Jesus heals. He also forgives. He sees the connection between physical ailments and spiritual ones. In the case of the paralyzed man, Jesus forgives and he does so with the authority given to him as the Son. Read the article The Healing of the Paralytic and use the following as your guide.
1. John the Baptist had his baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But his baptism is but a foreshadowing of the kind of forgiveness that derives from and is based on the Death and Resurrection of Christ. Forgiveness is the mission of the Church. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you... Whose sins you forgive shall be forgiven" (Jn. 20:21.23)
Reflect: There is a sacrament of forgiveness of sins in Baptism. There is also a sacrament of the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism: confession. But the power of these sacraments derive from the fact that the Church is meant to be a forgiving Church. In other words, these sacraments make sense because it is the lifestyle of the Body of Christ to forgive. Review your current lifestyle: do you forgive? Do you keep of list of unforgiveables?
2. Jesus forgives the paralytic because he saw the faith of the four men who carried him. It was a faith that was creative, bold and indomitable.
Reflect: Jesus does not necessarily look at the faith of the those who want to be cured. He does look however at the faith of those who want a cure. Those four men wanted a cure for their comrade. It was their faith that brought about forgiveness and healing. How creative is your faith?
Exercise: Imagine the whole scene replaying it in your mind. Imagine yourself as one of the four men. Who would be the paralytic? How bad do you want him to be healed? You can also imagine the whole narrative from a different perspective: put yourself in the place of the paralytic. Who do you think would be the four men whose faith carries you to the Lord?
3. The crowd was amazed: "We have never seen anything like it", they said. In Jesus work of healing and forgiving they saw something foretold through Isaiah: "Behold I am doing a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19).
Reflect: God is a God of surprises. He can surprise you if you allow Him to. The scribes presumed they already knew how God works and so they cannot imagine that He can manifest His salvation through Jesus of Nazareth. How open are you to the possibility that God can work in ways you cannot anticipate? How free are you from the prejudice of the scribes?
