out for the first time to learn to juggle, or to bake a cake, play a
game, or ride a bicycle. When you’re just beginning, you’re figuring things out. There
are gaps. You hesitate. You make mistakes. Probably the last thing you want to do is
draw a lot of attention to yourself. The last thing you want to do is shout to the world,
Hey, look at me! I’m doing something new here!

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But, what’s funny is, in our reading from Isaiah this morning, that’s exactly what God
does. God, speaking through Isaiah, says: I am about to do a new thing; now it springs
forth, do you not perceive it? God calls our attention, God says, look what I’m gonna do.

But there’s more. Our reading this morning, from the NRSV, does a pretty good job of
translating what’s going on in the text. But there’s a Hebrew word here that a lot of the
English translations of the Bible I looked at don’t make much of—but I think it’s pretty
important.
The Hebrew word is “hennai”—and a pretty good translation of that Hebrew word
“hennai” into English might be our word “BEHOLD”. As in, “Behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy!”

So God, here speaking words through Isaiah, isn’t just casually saying, “Eh, you know,
I’m gonna do a new thing, I think…” That word “Hennai” is a red flag. It tells us, PAY
ATTENTION, slow down, listen up. It’s as if God is saying: HEY! Lookit this! I’m
gonna do a NEW thing, here!

And so what is it God wants us to pay attention to? What is this that God is about to do?

God says, I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Now if you’re a desert dweller, and you hear something like that—that’s something
you’ll pay attention to! For someone to say they’re going to make rivers in the desert is
the equivalent of saying I am going to make dead places alive again—I am going to tame
the savage and the wild things and turn them into blessings and gifts of abundance. It’s a
way of saying, I am going to conquer the dead with life!

Now that’s something to pay attention to! This new thing that God is doing is a life
giving thing, a tremendously good thing. It’s wonderful; but there’s more:

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Our reading from Isaiah ends with God saying, I am He who blots out your
transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

I will not remember your sins! This thing that God is doing—we would call this a new
thing because it’s so unexpected. In the passage we read this morning, Israel seems to be
doing everything wrong—turning away from God, failing to worship, or sacrifice, or
even acknowledge God. And God makes note of that, reminds Israel of that, and then
says—amazing!—I will not remember your sins!

This is absolutely the reason we get told to BEHOLD! here: To not-remember Israel’s
sins is the equivalent of making a mighty river suddenly spring up in a desert; it takes a
dead place and makes it come alive again. In other words, God is gracious, and God is
faithful in that graciousness, up to—and even beyond—Israel’s ability to be faithful to
God.

When we turn to our Gospel reading this morning, what do we find? As you remember
from the text I read a moment ago—we find Jesus, freshly back from the mission field,
coming home and trying to get some rest. But the word has gotten out about Jesus, and a
lot of folks want to come and hear what he has to say. His house is full to overflowing
with people, and so he’s talking with them. Probably a lot of his friends are there, as well
as folks he knows from growing up and from the market and from passing on the street.
So we can imagine that he’s pretty comfortable, and while he’s teaching, he might be
telling stories, and joking a bit with his guests.

All of a sudden, the roof begins to fall in, as somebody up above is digging it away—and
suddenly there’s this fella being lowered through the roof—a fella who can’t walk. Can
we imagine Jesus’ reaction? As I read the text, I imagine he’s smiling a big smile—
Whoa, fella! No need to be so eager! Don’t you know? Your sins are forgiven! No need
to tear up my roof…

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And I can see a lot of his guests having a good laugh at this absurd sight—this man so
eager to get close to Jesus that he is a party to the destruction of a roof! But there’s also a
section of folks, sitting there in the house, that don’t see the humor. This deadly serious
bunch that takes things with a good deal of gravity. Now, we might ask why this group
of scribes is in Jesus’ house in the first place, but in any case, there they are, and they’re
not exactly getting the point.

And what’s the point? The point is this: even by sitting where they were sitting, the
scribes, the paralyzed man, and all the guests crowding the door were seeing something
amazing—they were literally seeing a river sprung up in the desert. Because in the very
person of Jesus Christ, God had come to be with and for the lost world of humanity. In
Jesus Christ God was already saying I am going to make dead places alive again—I am
going to tame the savage and the wild things and turn them into blessings and gifts of
abundance. Jesus Christ Himself was God’s ultimate way of saying, I am going to
conquer the dead with life!

So when Jesus tells the man his sins are forgiven, and then puts the exclamation point on
the end of it by healing the man’s paralysis so that he can get up and walk home, the
people around him are amazed. But Jesus is simply making good on the promise God
gave to Israel all the way back in Isaiah: I am He who blots out your transgressions for
my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Because that’s exactly who Christ was
and is: Christ is the ultimate symbol that God is gracious, and God is faithful in that
graciousness, up to—and even beyond—the scribes’, the houseguests’, and even the
paralyzed man’s—ability to be faithful to God. Why do I say that? Because what Jesus
was offering to all of those in earshot that day was something so amazing they couldn’t
even conceive of it!

So we should not be surprised, when we turn to the epistle I read a moment ago, that the
very first thing Paul goes to is God’s faithfulness: As surely as God is faithful, our word
to you has not been "Yes and No." Paul is saying, we’re not going to be wishy-washy
here. There is a message, and it comes with an exclamation point, and that message is

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YES! Yes what? Yes to the world; Yes to a sorrowful, sinful people; Yes to the desert
with a sudden upspring of a mighty river; Yes to the dead with a message of life!

And Paul reminds us what we have already observed in the Gospel: Jesus Christ is the
YES to each of God’s promises. Jesus Christ is the YES which is the reason why WE are
able to say yes—yes to each other, yes to life, and yes to God—for it is God who
establishes us in Christ, and gives us the first installment of a lifetime dividend in the
person of the Holy Spirit. And it’s not because we’re such hot stuff, either. Like the
paralyzed man, we may well have to be carried to the house, and others might have to dig
through the roof and lower us down to where we can even catch a glimpse of Jesus. But
the good news is, after we’re carried there—in the midst of our paralysis—Jesus is there
—and he is there not with a stern look, but a smile, and a message of life: Son, Daughter,
your sins are forgiven!

Now, we don’t ever get past sin, and we don’t ever get past our paralysis, but what Paul
is telling us is, even with this reality, we have the message of hope, we have the YES of
God in Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul is reminding us, once again, that God is
gracious, and that God is faithful in that graciousness, up to—and even beyond—our
ability to be faithful to God.

3.

So what I want to leave you with this morning is this: Throughout the history that we call
our history—a history that starts back with Adam and moves through Abraham and
through the ages to the Apostles and down to us—a history that we are in the process of
passing on to those who come after us—God has been giving us something; God has
been telling us something. And in one sense, it’s been the same thing. One key message,
one key point: I will be with you. I will bring life in the face of death. I will be gracious.

What I love is that, in Isaiah, God tells us what he’s going to tell us. I am going to do a
new thing, and it will be like a mighty river springing up in the midst of a parched desert.

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Then, in the person of Jesus Christ, God tells us: Son, Daughter, your sins are forgiven;
get up, walk, LIVE! And then, bless his heart, Paul goes about telling us what God has
told us: That in Jesus Christ, each of God’s promises—to the Israelites, to the paralyzed
man, and to us—in Jesus Christ each of God’s promises is a YES!

And, like Paul, we can affirm that is for this reason—the reason of the YES of Jesus
Christ, the reason that God is gracious, and that God is faithful in that graciousness, up to
—and even beyond—our ability to be faithful—it is for exactly this reason that we are
able to say the "Amen," to the glory of God. And all God’s people, indeed, say, “Amen.”

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Isaiah 43: 18-25

43:18
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
43:19
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make
a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
43:20
The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the
wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,
43:21
the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
43:22
Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!
43:23
You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your
sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.
43:24
You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your
sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your
iniquities.
43:25
I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not
remember your sins.

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Mark 2: 1-2

2:1
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
2:2
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.
2:3
Then some people F21 came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.
2:4
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.
2:5
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
2:6
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
2:7
"Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but
God alone?"
2:8
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?
2:9
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, "Stand up
and take your mat and walk'?
2:10
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins"—he said to the paralytic—
2:11
"I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home."
2:12
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!"

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2 Corinthians 1: 18-22

1:18
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been "Yes and No."
1:19
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and
Timothy and I, was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always "Yes."
1:20
For in him every one of God's promises is a "Yes." For this reason it is through him
that we say the "Amen," to the glory of God.
1:21
But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us,
1:22
by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

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