Epiphany 7

Why didn’t Jesus just heal the paralyzed man? Why did he have to first forgive his sins? All of the other times Jesus healed people, he had just gone ahead and healed them: the blind, the deaf, the lame, the lepers. But not this time. This time he stood there and said six simple words: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” This time, forgiveness came before the healing. Forgiveness, in this instance, is linked to the healing. In this instance, you can’t have the latter without the former.

This may seem odd to us, for a couple of reasons. First of all, we recall that, often, illness and sin were equated in ancient times. If you were sick, it must have been because you had committed some sin. Indeed, for some people, these archaic notions persist. And we in the G/L/B/T community may have heard too much of this in modern times to be very comfortable with the notion of forgiveness preceding healing.

Second, it may seem to us as if the right order of things is reversed. And not just to us. After all, the very first reaction Jesus gets from his six word pronouncement about forgiveness is condemnation from the law experts who were present. Mark puts it neatly, “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”

“Thinking to themselves....” I like that quote, because I do it a lot. I like to "think to myself." I sort things out, ponder them at great length, try a different scenario here or there, rework what I'd really like to say to somebody if I had the guts. When I “think to myself,” I concoct all kinds of strategies, plans, actions. So while the legalists were condemning Jesus for his forgiving powers, I might have been sitting there “thinking to myself” that the real problem is that Jesus should have healed the man first. THEN the formerly paralyzed brother might have reacted out of astonishment and gratitude, and he and his friends would have ASKED for forgiveness, been forgiven, and rejoiced at both the forgiveness and the healing. Show me the power, then I'll believe. That's what I think.

Wrong. That’s not the way Jesus did it. Knowing what the law experts (and I) are thinking in our hearts, Jesus challenges us with a potent question. “Which is easier: to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Get up, take your mat and walk?’” What kind of a question is that? Both are hard. Healing is hard work. But, in some ways, forgiving is harder (impossible, really), because only God can forgive sins. In the end, Jesus does both. And in the end, Jesus sends us out equipped to do the same heal and forgive, forgive and heal. Look at 10:7-8, and John 20:21-23.

There is something powerful in this healing-forgiving/forgiving-healing story. It is a miracle story, and it is a testimony of the power of friends to set a miracle in motion. But it is more. It is a powerful reminder that wholeness is not just a cessation of physical pain, not just “good health.” Wholeness comes not just “when we feel better,” or when the cancer moves into remission, or when the bone is mended, or when the problem is solved, or when we feel better. Wholeness is state of being in the right relationship with God who forgives and restores. Healing is not so much a mending of the body as it is a balm for the soul. Seen from this perspective, the greatest healing is in our being reconciled (being made one again) with God’s love. From that all other healing flows.

Note: This insightful reflection by the Rev. Deana Dudley, who uses the pen name "God's Child," was first published February 20, 2000, while Deana was serving her internship at Holy Redeemer MCC. Deana is now the Pastor of Christos MCC, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

When [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.

Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" - he said to the paralytic - "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home."

And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"