Seeing More As God Sees

Msgr. Charles Pope December 5, 2016 0 Comments

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Today Id like to reflect further on the Gospel from yesterdays Mass (Monday of the
second week of Advent). The Gospel tells of the paralyzed man whose friends lowered
him through the roof in order to see Jesus. It is read during Advent because one of the
prophecies about the Messiah was that He would make the lame walk. In a provocative
way, this Gospel also helps us to focus on Jesus central mission for us.
The Gospel passage contains a rather peculiar and somewhat awkward
moment: Jesus looks at the paralyzed man and says to him, As for you, your sins are
forgiven (Lk 5:20). What a strange thing to say to a paralyzed man!
Now we might be tempted to tap Jesus on the shoulder and say, Excuse me, Lord,
but this man is paralyzed. His problem is paralysis, thats what he needs healing for!
(The Pharisees and scribes get worked up for a different reason; they dont think that
Jesus has the authority to forgive sins.)
Of course Jesus is neither blind nor lacking in intelligence. But unlike us, Jesus
looks at the man and does not consider his paralysis to be his most serious problem; to
Jesus, the mans biggest problem is his sin.
Living as we do in this world, most of us have the worlds priorities. The Lord sees
something more serious than paralysis, while we wonder what could possibly be more
serious than paralysis! But not as man sees does God see. For God, the most serious
problem we have is our sin. We dont think like this even if we are told we should think
like this.
Influenced by the flesh as we are, most of us are far more devastated by the
thought of losing our health, or our money, or our job, than we are by the fact that
we have sin. Threaten our health, well-being, or money, and were on our knees
begging God for help. Yet most people are far less concerned for their spiritual wellbeing. Most of us are not nearly so devastated by our sin (which can deprive us of
eternal life) as we are by the loss of our health or some worldly possession.
Even many of us who have some sense of the spiritual life still struggle with this
obtuseness, and with misplaced priorities. Even in our so-called spiritual life, our
prayers are often dominated by requests that God fix our health, improve our finances,
or help us to find a job. It is not wrong to pray for these things, but how often do we pray
to be freed of our sins? Do we earnestly pray to grow in holiness and to be prepared to
see God face-to-face? Sometimes it almost sounds as if we are asking God to make
this world more comfortable so that we can just stay here forever. This attitude is an
affront to the truer gifts that God offers us.

And so it is that Jesus, looking at the paralyzed man, says to him, Your sins are
forgiven. In so doing, Jesus addresses the mans most serious problem first. Only
secondarily does He speak to the mans paralysis, which He almost seems to have
overlooked in comparison to the issue of his sin.
We have much to learn hear about how God sees, and about what are the most crucial
issues in our life.
Joseph and Mary were told to call the child Jesus, because He would save His people
from their sins. In his book Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, Pope Benedict
XVI writes,
Joseph is entrusted with a further task: Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his
name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). On the one
hand, a lofty theological task is assigned to the child, for only God can forgive sins. So
this child is immediately associated with God, directly linked with Gods holy and saving
power. On the other hand, though, this definition of the Messiahs mission could appear
disappointing. The prevailing expectations of salvation were primarily focused upon
Israels concrete sufferingson the reestablishment of the kingdom of David, on Israels
freedom and independence, and naturally that included material prosperity for this
largely impoverished people. The promise of forgiveness of sins seems both too little
and too much: too much, because it trespasses upon Gods exclusive sphere; too little,
because there seems to be no thought of Israels concrete suffering or its true need for
salvation.
Benedict then cites this same story of the paralytic and says,
Jesus responded [to the presence of the paralyzed man] in a way that was quite
contrary to the expectation of the bearers and the sick man himself, saying: My son,
your sins are forgiven (Mark 2:5). This was the last thing anyone was expecting; this
was the last thing they were concerned about.
He concludes,
Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbedhis
relationship with Godthen nothing else can be truly in order. This is where the priority
lies in Jesus message and ministry: before all else he wants to point man toward the
essence of his malady.
Yes, God sees things rather differently than we do. There is much to ponder about the
fact that Jesus said to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven you.