Monday of the Second Week of Advent
As we read through the Gospels, we see stories of healings and other miracles of Jesus come up again and again. Today’s Gospel presents us with one of those healings. Jesus does not heal as a means of “showing off” or “showing up” anyone else. His miracles are given to us as signs and invitations. Our Gospel passage today is one that makes this clear.
As the story opens, Jesus is teaching those who have gathered around Him. His public ministry just began only days before. He has already created a “buzz”. People are coming from the region to check him out. Among those who come are a few men who are bringing a paralyzed man on a cot. They had already heard stories of Jesus’ healings and, no doubt, were hoping that He could heal this paralyzed man. Was the man a friend of theirs? A relative? We don’t know. But they are on a mission of mercy, bringing someone to Jesus. The crowd near Jesus makes it impossible for these men to bring their paralyzed companion to Jesus, so they find another way – they go up on the roof, make a hole in the tiles, and lower the paralyzed man down, near Jesus. Jesus, we are told, sees their faith and then says that the paralyzed man’s sins are forgiven.
Notice what comes first. Jesus sees the inner paralysis of the man, the “real” paralysis, we might say, and heals that. When others object, Jesus heals the physical paralysis as a sign of that inner healing, that inner forgiveness. That healing, that miracle, was intended as a sign to all those who had gathered, and as an invitation. Who among them is not afflicted, even paralyzed, by their own sins? Who does not need this kind of healing and forgiveness? Yet no one else seeks that forgiveness. The crowd is awestruck at the miracle, but no one else seeks forgiveness from Jesus. The crowd here is merely an audience, spectators. They may praise God for what they see, but they miss their own need for this very thing. The Pharisees, who have gathered to check out this new preacher from Nazareth, simply grumble that “only God can forgive sins”, but fail to see what is happening right in front of them. They want to be critics, not participants. They cannot allow themselves to see that what they have all been hoping and praying for is being offered to them, right there, in the person of Jesus.
And what about us? First of all, can we acknowledge our own paralysis? Can we admit our own powerlessness in the face of our own temptations and sins? Can we turn to the Lord and seek the forgiveness and healing that only He can offer? Do we trust that He is most willing to offer this, and that he comes to us to give us this very thing? And can we accept His offer on His terms, not ours? Can we trust Him?
Advent reminds us that the time is at hand: the time of mercy, the time of forgiveness. May we open our hearts still more to the Lord, knowing that this is the day of salvation.