Gospel Reflection for The 12th day of January in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Mark 2:1-12
1 And again he entered into Capharnaum after some days. 2 And it was heard that he was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room; no, not even at the door; and he spoke to them the word. 3 And they came to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. 4 And when they could not offer him unto him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was; and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. 5 And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.
6 And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: 7 Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only? 8 Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: Why think you these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. 12 And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: We never saw the like.
Here, again, we find Jesus outraging the religious officials of His time. By vocally forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins, Jesus was showing Himself to be God. The religious Jews though, could not believe He was God. They believed He was committing blasphemy, a sin punishable by death under their law. Later, they would accuse Him of being demon possessed. This, as our Lord explained, was a sin against the Holy Spirit – to attribute the works of God to the devil.
It is hard for us to understand how both the Jews who condemned Jesus and the Romans who crucified Him could have been so hard hardhearted. Had not they awaited the Messiah for thousands of years? Now, here He was, in their mists, performing all of the miracles that their prophets foretold. Yet, they could not recognize Jesus as God, because He did not conform either to their idea of a king or to their religious laws. Under the Law, if Jesus was not God, he had to be executed as a blasphemer. Israel was under Roman rule and had no authority to try or execute people under their laws. They had to convince the Romans to kill our Lord. Rome was a militaristic and inhumane nation. It is likely that the soldiers who executed our Lord gave little thought to what they were doing, lacking compassion and merely following orders… until it was done and they realized what they had done, exclaiming, “Surely, this was the Son of God!”
In today’s first reading, we are told the story of how Israel came to have a king. Until then, God’s chosen people had no king. They followed God alone. This was the relationship God gave them through His covenant. If they worshiped Him and obeyed Him, He would provide for all of their needs and make them a free and prosperous people. They rejected His covenant and demanded an earthly king. Samuel warns them about all the horrible things the kings will do. And indeed, the history of the following centuries shows the kings to be the downfall of the Hebrew people again and again, introducing foreign gods, sinning, mistreating the people, waging needless wars and causing Israel to be destroyed and enslaved several times. God warned them, through the prophet Samuel, “When this takes place, you will complain against the king whom you have chosen, but on that day the LORD will not answer you.”
By the time of our Lord, Israel was a defeated nation with no king. Now, the true King had come to them. As Jesus said, they were very close to the Kingdom of Heaven. But, they could not recognize Him. Again, they rejected God as King. Only after the Resurrection, when the Apostles began to preach to the Jews on Pentecost Sunday, filled with the Holy Spirit, did many come to believe. It is estimated that in the first two centuries of the Church, at least half of all Jews converted to Christianity. In the next few centuries, the entire Roman Empire would become Christian, and then spread Christianity throughout most of the world through charitable works, building churches, monasteries, hospitals, schools, etc. Those who rejected Christ would become the members of His Church, and the most powerful, militaristic empire on earth would become the greatest force for peace and love that the world has ever seen among nations.
Those present when Jesus healed and forgave the sins of the paralytic man were certainly right in saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.