Word to the Wise
Friday, January 16, 2009 - Friday in the First Week of Ordinary Time
[Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 and Mark 2:1-12]"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'?
The story of the guy who is dropped through the ceiling offers us at least two important points to think about. The first is that the faith of one's friends can be a powerful prayer on one's behalf. (That's why I'm always asking my friends - to their bemusement since they think praying is more MY department - to pray for me!) What the friends do in this incident is equivalent to an "intervention." We don't know what the paralytic thought or believed. He just does what he's told and gets up, picks up his mat and walks! In this case, it is the faith of friends that is translated into action. That's the model of discipleship. Second, this story follows on the heels of the healing of the leper. In both cases, we see that Jesus' WORD is sufficient to accomplish something. When he speaks of forgiveness, the scribes are upset because they don't see this traveling rabbi as being God - that's the irony of it all! However, by a word, Jesus heals the paralytic. This should tell the audience that with a word he can forgive sins too! It is that word that is communicated to us in the sacrament of Reconciliation but also in the liturgy of the Word and preaching. Again the challenge is to accept that word and, like the stretcher bearers, put it into action! AMEN
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