During the Maronite Season of Great Lent, this Sunday, March 15, commemorates the
miracle of Jesus’ healing of the paralytic.
The following is an excerpt taken from the Synaxarion of the Maronite Prayer
of the Faithful.
“We find that
Jesus had returned to Capernaum. The house he went to was probably that of
Simon Peter. By morning the house was filled with people. The crowd was filled
with simple believers who wanted to listen to the Master, but mingled in the
crowd were members of the Sanhedrin. The members of the Sanhedrin were not
pleased with the teaching of this new Master and were seeking a way to entrap
him.
One of the
people who had heard about Jesus’ presence in Capernaum was a paralytic. Since
he was unable to go on his own, he sought the assistance of four friends who
would carry him. The crowds were surrounding the house, so the men were forced
to go on the roof and lower the paralytic through a hole. Such actions were
proof of the faith of the paralytic and his friends.
Jesus looked at
the man and said, “Child, your sins are forgiven”. However, the forgiveness of
sins was the prerogative of God alone. For any man to claim to do that was an
insult to God and blasphemy, punishable by death (see Leviticus 24:10). The
members of the Sanhedrin who were present were afraid to confront Jesus. But
Jesus read their thoughts and questioned their doubts.
Since no one
could determine whether a man’s sins had been forgiven or not, Jesus performed
a physical cure; he told the man to get up and walk.
Many times Jesus
comes to us, visits us. He comes to us with an idea, a word we hear, a person
who is suffering or joyful. However, many times we neglect to notice him. Like
the paralytic, we must expend all of our efforts to take advantage of the
healing presence of the Lord. Let us seek the Lord with faith and humility,
asking him to cleanse us.”