Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 19, 2012 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Isa 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25; 2 Cor 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12]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."
Jesus does what only God can do! "Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Precisely! The passage in the first scripture for this Sunday, from Isaiah, says, "Behold, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" The scribes in the audience could not. What is Jesus doing that only God can do?
What happens to the paralytic man is similar to what happened to the leper in last Sunday's gospel. He is cured of his ailment and restored to his community. His paralysis would have made him unclean! Jesus' words to him include not only to walk, which he could not have done before, and go home, which would also have been a problem. His physical condition and his social condition are both restored! Jesus does what only God can do.
What is different in this story from the one about the leper last Sunday is that Jesus responds to the faith of the friends of the paralytic who persevere in bringing the man. [The leper approached Jesus directly.] They literally tear the roof off to let him down into the crowd in the room! This paralytic was one very fortunate man to have friends like that. Speaking for myself, I can say that the faith of my friends is a tremendous comfort to me as I meet the challenges of my ministry and vocation. I try to do the same for them by praying for them every day. In short, friends are very much a part of the way in which God works in our lives. They may well "bring us to Jesus!" They help us to experience "what only God can do." AMEN