And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
This man could not come to Jesus under his own power. How truly good were these friends of his who brought him into the presence of Jesus. We see in this account how the faith of friends is able to avail much. In the plan of God it depended on the faith of all of them that this man be forgiven and healed.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
We too are called to be good friends to those whose souls have been paralyzed by sin. Those who cannot or will not come to Jesus for help can still be brought before him by our prayers. We can still help to make Jesus present to those who are not interested enough to come and see him by speaking his word as opportunity allows. For those who are not hostile to him we might even suggest that they spend a few moments in his presence in adoration or at a prayer meeting and see if he himself does not work on their hearts.
We need to help one another draw near to Jesus. Our own individual freedom of movement is not yet so perfect that we effortlessly run in the way of the commandments. We each have unique limitations, areas where we are reluctant to draw near and expose ourselves to Christ. But our friends, who have different limitations, are perfectly suited to help us bring these parts of ourselves before Jesus. And we, in spite of our own limitations, do also have some strengths, parts of our lives that have grown and been strengthened by grace. Jesus desires to use us to bring both strangers to him and to bring those who are already his friends still closer. On our own we might never get so close to him as he desires. But together, even if we must hobble, we will reach his heart.
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus refused to treat only a superficial problem and leave the deeper issue of sin unaddressed. The Church always proclaims the priority of spiritual healing over physical, and we see a precedent here. The physical healing was valid and important, certainly life changing for the paralyzed man. Jesus had too much compassion to neglect it. But he used it to serve as a sign of a deeper healer in the depths of this man's soul.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
Maybe some of us have been waiting on Jesus to heal some lingering sickness or to alleviate some longstanding suffering from our lives. But maybe we have only been willing to let him address the surface and have kept our hearts closed to deeper work. This might be true even if we wish it were otherwise. Let us work together as friends to bring this deeper part of ourselves to Jesus so that he can do what he himself wills in us.
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus did not challenge the point made by the Pharisees. God alone could indeed forgive sins. But it was hard to argue that the healing of a paralyzed man was a solid proof that the power of God himself was on display. It must have been situations like this that forced the Pharisees to argue that even the great good that Jesus did might have been the work of devils (see Luke 11:14-28). The alternative was admittedly a lot to take in. The implications of situations like this demanded a stark choice by made. Was this in fact the finger of God at work? Or could some alternative hypothesis explain it? Yet those who were open to goodness and longing for love were able to answer honestly, saying, "We have seen incredible things today".
But what if the Pharisees were especially afraid to face the possibility that Jesus was, whatever it may have meant, God in their midst, precisely because they themselves had parts of their hearts that they did not want exposed to his light? We can only hope that they too found friends eventually to help them draw near when they found themselves as paralyzed as the man the saw healed.
To all who are not quite able to trust their whole heart to Jesus (including to ourselves), we proclaim the words of the prophet Isaiah:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.
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