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 him, “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.”
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Reflection:
Would you be willing to help someone in
need?
We can gain a lot of valuable insights in
today’s gospel reading, insights about faith by the four men who brought to
Jesus the paralytic. Insights about forgiveness of our sins and spiritual as
well as physical healing.
However, there are two more insights that
we can learn in this gospel. Insight on humility; the four that brought the
paralytic to Jesus were so humble that they immediately evaporated after
they’ve brought the sick man to Jesus. They did not care if they would be
recognized for their heroic act. The four men obviously had no bloated egos. So
unlike many of us who always want to be recognized and seen whenever we do good
for our others.
The other insight that we can learn here
is to be more sensitive to the needs of those who are in greater need than us.
Sometimes we are so concerned about our own needs that we tend to forget the
greater need of others. Hence, we become very selfish instead of selfless.
The four humble men were selfless, perhaps
they were also in need of Jesus. But they saw that the paralytic was in greater
need than them and need to be immediately healed by Jesus. They’ve sacrificed
their own need to address the pressing need of the paralytic. They channeled
every ounce of their energies so that they could help the paralytic, even
opening up the roof of the house to bring him down in front of Jesus.
Would you also be willing to help someone
in need? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
