A teenager refused to go home for weeks to punish his parents and two brothers, causing them to worry and become angry. When he finally returned, it took only minutes of conversation for his parents to forgive, hug, and welcome him home. However, his brothers didn’t get over their anger, and it grew as weeks passed. The mother sensed their attitude and asked, "Why can’t you welcome him back?"
One of the brothers answered, "Well, you can easily forgive him because you are a mother; we are not." The mother answered, "It is not about being a mother, but being him, putting myself in his place."
In today’s Gospel, Jesus perceived the thoughts of the paralyzed man, was sensitive to his need for healing, forgave his sins, and healed him.
We observe three moments in this event. The first moment is when people bring a person with paralysis to Jesus on a stretcher. The stretcher communicates complete loss of personal freedom, total dependency. The person can move closer to Jesus, only when his friends move him.
The second moment is when Jesus perceives the thoughts of the man and says, "Courage, child, your sins are forgiven." Through forgiveness, Jesus enables him to reconcile with God, his brothers and sisters, and himself.
The third moment is when Jesus commands the man, "Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home," thus restoring his dignity.
The man can now "carry his own stretcher,"; he can move forward and live a life of freedom.
Like the paralytic man, we all need others, family members, friends, church communities. to bring us closer to Jesus. We need to hear Jesus say, "Your sins are forgiven."
We need to be healed both from sins and physical ailments.
We need to be accepted by Jesus and the people around us. We also need to realize that every healing we experience is a call to discipleship, a call to serve, and a call to establish a loving fellowship with people.
Jesus, heals, liberates, and restores the paralytic man by forgiving and accepting him. He wants to do the same with us. He offers us a new life in Him.
There is no sin too big for God to forgive; there is no sin too small for God to see it. What does He perceive us wanting today?
.jpg "Father Pinto Paul, C.S.C.")