Why did Jesus forgive before healing?

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Gospel: Mark 2: 1-12

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,
it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way?  He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what 
they were thinking to themselves, 
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
He rose, picked up his mat at once, 
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

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 the Lord will do. Can he heal this man’s paralysis?

But Jesus simply 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, pulled him on top of their neighbor’s roof, ripped it open, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus.

After all that effort, all he gets from Jesus is forgiveness? What’s the point?

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 he grants him 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 – and, sometimes that healing has been granted.

In my own priestly ministry, I’ve seen several people healed from cancer, blindness removed, brain damage reversed, pneumonia disappear.

While the Lord can do all of these things, today Jesus reminds us what matters most: not the state of our bodies, but the state of our souls. That’s what endures forever.

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Am I in need of forgiveness? Or any form of spiritual renewal?

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Approach the Lord in faith as the paralytic’s friends did and you, too, will hear what matters most:

Your sins are forgiven… share your Master’s joy.

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Image credits: (1) Bob Young, Medium (2) Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man, Aaron Spong (3) Aaron Terrazas