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.” MK 2:1-12
Humans have been searching for the answer to the questions, “How am I?”, “Where did I come from?”, “What is my purpose?” and “Where am I going?” In the past week, God has revealed Himself in the Scriptures three times. the Epiphany as a baby, the Son of God at His baptism in the Jordan, and today as the One who can forgive sins. The scribes are totally correct, no human can forgive sins. This is a breaking point. Either Jesus is a blasphemer or He is God. How many times does God need to reveal Himself before we will believe. Faith is difficult. It takes great trust. But, Jesus reveals Himself over and over in the Scriptures, stays with us in the Holy Spirit, in the Eucharist, at Adoration, in prayer, and “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name I am in you midst.” MT 20:28, in our priests, in each other. He flat out tells us He is the Son of Man which has the authority to forgive sins on earth. God has something to tell us. We must come to Him. He passes this authority on to priests and comes to us through the sacrament of reconciliation, “Whoever’s sins you forgive are forgiven, whoever sins you retain are retained.” JN 20:23 Holiness is attractive. Recognizing you are a sinner and admitting it has great power to comfort and heal. How badly do you want to get close to Jesus like the paralytic and his friends? They would do anything for their friend and they trusted Jesus to give their friend what he needed. We fight through crowds at black Friday, but miss Mass for sports. Then we wonder why we are confused or miserable. Humans who want to know the answers to the hardest and most fulfilling questions must fight to know Jesus through every barrier the Devil throws at us and the desires that take us away from Him in our fallen human nature. Come to him and say, “I have never seen anything like this.”
Today’s challenge: Heart. Fight. Trust.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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