How far would you go to bring a friend to Jesus? In
our gospel for today, we see four men going out of their way to bring a
paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. They have a strong faith that Jesus can do
this.
I’m sure they tried other ways to help their friend
get the healing he needed. But, upon hearing about Jesus, and developing a
faith in Jesus that can indeed heal their friend, they go out of their way to
bring this man to Jesus. The crowds did not even stop them. Can you imagine the
look on the people in the room where Jesus was, seeing this man being lowered
from the roof? These men didn’t allow anything from keeping them from getting
their friend the healing he needed.
Upon being lowered, I’m sure the paralyzed man was
hoping that Jesus would just reach out and touch him and heal him, much like
he’s done in the past with the leper that Jesus healed just by touching him.
And Jesus could have healed him that way if he wanted to.
Instead, Jesus sees something more that needs to be
done. Aside from the physical healing that the paralyzed man needed, Jesus saw
that he needed spiritual healing, and forgave the man’s sins. This was an
opportunity for Jesus to bring not only physical healing to this man, but to
bring spiritual healing to him in order to develop a deeper relationship with
God.
Further, this was a teaching moment for Jesus to the
scribes that were there. They ask, “Who but God alone can forgive sins?” To the
scribes Jesus was blaspheming, but instead, Jesus was revealing that He, the
Son of Man, was also God.
This gospel can teach us also to bring others in our
lives to Jesus for healing, not only physical healing, but spiritual healing.
We may not bring those in our lives to Jesus as dramatically as these four men,
but we bring those in our lives to Jesus through our prayers for them, that
they may receive not only physical healing (if that’s what they need) but also
spiritual healing as well.
Finally, we pray for our own healing. Jesus has the
power to forgive us our sins. Let us use the Sacrament of Confession often for
the sinful inclinations that we may have in order to get the healing that can
only come from Jesus through the Sacrament of Confession.
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