The Gospel of today captures some elements
that are worth noting. Jesus is teaching and among the audience are pharisees
and doctors of the law who had come from every village in Galilee. Some men
come carrying a paralyzed man, the crowd make it impossible for them to reach
Jesus and finally they succeed to lower him in front of him through the roof.
Here there are three categories of people engaged with Jesus: pharisees and
doctors of the law, the crowd and men carrying the paralyzed, let me call them
friends.
Perhaps, the friends of the paralyzed had
gotten the glimpse from prophet Isaiah, “Strengthen the weary hands, steady all
trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, courage! Do not be afraid” (Isa
35:3-4). “Look your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God,
he is coming to save you” (Isa 35:4). And for that reason, they take the
initiative to save one of their own, by presenting him before Jesus. The faith
they possessed is indeed encouraging, having a paralyzed man they opted to
directly present him to Jesus. They come across the barrier of the crowd, but
this does not stop them either. They still find means to reach him by lowering
him through the roof.
Many at times we do find ourselves
complaining of the blocks that we encounter in life, for instance, while
processing documents. I have heard people speaking of the line being long,
people being many, the processing being demanding, and so on and so forth. Once
in a while I have told my colleagues that they are among the many people in
such circumstances just to encourage them while at personal level I also find
it very difficult to comply. Such may happen to any of us to an extent of
formulating excuses for failure to attend to our spiritual needs, such as
personal prayers noting how engaged we are. The friends of the paralyzed finds
an alternative which leads to deliverance over his sickness. Which kinds of
friends are we having? Are they helpful one’s or the ones who disappear once
in need and appear during good times? Let us be at the service of one another.
It is interesting that the learned
pharisees and doctors of the law also sit down and listen to Jesus. These days
pride has entered many of us to an extent that we do not see anything good to
those who are subordinate to us. We feel we are mighty, learned, superior to
the less privileged, and so think that there is nothing they can offer to us.
Divine knowledge surpasses all that the world offers us as the best. All these
learned men of the time find something useful in Jesus. Let us learn to listen
to others as well and learn from them in as much as we may have wonderful
ideas.
The issue of faith ought to be underlined
from today’s Gospel. It is the faith of the paralyzed and his friends that
leads to his deliverance, his sins are forgiven, and he gets up, picks his
stretcher and goes home. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that,
“By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God” (CCC 143).
“It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe
absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a
creature” (CCC 150).
So, let us entrust all our worries, sorrows
and needs unto the Lord and not on fellow human beings. It is only God who will
redeem us, and he does not disappoint. Let us endeavor also to carry with us the
mentality of the crowd who act as a barrier to block the paralyzed and his
friends from accessing Jesus. “Jesus Christ restores morality, nourishes
virtues, consoles the afflicted, strengthens the weak. He proposes his own
example to those who come to him that all may learn to be, like himself, meek
and humble of heart and to seek not their own interests but those of God” (Pope
Paul VI, The Mystery of Faith).
Thomas Ooko Owino
III Year Theology
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