Monday of the
2nd Week of Advent
December 7, 2015 8:30am
In today’s gospel, a paralyzed
man is brought to Jesus by his friends.
And Jesus looks at him and says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
These friends have brought the
man to Jesus for healing.
And the man wants to be healed.
It almost seems as if Jesus has
missed the point.
And yet, Jesus hasn’t missed the
point.
Instead, he is communicating that
there are other things besides physical illnesses from which we also need
healing.
So, for example:
Jesus gives us the love of God to
heal us from a feeling of worthlessness.
He gives us the presence of God
to heal us from loneliness and grief.
He gives us a reconciling spirit
to heal us from division and alienation.
Jesus gives us inner peace to
heal our anxiety.
He gives us light to heal a
darkness that just envelops us.
He gives us forgiveness to heal
our guilt.
These inner, spiritual afflictions
can be as burdensome and maybe even more burdensome than our physical afflictions.
I think this is why Jesus first forgives
the paralyzed man before healing him physically.
He does this because he doesn’t
want us to miss the inner, spiritual healing that he brings.
This is what he does and who he
is as Savior.
It is why we call him Savior.
