Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (2: 1-12) in which Jesus forgives and heals a paralysed man.
Today, again, Jesus is at Capernaum and again, Fr Paul says, we see this focus on the authority of Jesus and, in this Gospel, we see a double healing take place. One healing is for sin and the other is for disease. These two healings also reflect on each other because we can see a visible cure in one case, which is the disease, ‘get up and walk’ and we can also see an invisible cure for the other. Jesus forgives the man his sins. As we hear, this scandalised the scribes, yet, they only take issue with the forgiveness of sin healing. For them, as we hear, this is blasphemous; and they are right that only God can forgive sins, for sins injure God’s world in a way only God can put right. The authority of Jesus continues to grow until the only possible conclusion is that this is God among us. Mindful that the man we hear about in the Gospel is healed in two ways, both physically and internally, Fr Paul asks, ‘What areas of my life need the healing of Jesus at the moment?’
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