“Your sins are forgiven!” These words bring consolation to those of us who understand that we need forgiveness, and who understand that we have sinned. For someone who has not understood either sin or forgiveness, it could seem like mere words or like something unimportant. We don’t know exactly what thoughts passed through the mind of the paralytic because he remained silent, but Jesus’ first words to him were not about curing his paralysis. The man didn’t seem to ask for forgiveness, nor did he seem to come to Jesus looking for anything other than a cure. Certainly Jesus reads hearts and minds, however, and provides the man immediately with the treatment that corresponds to his greatest suffering. The physical suffering may have incited the man to ask to be brought to Jesus, then again, the man may have discerned the greater moral suffering he endured from his sins and relied on his physical disability to be brought by others to Jesus.
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our Christian life must progressively become a constant reaching out in faith to Jesus for healing. There is a constant temptation to imagine we have been healed and no longer need a Healer or Savior. Our condition on this earth and in this present life is that of a beggar. The beatitude of the poor in spirit draws us into the attitude of faith that gains us a hearing with the one whose love despises not the helpless and broken. Our issue of blood is our sin. Nothing we have done, nor any recommendations given by the physicians of this age have brought us peace or healing. The blood that leaks out of our heart is our life, our hopes, and our ideals progressively draining away. Surely we will die without a physician who actually understands our problem! The operation is not complicated, it is as simple as grasping a dangling thread. Our act of faith moves us completely beyond the dead-end of our earthly existence and fruitless striving for happiness. Healer of the hidden corner of darkness in our souls, gently deliver us from the heaviness we cling to! I surrender to your tender, loving, and healing embrace.