Last weekend, we had our
retreat for the confirmation candidates in Yazoo City. The youth had a really wonderful time looking at
how we see God in many different ways in our lives. Think of the way we see God in different
words. We have many different words and
names we ascribe to God. Some of the
words we have for God may be easy for us to relate to, as we often refer to God
as Father, Guide, the Source of Strength, the Good Shepherd, the Great Teacher,
the Creator of the Universe, our Rock. It might be a struggle for us to use certain titles or words for God. Perhaps
we are uncomfortable seeing God as our Judge.
And although we are used to calling God “Father,” calling God “Mother”
might not seem very comfortable.
As I thought about the readings we’ve had
these past few weeks as we journey through ordinary time on our way to Ash
Wednesday and the beginning of Lent this week, we see the image of God as a
healer and the great physician in these Gospel readings these past weeks. In these readings from the Gospel of Mark, we
have seen Jesus cast a demon out of a man at the synagogue, we have seen him
heal Simon’s mother-in-law and then later cure a leper. Jesus does a lot of
healings as Mark recounts the miracles he performed in the first and second
chapters of his Gospel. In the Gospel
reading for today, we see a group of men so intent on bringing a friend of
theirs to Jesus for healing that they literally take the roof off the house in
order to get to him.
In Jesus’ day, if someone came down with an illness or disease,
it was common to see these afflictions as the result of a sin the person had
committed. In fact, today, when Jesus
sees the faith of that group of friends that brought the paralytic man to him
for healing, this is what is say in order heal the paralytic: “Child, your sins
are forgiven.”
When
you think about it, we have come a long way in modern medicine and our thinking
about illness since Jesus’ day. We think
of some of the disease that used to kill thousands of people just a generation
or two ago, and those diseases are just things we read about in a history book
as something that happened in the past.
Yet, perhaps we still don’t understand how the emotional, psychological,
spiritual, and moral facets of our being affect our physical health as well. And that is where the forgiveness of sins
comes into play, as it would cover all those other aspects of our health beyond
our physical health. Perhaps we come to
Jesus for healing on a physical level, when we have some sort of disease or
illness, but where we really need healing in our lives is in our spiritual or
psychological or emotional well-being.
We
often hear a contrast between two groups in the Gospels. Today this is played out between the friends
of the paralytic on the one hand, who place their total trust and confidence in
Jesus, in his healing power and authority.
And then, on the other hand, we have the scribes who question Jesus’
motives, who wonder how he dare assume an authority that is only reserved for
God alone. In our lives of discipleship,
we are called to have faith and trust in Jesus, to believe that he can really
enact healing and miracles in our lives.
I
remember when I was over at a community reconciliation service at Holy Family
parish in Jackson with Father Mike O’Brien a couple of years ago during the
Advent season. We were both at opposite
ends of the church listening to the sacrament of reconciliation. As part of the penance that evening, I was
asking the parishioners to go to the holy water font, to make a sign of the
cross with the water, and to feel Christ’s love and healing power flowing in
them from the waters of our baptism. One
of the elderly parishioners who came to me for reconciliation was struggling
with a lot of health issues. When he
came back from the holy water font to his pew, he prayed while kneeling for a
while, and then he sprang to his feet and a jack rabbit and started shouting:
“Thank you, Jesus! I have been
healed! Alleluia! Thank you, Lord! I can feel your healing power in my
life! Thank you, Jesus!” I looked
up at where Father Mike O’Brien was on the other side of the church, and I
thought he was about to jump into the rafters – he was so startled by this
joyful outburst. Father Mike had the
most frightened, shocked expression on his face. But I wish that we could all feel the joy
that this parishioner felt, at the healing power of Jesus he felt flowing
through his body.
I
wonder if we are open to God’s presence and healing in our lives, in the many
different ways and dimensions that it comes to us, in the many different ways
we experience it? And are we willing to
be like that group of friends of the paralytic, willing to break down barriers
and misconceptions, even willing to come
through the roof in order to get to Jesus and his healing presence in our
lives?
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