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When Jesus returned to Capernaum, the people heard that he was in the house, and they were so gathered that there was no room left at the door. And he preached the word to them.
Then the four men carried a paralyzed man. Unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they broke the roof of the house where he was and, having made a hole, lowered the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying. When Jesus saw his faith, he said to the patient with paralysis: Son, your sins are forgiven.
Several interpreters of the Scriptures sat there and reflected in their hearts: “How dare you speak like that? After all, he is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but only God? “
Jesus, immediately understanding her thoughts in his spirit, said: “Why do you think that in your heart? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic: “Your sin is forgiven”, or to say to him: “Get up, take a stretcher and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, “he said to the paralyzed man,” I tell you: get up, pick up your mat and go home.
And he got up, took the bed and went in full view of everyone. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen such things.”
Daily Readings: lk.katalikai.lt
Comment author – dr. Aurimas M. Juozaitis
There are no holidays (cf. Mt 12, 11) or limits (for Mk 1:40 we commented on this yesterday in the commentary on the Gospel passage). And here is another example of how to break boundaries.
Wanting to intercede for their friend who does not walk before Jesus and not break the door to Jesus due to the abundance of people, they climb on the roof, steal, plaster, pieces of the ceiling fall and through the cavity in the ceiling they lower their friend paralyzed at the feet of Jesus. Jesus and everyone in the room in the dust and among the ceiling rubble, but Jesus sees neither this garbage nor the confusion (or perhaps the outrage of those around him). He only sees the unfortunate faith of those they have brought, the intercessory prayer for their hands and feet, that is really “breaking the ceiling.” After all, what great determination it must have been for this man’s friends not to run away even to break the roof so that only his sick friend would be cured.
Yes, Jesus is God, He sees through, but what does the peace of Jesus tell us in this confusion and penetrating gaze? I think it says very important things: if a person sees the essence, and not only concrete tangible things, then there is no dust or material things that can cover what is most important in a person’s life: relationships between people based on the trust and actions for the welfare of others. sense. We know very well that the highest form of such a relationship is love. Like exactly what the teacher of the Church, St. Teresa of Jesus [Avilietė] (1515-1582): “In the end they will not ask you what you were or what you did, but how much you loved.” So intercession “works.” But how? Not as the characters in this episode apparently expected.
Jesus says to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Jesus does not physically heal the paralyzed, but first forgives their sins. Why? Because the most important thing here was not that the patient found himself at the feet of Jesus, but that the love of his friends for the paralyzed brought him to the feet of Jesus. Perhaps his friends thought in the same way as that woman shed with blood (cf. Lk 8: 43-48): “If we put him on his feet, he will heal him.” But things happened a little differently: first of all, Jesus treats the paralyzer out of love for his friends in the same way that Simon’s guest the Pharisee with the sinner: “many sins are forgiven you because you love them so much” ( cf. Lk 8, 47). But this is not the end of the story.
The interpreters of Scripture who were there knew perfectly well that only God could forgive sins, they were disturbed by the words of Jesus in their hearts. And here Jesus takes a special step: he reveals himself to them, he tells the scribes what he sees in their hearts. This should have overwhelmed them even more, for they certainly knew that only God could see it (cf. Ps 139: 15-16). But Jesus, and now we, through Him, know that it is not man’s understanding that opens him to God (cf. Mt 11:25), but his love for Him (cf. 1 Jn 4: 8). Therefore, Jesus, knowing that they will only misunderstand him (and then accuse him), continues this wonderful lesson for everyone. He works a miracle: the paralytic gets up and leaves (cf. Mk 2,11b-12) so that everyone knows him with special powers (cf. Mk 2,10) to change our relationship. With myself. Intermediate. With God. Hallelujah! Amen.
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