By Beth DeCristofaro
Jesus knew what (the scribes) were thinking, and said, “Why
do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sins”– he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick
up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. (Matthew 9:4-7)
Piety
Merciful Father, I come to you in gratitude,
thanking you for life, my life. Healing
Jesus, I place myself and my sinfulness before you, asking you to heal me again
to wholeness in you. Spirit of grace and
courage, fill me with a holy longing for your presence in all my thoughts,
actions and desires. I offer you my
shortcomings and my sincere desires to walk always in the light of God.
Study
With all of the
abundant rainfall we’ve had and the many warm days, I’ve been contesting with weeds
in my yard for weeks now. In fact, the
view out my back window looks more like the tropics than the D.C. suburbs. Splendid vines hang in sheets of varied
greens from trees. They cover bushes,
wrap around each other and are growing so profusely that soon we will be able
to swing from yard to yard. It’s a love
/ hate relationships between us. I have
a grudging respect for the tenacity and adaptability of weeds. They cling to life in the thinnest layer of
sand on my patio or the tiniest grain of dirt in the cracks in walls. Even as I ruthlessly pull and dig I admire
their survival abilities.
Sins can be like
this. We find ourselves surrounded,
covered and perhaps overwhelmed by sin.
It is in the world and within us, as Jesus saw in the paralytic man. Sins root deep, planted by choice or bad
judgement. Some cover the light of
grace, we think, just as weeds block the sunlight and kill azaleas or
crops. Weeds and sin can choke out what
is native to us, vulnerability, openness, relationships, faith, and hope. Some are even quite pretty so we find worth
in holding onto them. Even those sins we
do not acknowledge or do not recognize keep us from our true relationship with
Jesus because they become central rather than Jesus. Sin can also cause us to fear that we are not
deserving of Jesus’ grace and presence.
It isn’t sin, however. We don’t
deserve. Rather we are gifted, given and
loved. Weed-like, sin gets in our way of
believing the truth that we are loved and Jesus has defeated sin in a final,
victorious gift of Himself.
Jesus did not ask the
paralytic what sins he had committed. We
don’t know if he was a righteous man or an abusive father. Jesus knew his human frailty and knew that
his sin called for the greater “cure” than paralysis; curing his relationship
to himself and to God held a magnificent reward. Jesus’ forgiveness brought the man back into
right relationship with his Creator.
Just as his legs bore weight for the first time in years, his spirit was
weightless in grace with God. Indeed
this was the most important of Jesus’ healings on that day.
Action
Consider closely the
sins which keep you from right relationship with Jesus and bring yourself
before him – ask help from your friends in the Communion of Saints to carry you
if you feel paralyzed with the weeds of your sin. Seek out the Confessional. Look into the eyes of Jesus and hear him say
“Your sins are forgiven.” Then take up
your stretcher and dance in the light of his love for you, his special brother,
his unique sister. Dance in the joy that
believes his cross and resurrection was for you.
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