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Gospel: Luke 5: 17-26
One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
“We have seen incredible things today.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When celebrating the anointing of the sick, I often read today’s Gospel.
There’s a man who’s paralyzed, laying at the feet of Jesus. Everyone surrounding him is waiting to see what Jesus will do. How will he heal this man?
But Jesus just looks at him and says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
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On the surface, it seems like an incredible let down. Four of this man’s friends have just dragged him on a stretcher, pushed him on top of their neighbor’s roof, ripped the roof open, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus.
After all that effort, all he gets from Jesus is forgiveness? What’s the point when he’s laying on the floor paralyzed?
In the mind of God, the forgiveness of sins is more important than the physical state of our bodies, which is why Jesus offers this man forgiveness before physical healing.
While the body lasts for a number of years, the soul endures for eternity.
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Like the paralytic, I’m sure many of us have approached Jesus asking for some type of physical healing before – delivery from cancer, a speedy recovery from COVID, or protection against the flu.
While the Lord grants such physical healing, today the Lord is turning our attention beneath the surface, to sickness in spirit. Am I in need of the Lord’s healing or forgiveness?
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Join us tomorrow night at 7 pm for our Advent penance service with Eucharistic adoration. We will have several priests here willing to extend those sacred words of Jesus, which he says to the paralytic:
“Your sins are forgiven.”
Rise and go home.
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Image credits: (1) Quotefancy (2) Christ Healing the Paralytic at Bethsaida, Palma il Giovane (3) www.stmarystars.org