I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house

 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

- Mark 2:1-12

Yesterday we read that as soon as soon as they had come out of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus taught and cast out an unclean spirit, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.  So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her.  And she served them.  At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.  Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.  And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.  When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."  But He said to them, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.  Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."  As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.  And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Already in Mark's Gospel, Jesus' fame is widespread.  When He is back in Capernaum, all the people come to hear Him.  He is preaching in the family house of Simon Peter.  Let us note that He preached the word as His first priority upon return to the town.

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."   My study bible comments that this story tells us that faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  It says that faith is collective as well as personal, as the faith of the faith of the paralytic's friends helped in his healing. 

And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"  My study bible points out that there are three aspects of Jesus' divinity which are shown in today's reading.  First, He knows the secrets of hearts (1 Samuel 16:7, 2 Chronicles 6:30).  Second, He forgives sins, which is a power that belongs to God alone, as the scribes say appropriately.  Finally, He heals by the power of His word.  In addition, Mark's Gospel here reveals another purpose of the Incarnation, and that is to forgive sins, which frees humanity from its bondage.  To forgive sins is a greater power than physical healing.   Therefore the easier task is to grant physical healing.  My study bible comments that although Christ is fully God and holds the authority to forgive, He also condescends to those who are gathered here, and heals this man in order to draw people to God, whom they glorified.

Lest we see only their hard-heartedness alone, let us understand and make a note of interest that the scribes are quite correct in thinking that only God can forgive sins.  While we human beings are, of course, commanded to forgive one another (Matthew 6:12), forgiveness of sin is a matter for God, for only God can truly judge.  Moreover, Christ will grant to His apostles the power to act as confessors (Matthew 16:19, 18:18; John 20:23), and in the tradition of the Church, the sacrament of confession was developed to help the faithful.  But the scribes, nevertheless, are correct in their understanding that only God forgives sins, and it might be helpful to us to understand how even with a correct understanding of God, we might yet remain too narrowly focused to see where God leads us.   These men know what they are about, they are the ones formally trained in an understanding of the Scriptures and educated to be experts.  But the entire nature of faith is one that is meant to expand us, to keep us growing -- and, related to that growth, to keep us changing.  As it is the period of Lent, it is a good time to think about change in the context of the nature of repentance, for repentance is often understood only as a method of undoing a definite "wrong."  But in this case, the need for repentance in these men is not to change their understanding that only God forgives sins.  Repentance -- which in the Greek means "change of mind" -- would indicate, in this case, that the scribes need to grow, and open their eyes to what and who, exactly, is in front of them.  While the faith of the friends of the paralytic is exemplary, the knowledge of these scribes is not leading them to an expanded and greater faith.  It is not leading them to an understanding of who Jesus is, nor the possibility of the Incarnation.  This leads us to understand why Jesus will say, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight" (Luke 10:21).  The faith of this crowd is in an important sense wiser than the wise and prudent scribes.  Their faith is a kind of understanding, an openness to the work of God in their midst that the scribes fail to know.  It says to us that there are instruments of knowledge and understanding that are outside of the intellectual sphere alone.  Discernment requires of us something more, more of ourselves -- that is, we are to use our intellectual capabilities in tandem and in service to a deeper set of perceptions, a more subtle capacity for understanding and apprehending knowledge.  Why is it that the friends of the paralytic have so much faith in Christ that they are willing to make all effort to bring their paralyzed friend to Him?  We may assume they are taking a desperate gamble, that they have no other hope, that they have heard all the news about the healing that He has done elsewhere.  While these things might be true, the text tells us something else.  The text tells us that Jesus Himself remarks upon their faith in Him, and that this is the operative power that sets all else in motion.  That means that this is more than a desperate gamble for healing of paralysis, because the first thing that Jesus does is not simply to heal the man physically, it is to forgive his sins.  This action on Jesus' part sets everything else in a particular order, in which physical healing is the easier, even secondary power at work.  The capacity for us to be truly bound by sin goes deeper than the physical, afflicting our souls and spirits, permeating our lives in so many ways and levels of existence.  But again, it takes a kind of understanding that goes beyond mere intellect, and is not limited to a "worldly" way of thinking to know this and to be aware of it within ourselves.  For this there is no substitute for faith, for an earnest desire to know God, and the humility it takes to strip all else away in seeking our communion with God.  That takes courage, even the boldness of these friends who help the paralytic.  In the history and tradition of the Church, paralysis has been viewed as analogous to sin.  When we are "chained" to a particular sin, we're stuck  We may endlessly repeat the same error, never moving forward or overcoming our own limitation.  We need to "change our mind," to find a new way, to broaden our own considerations not only of our capabilities and ways of doing things, but even in terms of our communion with God and where God might want us to go.  Any way you look at it, we are asked to grow and to expand, just as the circumstances of today's reading are placing a real demand upon the scribes which they are failing to meet, even in their correct understanding of forgiveness.  They fail to see what is in front of them, and Jesus complies by the miraculous sign of healing, which serves to glorify God.  Those who remain stuck will simply deepen their contempt for Jesus, the refusal of the presence and work of God.  Those who perceive will grow in faith, and not simply in seeking a miraculous sign.  Let us consider that we are always asked to grow, even possibly to be taken in a direction we find unthinkable.  But God takes us there through prayer and communion and love, for the Son has already been here with us, and is present to us in the heart, in prayer, in faith.  Jesus tells the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  May we each be present with Him to do the same in our own lives, finding ourselves through His work in us.