Mark recounts that crowds gather to see Jesus, to hear His teaching and to experience the power of His signs. Mark notes that the people realized that Jesus was different than the other teachers and scribes – a few weeks ago the crowds in the Gospel said, “He taught as one with authority, and not as the scribes.”
And yet, the crowds would likely have seen Jesus as another prophet – one like Moses, or Elijah, or even John the Baptist. Their teaching had been powerful like His, and other prophets and healers had on occasion been able to cure the sick and to cast out demons just as Jesus was doing.
But in today’s Gospel something entirely different happens, and it causes the people to remark: “we have never seen anything like this before.” Just what is it that is so different about what Jesus says and does in today’s Gospel?
Mark recounts that Jesus has returned to his home in Capernaum, and a crowd has gathered at Peter’s house. A group of four faith-filled men carry their paralytic friend up to the roof of the house, cut a hole, and lower the man in front of Jesus.
Astonished at their faith, Jesus responds by saying to the man: “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now this is indeed different! This is much more than what the man and his friends could have been expecting or asking for. They could certainly have been expecting that Jesus would cure the man’s paralysis, as it was said Jesus had done in the surrounding towns and villages. But to forgive sins? That was not for a human to do; not even a prophet or healer could do that. God alone can forgive sins.
And sure enough, the scribes who had witnessed this begin to say just this to themselves, calling Jesus a blasphemer. Knowing their inner thoughts, Jesus responds by saying: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth” – and then He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” And the man does it!
Jesus not only does the “easier” thing of saying that the man’s sins are forgiven, He does the “harder” thing of healing the man’s paralysis. He does this “that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.”
Friends, with this healing Jesus is proving that His words do indeed have effect. When He says ‘rise and walk,’ even paralytics can rise and walk! So when He says that someone’s sins are forgiven, it is not a pious platitude or an empty consolation – their sins are indeed wiped away, because Jesus is the Son of Man; the God who alone has the authority to forgive sins.
This week, as you know, we begin the great season of Lent. It is, of course, the season that asks us to reflect most deeply on the things that paralyze us – the sinful patterns of thoughts and deeds that leave us frozen, unable to move closer to one another or to God.
But we don’t ponder our paralysis, or count our offenses, to dwell on them or become all the more overwhelmed by them. We bring them to mind so that, like the four friends in today’s Gospel, we can lay them at the feet of Jesus, hear Him call us ‘child,’ and have those sins taken away.
In Lent, through our prayer, fasting and works of charity, and especially through the Sacraments – through the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation – we hear Jesus say to us, what He said to the paralyzed man in the Gospel: “rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
“Rise:” We are all brought low under the weight of our own guilt; we are mired, stuck in the frustrating cycle of the same old sins; we are hopeless, only able to see the darkness of the ground.
Jesus’ forgiveness bids us to stand up; to be unbound, set free from the weight of our guilt; to be unstuck from the spiraling pattern of sin; to look up, and see the light of hope.
This part of Jesus’ command is a reference to His Resurrection, which conquers sin forever, and our share in the Resurrection, which will raise us up with Christ to new and eternal life.
“Pick up your mat:” Because we are helpless to solve our own broken condition, every one of us makes use of a mat, a crutch, a mask and or a bandage. They help us get by, but they certainly don’t heal us, and they often weaken some other part of our life, making us dependent on them.
Jesus’ forgiveness goes to the heart of the matter. It heals the underlying wound and makes us a new creation.
This part of Jesus’ command is a sign of the power Jesus has given the man over his formerly helpless condition – the same power over sin and death that Jesus shares with us through grace.
“Go Home:” We are all lost; we’ve made wrong turn after wrong turn; we are constantly wandering from the Father’s house.
Jesus’ forgiveness seeks us out and finds us; straightens our path and shows us the way; it brings us back to the Father, back to the home where we really belong.
This part of Jesus’ command is an invitation to the Heavenly banquet. It’s a summary of Jesus’ entire mission and the fulfillment of our deepest desires and yearnings.
“Your sins are forgiven . . . Rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” How easy all these words are for any human being to say. And yet only from the lips of Jesus do these words actually mean anything at all – only in Him do they accomplish the things they signify and suggest.
Brothers and sisters, pray with me that this Lent we may all have true faith in Jesus’ ability and desire to forgive us and to heal us. Let us carry one another, and allow ourselves to be carried to the feet of Jesus Christ. Let us approach the Lord in prayer, in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let us, “in the sight of everyone,” “rise, pick up our mat” and go home.
1 comment:
Beautiful... thank you!
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