HEALED, RESTORED, FORGIVEN

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON FEBRUARY 19, 2006

Mark 2:5 “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

This story of the healing of the paralyzed man is a puzzling story. It begins as the story of Jesus not healing. It was only after the scribes were outraged about what he said that Jesus healed the man.

Initially he pronounced forgiveness of sins. This leads to a number of questions: how did Jesus know the man needed forgiveness? He didn’t ask for it nor did he confess any sins. And is there a suggestion therefore that sickness is caused by sin? That all you need to be cured is absolution - not even preceded by a confession it seems.

To examine these questions let me take you back to last week’s gospel - the preceding verses from chapter 1 of St. Mark. Last Sunday we heard about the healing of the leper. Immediately after that healing Jesus charged the man to tell no one, to say nothing. Of course he didn’t! The crowd came clamoring after Jesus, and he went away from that town.

Now he returns to the town after a few days being away - and once again the crowd comes in droves, filling the house where he is. Probably he didn’t heal the paralytic initially because Jesus did not want to be seen as just a miracle worker or wandering healer. That was always the problem if people saw him doing these marvelous things - they would think that was all he was good for. And that seems to be the reason for Jesus to say to them: “Which is it easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’?” Then comes the punch line from Jesus: “But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you rise” and the man got up!

The people were delighted. “We never saw anything like this”, they said. The people might have been delighted - but the scribes were not. There question was that only God can forgive sins. Who did this man think he was? And that was the problem. It was a problem that (I suggested last week) ultimately lead to the cross. And now we are engaged upon the forthcoming conflict between Jesus and the authorities. That reminds us that in just 10 days we will begin the season of Lent. When we think of all that Jesus went through and suffered and did for us. And part of that was being lead to the cross because he said he was the Son of God.

Going back to last week’s sermon, I said that the healing of the leper was symbolic of absolution from sin, and was an image particularly of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Today Jesus takes us one step further. This healings was a sign of his true ministry. His whole purpose was to bring forgiveness of sin to the world.

How did Jesus know that this man really needed the forgiveness of sins? He needed healing - healing of his physical infirmity, so he could be restored to the fullness of life and love, just like the leper last week. In this case both men are similar. They had something which prevented them from having a full life. We know that Jesus could see what was within a person - so he knew the man had something that needed forgiveness, even if the man did not acknowledge it.

Whether the man was paralyzed by an accident, or from birth, we would not be surprised if he had some bitterness about his lot in life. Some anger towards those responsible - or towards God who allowed it to happen. Years of being denied a normal life: activities, school, sport, friends, a job - who wouldn’t be bitter when life has passed you by? And I bet Jesus could see that on his face.

So Jesus gives him what he truly needs. What would be the good of having a normal life if his heart was still cold and bitter? Healing would be of no use whatsoever. So we see a deep meaning in what Jesus does - and once again he challenges us. Here we have the image of another Sacrament - the Sacrament of Baptism.

When we are baptized it is the first moment in our life when our sins are forgiven. So we are just like the paralytic when Jesus offers him forgiveness of his sins. In the case of a baby it is not that they have done anything terribly wrong, but that as humans we have a tendency to sin. Like the paralyzed man, all of us are slaves to sin - and we need to be set free. We need to have the fullness of life and love restored to us, like the paralytic. Baptism is imaged in this healing of the paralytic because of the pronouncement of the forgiveness of sins and because he has the fullness of life restored.

There is another connection between today’s story and baptism. Four friends of the man carried him to Jesus, actually lowering him down from the roof. They brought him to Jesus. Parents and godparents, and in the case of adult sponsors, bring their child for baptism. Those friends had faith that Jesus would heal their friend the same way that parents and god parents have faith as a baby is brought to baptism. This tells us how important in the church is a family and friends. The church is a community of family of love and care.

And if we could also see it, the friends of that man remind us of the power of prayer. Their simple faith was to have the man healed. How often do we as faithful Christians bring people in our hearts to God for healing, for restoration, or for any purpose at all? So in a way those friends remind us of prayer and how effective it can be. And indeed what they wanted to happen did happen. He had his life restored in abundance. “My son your sins are forgiven” said Jesus. St. Paul will always have the last word. No only do we receive the forgiveness of sins in baptism, we receive the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:22: “It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”