The Redemptive Power of Love

Mark 2:1-12

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

For some reason, whenever I envision those men lowering the paralytic through the roof, I see them as young men. From my days as a chaplain at UVic, I can think of several young guys who would have enthusiastically done what the men did in the Gospel for their paralytic friend. Their friend was in need; there was a problem in getting through the crowd so they got creative and improvised. Obviously they had heard about Jesus’ healing powers and in their minds it was totally worth it to do whatever it took to get their friend into Jesus’ presence. Older and ‘wiser’ minds would have probably just accepted that the paralyzed man wouldn’t be seeing Jesus that night and maybe never. But these young guys decided they weren’t going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity, even if it meant tearing up their neighbor’s roof. I wonder if it occurred to them that rigging up the paralytic’s pallet to ropes and lowering him through the ceiling could have ended up with them accidentally dumping their friend on someone's head. Probably not. They were just super excited at their great idea for getting their friend into the house and into Jesus' presence.

I believe that Jesus loved it. I think he was completely delighted. I can just visualize Jesus looking at this jerry-rigged bed descending to the floor and then looking up at the hole in the roof and seeing four grinning faces looking down at him. What’s not to love about these guys?

The other thing I think Jesus loved about these young men was that they “got it”. Up until that moment when ceiling dust started sifting down onto his head, Jesus had been preaching his message to a room crowded with people and we find out not too much further on that there were a lot of scribes and teachers of the law in that room. They weren’t there to learn or receive anything from Jesus. They were there to check him out. They were most likely listening with skeptical minds and cynical hearts and a number of people would have been waiting to see what the spiritual leaders' judgments of Jesus were before they committed themselves to his teaching. There was most likely a huge number there who weren’t listening very closely to much of what Jesus said because they were just hanging out in case a miracle happened. So, there was Jesus sharing his precious message with a crowd, a high percentage of which were arrogantly cynical or were waiting to see what everybody else might think or were inquisitive looky-loos. Jesus was probably heaving the odd sigh inside himself but, still, the Father wanted him there at that moment so he would wait to see what would happen.

No wonder he immediately responded to these four faith-filled guys who found a way to get their friend to Jesus. These young men weren’t judging Jesus, they weren’t just there to catch something sensational and they weren’t hanging back to see what everybody else thought. They were taking Jesus at his word and their friend was in need of Jesus’ word.

Jesus responded to that fresh and alive faith by forgiving the fellow his sins - no questions asked. The paralytic didn't even have a chance to say, “Lord, I am not worthy to enter under this roof where you are but only say the word...” It wasn't necessary because 'Jesus saw their faith'.

Have you ever heard that love covers a multitude of sins? This is something to think about in relation to the people you love and are concerned about. It wasn’t repentance on the part of the paralytic that caused Jesus to pronounce forgiveness. It was the fresh love, faith and hope of the friends – love that hoped for great things to happen and faith that refused to accept limitations based on how things have always been. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

According to the law, the paralytic was a condemned sinner. If he wasn't a sinner, he wouldn't be paralyzed. According to the law, his suffering was the result of sin and he deserved to be paralyzed but his friends did not abandon him to the definitions of the law. How many family members and friends do you worry about because, according to the definitions of the law, they are outside the pale of acceptability? It may be because of anything from refusing to go to Mass anymore and denying the existence of God to being caught up in destructive and ugly behavior. You can't wrestle them into repentance. You can't berate them into belief. What hope is there for them?

Your love is their hope. Your faith that Christ can heal them in a blink of an eye whenever he chooses to is their hope. Your willingness to walk with them in love and acceptance, no matter what, is their bridge to Christ and his forgiveness. If Christ doesn't forgive them for your sake, he will forgive them for his own sake. In the first reading, God said through Isaiah, “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

We forget the utter redemptive power of love even though Christ came to show us what redemptive love looks like. He showed us so that we could follow him and participate in redeeming the world by allowing the power of his unconditional love to shine through our love. With the love of Christ we can walk with those paralyzed by disbelief and wounded by their own weaknesses.

Our love can break through the hardened ceilings of many hearts and open the way to the healing and forgiving power of God.

He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.

(Edward Markham, 1913)

Stop worrying. Start loving.