A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. This is one of the most important sections, think, from our Lord's life as I shall try to explain. Jesus came back to Capernaum. That's the city up in the northwest corner of the lake, which is now being trying to recover it, restore it. So he came back to Capernaum after a lapse of several days, and word got around that he was at home.
At that, they began to gather in great numbers so that there was no longer any room for them, even around the door. While Jesus was delivering God's word, some people arrived, bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. The four men who carried the paralytic were unable to bring the man to Jesus because of the crowd. So they began to open up the roof over the spot where Jesus was standing. When they had made a hole, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
Just get that scene. Very dramatic. Couldn't be more dramatic. You talk about a deus ex machina. So when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, to the paralytic, my son, your sins are forgiven.
Now some of the scribes are sitting around there asking themselves, why does this man talk in such a way? He commits blasphemy. Who can forgive sins except god? Keep that in your mind. Who can accept sin who can forgive sins except god?
That's what the scribes and the pharisees, our lord's enemies, are asking themselves. And the answer, of course, is nobody, And they agreed to that. So the scribes and the pharisees hanging around then accused Jesus of blasphemy because he's making himself out to be god. That's as clear as anything could be. Who can forgive sins except God alone?
And they're perfectly right. So he's either guilty he's either God or he's committing blasphemy. He wasn't a good man. So our lord was at once aware of their reason, though they kept it to themselves. And he said to them, why do you harbor these thoughts?
Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, stand up, pick up your mat, and walk. That you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He then said to the paralyzed man, I command you, stand up, pick up your mat, and go home. The man stood up, picked up his mat, and went out in the sight of everybody. They were awestruck.
Who wouldn't be? All gave praise to god saying, we have never seen anything like this. This is the gospel of the lord. Praise be you, lord of your spirit. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen.
As I have said probably to the extent of boring you to death or as we more euphemistically say, ad nauseam, which means you're running to the ship's rail. I wanna say it again. The strongest testimony you can get is a testimony of an enemy. Now here's a scene which is absolutely gripping, spectacular. There's no question about the text.
There's no question really about interpreting it. It's perfectly clear what happened. You can't throw it out as some kind of an interpolation. You can't deal with it with all the ramifications that we say we deal with the word ecclesia or the word church. None of that applies here.
This is just simply bold, naked, grubby statements. There was a house full of people. House full, not just one or two people. A house full, even they were overflowing out into the courtyard of the house. So these four men carrying the paralytic, no question about him being a paralytic.
Now, it's a paralytic. It's not a man with a broken arm or a broken leg. And at Lourd, a paralytic recovering his health probably would not even be considered as a miracle. Put that in your pipe and smoke. Would not even be considered.
They wouldn't say it is not a miracle, but they would say, We don't know, Because paralysis is a very peculiar disease. Very peculiar things happen to some people. But the man is a paralytic. There's no question about that. Psychological, physiological, it's a parallelly he can't walk.
Think of the faith of these men. Think of the faith of the men who open up the roof. They they put a hole in the roof. Notice, a hole big enough to let down the man on a stretcher, on a mat. Think of of what the crowd was thinking when all this was going on.
Here they came to wanted to listen to Jesus. Now they see part of the roof being taken off. Then the next thing they see is somebody being lowered down in front of Jesus. And notice, our lord says your sins are forgiven you. Keep that in the back of your head.
Sin plays a part in disease. A I d s is the name. So they let him down, and he says, your sins are forgiven. Now right away, his enemies who are good gods and I say this without sarcasm. They were good god fearing Jews, and they saw clearly what that implied.
It implied blasphemy. Now there's no greater sin than blasphemy. Murder is nothing compared to blasphemy. So they say this man is a blasphemer because who can forgive sins but God? And the answer is nobody.
Nobody. Nobody. The priest in the confessional doesn't forgive sins because he's a priest. It's because he's a priest of God, god operating through him. And so there's the scene.
I'm not exaggerating it at all. I couldn't exaggerate this scene any more than you can exaggerate the scene of those apostles out on the boat on the stormy lake. This is realistic stuff. Plenty of spectators. Language is clear.
The testimony's coming from our lord's enemies, and it's good testimony. Who can forgive sins but god? Now as I've said many times, ad nauseam, you can't say Jesus is just a good man. What does he tell these people? He accepts that statement, who can forgive sins but God.
It's a rhetorical statement question. And he says, what's easier? To forgive sins or to cure this paralytic? Now I don't care if supposing it is some kind of a nervous disorder that could have all kinds of explanations. The point is the man is cured at the word of Jesus.
Like that. Like that. And this man who's a paralytic walks. He walks. He's not only cured, but and and then had a convalescent period of recovering the muscles and all that in his legs, but he immediately walks.
Those muscles which had atrophied over the years would not have supported the man, and he even takes up his mat and walks. He really was doing a job. He showed them. He picks up here's a man who had no use of his legs for years. What happens?
He stands up, he picks up his mat, and he walks out through the crowd. And you can bet your bottom dollar they opened up to let him out. He became a marked man from that day on. He probably went on a lecture tour. Now here it to me, this is one of the strongest statements in the New Testament about the divinity of Christ because Christ is either a downright liar or he is God.
He's a charlatan or he is the son of God. He can never be just a good man. Here's here's one of the best instances of it. Because however he cures the man, it's the answer to their statement. Only god can forgive sins.
And Jesus says, what's easier to do, to forgive sins or to to cure this guy? He said, that you may know. That you may know. Tells the man, get up. Get out of here.
Walk. And the man walks. So either our lord grossly misled those people, or he was telling the bold, naked, stark truth that he is god and not guilty of blasphemy. It's either that or he's a charlatan and a liar and a hypocrite and a gross misleader of men. Think of the multitudes of men and women down the centuries who've laid down their lives.
I'm not just thinking of martyrdom. I'm thinking of the men and women who have led anonymous lives, sacrificial lives, because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ. Their names will never be in a martyrology. Have all these people been misled? If they have, the fault and the guilt rests with this man, Jesus Christ, who was either the son of god or the most despicable man who ever walked the face of this earth.
Take your pick and be faithful. In the name of the father and the son and holy spirit. Amen.