December 10, 2012

Read It:
One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
"As for you, your sins are forgiven."

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
"Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
"What are you thinking in your hearts?
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 said to the one who was paralyzed,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
"We have seen incredible things today."

Reflect on It: "We have seen incredible things today!" In today's gospel, we hear about a paralyzed man who was healed by Jesus. What is incredible about this is that the healing comes because of the faith of others. Unable to reach Jesus himself, the paralyzed man was lowered through a roof and placed in front of Jesus. These men stopped at nothing in order to bring the man to him. In turn, Jesus saw their faith and it is their faith that saved the man. I think that this gospel shows us the importance of having people around us who are full of faith. One translation calls the men "friends". Would the faith of your friends save you? I think we have to ask ourselves that? During Advent, we should look to see if our friends would love us enough to bring us to the King for healing and if we would do the same for them.

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, you are the king of my heart. Help me to surround myself with people who give you the glory and who can bring me most fully to you. I love you. Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, pray for a specific friend of yours and intercede on their behalf.