What are you thinking in your heart? By Beth DeCristofaro

What are you thinking in your heart?  By Beth DeCristofaro

 

For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. For we who believed enter into that rest (Hebrews 4:2-3)

 

When Jesus saw (the friends’) faith, he said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way?  He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?” (Mark 2:5-9)

 

Piety

Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 

  (Collect for the Mass of the Day)

 

Study

Picture yourself in this crowded, dusty, excited, confusing crush of people.  You see disabled, gaunt individuals and hear their voices shouting for help.  You also notice skeptics standing with arms crossed, looks of disbelief or even hostility on their faces.  And then, without even a supplication, you see a man on a litter slowly, stiffly get to his feet, his face now shining with wonder and hope.  It was his friends’ faith that stirred Jesus’ healing.  Amazing.  And then you hear Jesus’ question to the leaders: “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?

 

At that point, I’m sure I would be totally baffled.  But I would notice the anger on the face of the scribes.  In some translations of this Gospel, it reads: “At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they (the scribes) were discussing…” (NRSV). It is clear that Jesus was aware of the inner workings of these people just as he was sensitive to the pleas of the paralytic’s friends.  Jesus’ relationship with the Father opened him to the truth in a way hidden from most of us who live in our own thoughts more than in the will of God. The truth was not what the scribes wanted, however.  They left more determined than ever to remove Jesus to return to the status quo in which they hold power.  Jesus’ actions show his followers not only the astounding promise of their faith in him but the danger.

 

Action

What is easier?  Healing, forgiving, mindful awareness of other’s needs?  Our faith places us in spirit with Jesus. It is through our friendship with Jesus that danger becomes irrelevant, but miracles are possible.  Paul pointed to ancestors who were not united in faith.  We see the crowd making choices around us.  Hope explodes!  They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (v 12) But some choose other than salvation freely offered from Jesus, preferring to listen to the voices in their heads that favor retribution, authority, status and, personal wants over the will of God.

Enter again into this crowd scene.  What are you thinking?  What does Jesus ask of you?  What do you answer? 

 

 

Illustration: Healing of the Paralytic, between 980 and 993 AD, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Codex_Aureus_-_Healing_Of_The_Paralytic.jpg