spicebush 2005

  

feb 19, 2006

Mk 2:1-12 When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door,and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through,they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,‘Your sins are forgiven,’or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”—he said to the paralytic,“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

The dedication of the friends of the paralytic to carry him, open a hole in the roof and lower him down was great and their belief in Jesus also was strong. Jesus as a first act tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. Here it means to me that often the true crippling that we receive is from our sins rather than some physical entity. The soul and spirit are the true guide of all else and the center of my innermost self and being. If my sins can be healed, all else will be healed. This is a powerful lesson. I pray this morning for any lack of love which is a turning from God and that in all I do with all whom I encounter that I carry the love and peace of God in all that I am and do today, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.