November 10th

Mark 2:1-12. Due to the large crowd surrounding Jesus, four friends haul their paralysed friend up on the roof above Jesus, bust a hole in it, and through the hole lower their friend into the presence of Jesus, whereupon, seeing the faith of the four friends, Jesus turns to the paralysed man and says: 'My son, your sins are forgiven'--the very thing I would have said myself! No, it seems like an odd thing for Jesus to say.

No, I would not have said that; had I the confidence and ability to do so (and who says we should not have both of those things--not Jesus), I would have gone right to the 'I tell you, get up, pick up you mat and go home' part. And were I the paralysed man, I think I would have been happy to forego the 'Miss Congeniality' prize of having my sins forgiven; I would have wanted the grand prize of being healed of my paralysis! Jesus was apparently willing to leave it at the forgiveness part, healing the man only to prove that the had 'authority to forgive sins on earth.' Is having one's sins forgiven a bigger thing than being healed of whatever? Perhaps forgiveness is, indeed, a more powerful thing than we normally think it is. Perhaps it is really everything. RS