FEBRUARY 1st, 2026 PASTOR DON PIEPER
A GOSPEL OF GRACE LUKE 5:12-16; 17-26
"FELLOWSHIP OF THE RUG"
When I was young, I joined The Fellowship of the Rug. Ever hear of it? It was a prestigious organization back in the day. We met daily at a specific time. It was called..., nap time.
Our Kindergarden teacher would tell us to get our rugs and find a place on the floor to take a nap. A few of us boys pretended to take a nap, but in reality, we'd trade baseball cards, gossip about the teacher, fumigate ourselves against girl germs, and, best of all, tell rug jokes while trying not to laugh.
For example, do you know why the rug blushed? Because it saw the floor show! Or do you know why Susie couldn't sleep during nap time? Because someone pulled the rug out from under her!
In today's reading Luke introduces us to the original fellowship of the rug. Theirs was a far more noteworthy group than the one I was a part of. In the face of formidable obstacles - social stigma, inconvenience, taxing physical effort and ongoing investment of time - they chose to become friends.
Luke informs us that “Some men showed up carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat.” (Luke 5:18) Luke tells us precious little about these guys, but it's clear they want to help their friend who is napping on that mat. And clearly their friend needs help. He's not alone.
John Ortberg, commenting on this story, notes that 'everyone comes with a rug, or a mat, and to be sure, that rug is no flying carpet! Let the rug or mat represent human brokenness and imperfection. You have yours and I have mine. It's that part of ourselves we’d rather not let others see, that ugly part, that part of us we try hard to sweep under the rug, as it were'. (John Ortberg)
Maybe your rug is a temper you can't seem to control. You lash out at the people you most love. When your buttons get pushed you push back big time! Maybe your mat is an inability to trust, or the need to be in control, or some dark secret, or a habit you just can't kick.
To be sure most of us have much to overcome. Many of us were raised that you don't air your dirty laundry, and so we bury it, but if you want deep friendship, you can't always be the strong one. Sometimes you'll have to let others in; let them carry your mat. These guys in Luke 5 made themselves accessible to and vulnerable with one another. Against the odds they form a little community - the Fellowship of the Rug! Sounds reminiscent of another fellowship. One by one, Frodo's friends step up:
“I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear.” “By my life or death I can protect you, I will!” “Mr. Frodo is not going anywhere without me.” “You need men of intelligence... Where are we going?” Such is the language of the fellowship of the ring, ...and the rug.
When the Fellowship of the Rug hear that Jesus is in town they drop everything, pick up their friend and “they tried to push through the crowd to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him.” (Luke 5:18)
That is, they tried to cut in line! That was pretty bold and bodacious. There's few things that push our buttons more than someone cutting in line. One of the last times I went skiing a couple of guys did exactly that and a big fight broke out. Skis and poles everywhere! It wasn't pretty!
Imagine being in that packed house and some guys try to push their way in! Talk about tense!So why'd these guys risk it? Their friend didn't need a nap. He needed Jesus and they knew it. “So they went up to the roof, took off some tiles and lowered the man on the mat down into the crowd...”
(Luke 5:19)
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What about the guy who owns the house? You agree to host Jesus and the next thing you know you're having a sky-light installed. One thing’s for sure, these guys are deeply devoted to their friend. They're not about to let a little roofing stand in their way. They give party-crashing a new name! Here’s the point: Christian community is built on friends who make a radical, roof-crashing commitment to Christ and one another. It's why I encourage folks to commit to one another, to move into a covenant relationship with one another because the church should be where Christ pursuers and followers carry each other's mats and crash through roofs in order to help one another get closer to Jesus.
And how about the man on the mat? What if you're him? You're about to go through the roof - literally! How will those who arrived early enough to get a seat respond? I remember being on vacation with my family once. We found a seat only to have a guy give us a look – kinda like this...
So if you're this guy you have a decision to make. If you go through the roof, you could get dropped, you could get ridiculed, you could get rejected. On the other hand, if you don't go thru the roof, you’ll stay stuck in a rut, or on a rug, as it were. You’ll never be healed. This is your one shot at being whole. So you nod your head and become a roof-crasher too. The rest is history!
Then there's Jesus. He looks up with dust and dirt and chunks of first-century plaster raining down on him and sees those faces staring down... There's no record of their saying anything. Their actions broadcast their thoughts: "If we can just get our friend close to Jesus...."
What we are told is that 'Jesus saw their faith.' So what did he see, other than a big hole in the ceiling? He saw hopeful faces, trusting somehow that Jesus could and would help. Jesus saw evidence of a radical commitment, a glimpse of the love of God in human faces!
Jesus looks down at this man on the mat in front of him and sees not merely a broken body but - as in every one of us - a broken soul. So Jesus tells him: "Young man, your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:20)
The man on the mat hadn't really signed up to have his sins talked about. But there's no way he, or any of us, can hope to be truly whole without dealing with our spiritual baggage.
In the film, Shawshank Redemption, the inmates at a maximum security prison who’re asked what they're in for typically respond, I'm innocent, like everyone else in here. At one point one prisoner, shares with his friend his inability to open up with his wife, blaming himself for her infidelity. In that moment their friendship becomes real. A bond is formed, hope is renewed & healing takes root.
Josh looked out from the roof of the church building he and others were helping to build in poverty-stricken Matamoras, Mexico.“How ironic”, he thought to himself, “I feel so alive, so at peace, like the man I was intended to be, but so different from who I was just five years ago. I was so full of myself – I would have destroyed everything. What an amazing thing you’ve done in my life, Jesus”.
(from John Ortberg's Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them)
Five years earlier his mindset was that of doing whatever it took to succeed. He was making good money, drove an expensive car, partied in Las Vegas, and spent his free time chasing women. But increasingly he began feeling a deep emptiness inside.
Eventually, a close friend of his invited him to join a small group of guys that were getting together to explore the meaning of life. In addition to reading excerpts from the Bible they would read and discuss books and talk about the implications for their personal lives. One night, while reading the book, Man in the Mirror, they began to openly talk about everything from addictions to pornography, from their meaningless sexual encounters to their workaholic tendencies.
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Together they realized that the way they were living would never allow them to commit to long-lasting loving relationships, nor to become secure in their relationship with God. Josh realized that his struggles were merely symptoms of a deeper disease – his tendency to try and play God in his life. “I realized my deep insecurity was driving everything.” That night Josh asked God to change him.
With friends helping him redefine what it meant to be a man, praying with him and for him and helping him take claim to the promises in scripture of God’s good plans for his life, Josh began to grow in Christ. “My friends around me loved me and affirmed me – it was the most freeing thing that ever happened to me!” Looking down from the roof at his friends he prayed, “Lord I’m amazed at what you’ve built in my life over the last five years with the help of my friends. They’ve helped me find a rock solid security in you that a pile of money could never bring. Thanks.”
(from John Ortberg's Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them)
Reading of Josh reminded me of an experience in our small group a few years ago. A young woman in our group shared that an old flame had contacted her and invited her to join him at his lodge for a “fun” weekend away. She told us how her friends at work had encouraged her to go. Our small group listened and then one by one urged her to make sure this is what Christ would want her to do.
After she stumbled she had a great deal of difficulty facing the group. The group, tho', offered no condemnation but greeted her with love and shared in her inner agony. The experience not only strengthened her resolve to go the distance with Christ but also deepened the bonds of the group as few other experiences had. Through the context of sharing and reflecting on scripture, Christ spoke words of healing to her that renewed her faith and brought inner healing: “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
(Luke 5:20) This dear friend is now serving on the pastoral staff of her church here in Washington.
Looking at Luke’s story of the man on the mat, one might wonder, what sins can a paralytic do, anyway? Jesus knew. He knew that the deadliest sins – resentment, self-righteousness, or unforgiveness – are the ones we commit without lifting a finger. They’re deadly because they damage the soul.
Before we close the book on this story we must take note that a key part of this story is that there are others present in the room – biblical teachers, people who were thought of themselves as spiritually mature. They apparently arrived on time and got good seats. But as Jesus ministered to the man on the mat, addressing his hurting soul, they sat in judgment...: “Who does he think he is?”
(Luke 5:21)
John Ortberg writes: “There are some who know a lot about the Bible, may be quite churchy, and may carefully avoid scandalous sins and thus be thought of as spiritually advanced. But this is an error, and one that deeply damages both those inside and outside the church. Just as love is the ultimate expression of the Ten Commandments, so lovelessness is the ultimate expression of sin.”
This was the condition of the “teachers of the law” who sat listening to Jesus. They had no one to bring to him and they had no love for the paralyzed man who needed Jesus’ touch. Such people did not cease to exist with the end of the first century. Churches are full of such people even now.
I understand such people because far too often I'm among them. I struggle with the same self-righteousness that plagued those religious leaders. I far too often sit where they sat, disapproving as they disapproved, sitting in judgment because my sin doesn't look like his, failing to help carry his rug and break through the ceilings that need to be broken through. If the church today is to be all that Christ intended her to be we must become a break through church – a fellowship of the rug kind of church.
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Christ is eager to help you be rid of that rug, once and for all! I love how Luke tells us the impact it had when the man on the mat was healed inside and out. “He leaped to his feet, picked up his mat, and went home praising God!” (Luke 5:25) I love that because you sense his great joy. And what's more, it had a direct impact on those who carried him there and those who simply showed up.
“Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they (also) praised God, exclaiming, 'We have seen amazing things today!'” (Luke 5:26) The fellowship of the rug doesn't come easy, but it’s the fellowship where Jesus can be found! When we partner with him in transparency of our rug, and in helping others get close to him, and see what only he can do, bringing healing and hope to the hearts of those who feel isolated and discouraged, it brings great joy – and people begin to praise Him!
What might this look like for you this week? Shall we ask....?