The faith of the paralytic

December 05, 2016
Monday, 2nd Week of
Advent 1st Reading: Is 35:1–10Gospel: Lk 5:17–26
One day Jesus was teaching and many Pharisees and teachers of the Law had come from every part of Galilee and Judea and even from Jerusalem. They were sitting there while the power of the Lord was at work to heal the sick. Then some men brought a paralyzed man who lay on his mat. They tried to enter the house to place him before Jesus, but they couldn’t find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and, removing the tiles, they lowered him on his mat into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “My friend, yoursins are forgiven.” At once the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to wonder, “This man insults God! Who can forgive sins but only God?But Jesus knew their thoughts and asked them, “Why are youreacting like this? Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’or: ‘Get up and walk’? Now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” And Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” At once the man stood before them. He took up the mat he had been lying on and went home praising God.Amazement seized the people and they praised God. They were filled with a holy fear and said, “What wonderful things we have seen today!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

If not for his faith, the paralytic would probably have refused the embarrassing ordeal of being lowered from the roof down to the floor before an impatient crowd. He did not only get the physical healing he badly needed but also the forgiveness that probably he never thought was possible.
The concept then was that forgiveness was not available to anyone by mere “human” declaration. To them, Jesus was a mere human being without power to forgive. But their biggest problem was the cure of the paralytic. Since they also believed in the close connection between sin and sickness it rammed upon their throats the conclusion that Jesus could also forgive the sin that caused the illness. While prophets could heal, they could not forgive sins because such was understood as reserved to God. The inevitable conclusion was that Jesus was God. This the enemies of Jesus could not swallow.

The faith of the paralytic did more than grab a cure and secure forgiveness. It also confused those who refused to understand that faith could move mountains. After Advent we’d be standing around Jesus, hopefully not as the confused Pharisees but as the paralytic who got both healing and forgiveness. -(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM., MMExM., REB., Email: [email protected].
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