Friday of 1st Week in Ordinary Time
Your Sins Are Forgiven You
The reading from Samuel is a good example of the strife that results when new times demand new institutions. The tribal structure of Israel had a hard time to defend the people, the territory, and the charismatic religious leadership against better organized neighboring peoples. They too, would need more centralized structures and institutions. But some would hardly accept the needed reform. A king would be disappointing – as later experience proved – as a political and religious leader. This does not contradict the fact that profound changes were needed, but changes are always hard to take.
Miracles are called “signs” in the Bible. They are, like the cure of the paralytic, visible manifestations that something has happened inside the person. The paralytic can walk. He can stand up and move as a human being, as a person who is forgiven and can get up from the paralysis of sin. Could not we, too, give “signs” to the people around us by raising them above their miseries, that God is alive in us?
First Reading: 1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a
Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else.”
6 When Samuel heard their demand—“Give us a king to rule us!”—he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to God.
7-9 God answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.”
So Samuel told them, delivered God’s warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. He said, “This is the way the kind of king you’re talking about operates. He’ll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons. He’ll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. He’ll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He’ll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. He’ll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. Your prize workers and best animals he’ll take for his own use. He’ll lay a tax on your flocks and you’ll end up no better than slaves. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don’t expect God to answer.”
19-20 But the people wouldn’t listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We will have a king to rule us! Then we’ll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles.”
21-22 Samuel took in what they said and rehearsed it with God. God told Samuel, “Do what they say. Make them a king.”
Then Samuel dismissed the men of Israel: “Go home, each of you to your own city.”
Gospel: Mark 2:1-12
After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that he was back home. A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren’t able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, “Son, I forgive your sins.”
Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, “He can’t talk that way! That’s blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins.”
Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, “Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . .” (he looked now at the paraplegic), “Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home.” And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Prayer
God, our Father,
we are your people,
at times paralyzed by our fears
and our fascination with sin.
Let your Son speak among us
his mighty words of forgiveness and courage,
to raise us above ourselves,
above our cowardice and compromises,
that we may go resolutely
the way to you and to one another
by the power of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Reflection:
Despite your silence, Jesus forgives
Yesterday we reflected on the healing touch of Jesus – that heals even the dreaded leprosy. With his hands extended towards the untouchable, he taught us the lesson that no one is an untouchable before God. Today we see him back home in Capernaum, probably after the days of quarantine after touching the leper and he continues his teaching and healing ministry.
When he healed the leper, Jesus also addressed the issue of being rejected by the society. People would have been happier if Jesus had not questioned their age-old traditions. Today, while healing the paralysed Jesus does something similar. He is not merely addressing the physical paralysis, instead he heals the person from his interior paralysis – and tells him, “Your sins are forgiven!” His listeners are aghast of the blasphemy he uttered, because they knew God alone could forgive sins.
How often do we pray for a miracle? Jesus’ miracles were always intended to reveal to the people the true face God. A paralyzed person is a dependent person. Sin paralyses a person by cutting off his relationship with God, prevents one from loving and serving one’s brothers and sisters. And he remains helpless.
Remember, the paralytic in today’s gospel is totally silent. He is not asking for anything. We are not sure, if he desired for a healing. It was the initiative of his friends that brought him before Jesus. It was the solidarity of the friends, that leads Jesus to act. Along with physical help, there is faith in the hearts of those four anonymous characters. Faith is always linked to charity. If our Faith does not lead us to charity, it is not faith.
There are many who behave like the paralytic, who despite their spiritual paralysis, prefer to remain silent perhaps because they have lost the sense of sin. They do not feel the need to confess their sins. They don’t feel the need for confession because there is a lack of the consciousness of sins. But Jesus repeats to the sinner, to each one of us: “I want to forgive you the sins… your sins are forgiven!”
The crowd who gathers around Jesus unconsciously blocked this paralysed person from reaching up to him. Sometimes, our behaviours and attitudes in the Church or in the community are similar to that of the crowd and prevent others from participating in the life and activities of Church.
We all suffer from some kind of paralysis. In spite of our own need for help, the Gospel invites us to help others to come to the Lord. Together we draw closer to Jesus, the healer.
Video available on Youtube: Despite your silence, Jesus forgives