July 04, 2013
Thursday 13th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Gen 22:1b–19
Gospel: Mt 9:1–8
Jesus got back into the boat, crossed the lake again, and came to his hometown. Here they brought a paralyzed man to him, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven.”
Then some teachers of the Law said to themselves, “This man insults God.” Jesus was aware of what they were thinking, and said, “Why have you such evil thoughts? Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? You must know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralyzed man, “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home.” The man got up, and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe and praised God for giving such power to human beings.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel
in the Assimilated
Life Experience)
Pessimists always notice the dark spot and create one where there is none. Consider what happened to Jesus. He healed the paralytic yet the religious leaders rebuked him. What dark spot have they seen in such a noble act of restoring someone to fullness of life? No, it was not what they saw but what they heard that angered them. Pessimists have ears too! When Jesus said “Courage, my son, your sins are forgiven” they took Jesus for an ambitious human wanting to appear divine. Jesus silenced them by using reason, instruction and concrete action.
Employing reason he told them: “Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?” Then he used instruction to make them see the bigger truth they failed to see. He said: “You must know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
The title “Son of Man” was instructive because every Jew was familiar with this term as used in the Book of Daniel (7:13ff) where one like a man appeared on the clouds before the Ancient of Days and received a kingdom. By describing himself as Son of Man Jesus presented himself as the new Israel with the power to forgive sins. To substantiate his claim he moved to concrete action by telling the paralytic: “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home.” The strategy was effective. The optimists were amazed while the pessimists were silenced. All glory to God on high!
What happened to Jesus can happen to us. The least we can do is to ignore them. Why allocate them some hours when we always complain we don’t have enough time for God? In the first place, performing for them is like flogging a dead horse, for they will always see the dark side, and create one where there is none. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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