When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you"

 

Healing of the Paralytic - Toros of Taron 1276–ca. 1346, Armenian, Monastery of Gladzor Gospel Book 1300–1307

 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

 

- Matthew 9:1-8 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples had come to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.  And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?"  Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.  So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine."  And He said to them, "Go."  So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine.  And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.  Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

 

 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.   Jesus' own city is Capernaum (see Matthew 4:13).

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.  As shown by the healing of the paralytic, faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  In this particular healing, we must note that -- as my study Bible points out -- faith is collective as well as personal.  Here it is the faith of the paralytic's friends which also plays a role to help in his healing.  There are three signs of Jesus' divinity on display in today's reading.  First, that He knows the secrets of hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7, 2 Chronicles 6:30).  Second, Christ forgives sins, which -- as the scribes know -- is a power which belongs to God alone.  Finally, Christ heals by the power of His word, an indication of His identity as the Word, through Whom the world was spoken into existence (John 1:1-3, Genesis 1:3).

We have spoken before of the indispensable power of faith that must be present in Christ's healings (see this reading and commentary).  But, what is interesting about today's reading, as my study Bible points out, is the nature of faith as not just individual, but also as collective.  That is, it works between us and among us, so that even the prayers of this man's friends availed him of Christ's healing power.  It is essential for us to understand this power of faith and prayer, as it forms a kind of circuit -- even a network, if you will.  There is a lot of modern understanding of networks, as our lives are filled with them through social media and all sorts of other tools of modern technology and our dependence upon them.  An ATM network for a bank is one such communication tool we rely on for our economies and commerce.  The internet is a network we all rely upon for myriad uses in communications of all types, be it between nations across the earth or individuals who need to communicate messages to one another, and everything in between, from business to military to commercial enterprises and information of all sorts.  In other words, the world today is reliant upon networks of all kinds.  But we rarely stop to think about how our faith also resembles one of these networks, as it also works in many ways.  To participate in the kingdom of God should invite us also to think about networks, and how one person's prayer may reach out to a saint who lived even many centuries ago, to God and to Christ, to the angels who watch over us, and all of this is contained in what it means to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).   When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about the coming of the kingdom of God, He responded, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!'  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (see Luke 17:20-21).  In the Greek, the words for "within you" can mean both within and among.  In other words, I believe this can be understood as implying both.  That is, the Kingdom dwells within our hearts, both individually and collectively.  It exists within us, and it exists among us.  And thereby, as we can see from today's reading, it also exists between us, so to speak.  That is, one person's prayers and faith may communicate another's, bringing them closer to God by some unknown mechanism connected deep within us, within a "network" we might even call "spirit and truth."  Certainly the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, also work in this manner.  Jesus indicated so when He spoke to Nicodemus about Baptism, of being born of water and the Spirit.  He said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-8).  This mysterious description of the work of the Spirit, even the elements of water and wind, suggest networks of flowing energy that we can't necessarily detect or see but nevertheless are always at work, within us and among us.  As Jesus says, we may "hear" it but it blows where it wishes and creates its effects (the words in both Greek and Hebrew for wind, breath, and spirit are the same).  Clearly our faith works together with the grace of God and God's holiness in mysterious ways, among and between us, connecting us all in unknown and unfathomably infinite ways to one another and even to the meanings in the word of God.  This is what faith is, and thereby, through the demonstration of the paralyzed man in today's reading, we must count on the idea that these mysterious networks and connections are at work in us when we pray and worship and otherwise practice our faith, seeking God's guidance for our lives, and even for those for whom we pray as well, and among whom we dwell.  Paralysis, in the viewpoint of our forebears, has been seen as likeness to sin:  it keeps us stuck somewhere.  We don't go forward.  In this perspective, we could liken it to a kind of immaturity, a place where we are stuck in our growth process.  To bring in God's energies of grace is to help to heal by getting us moving forward again, and repentance and forgiveness work hand in hand in this endeavor.  If we can pray for one another, we can also help one another to become "unstuck" and healed from our paralysis by coming closer to Christ.  Let us consider all the myriad ways faith works in its mysterious manners, and know that this is for us and within us, within us and among us.