In our Gospel text today, we are presented with the case of Jesus forgiving the sins of a paralytic and healing him of his paralysis, an act which amazed and put his audience (the scribes) into confusion especially as regards authority to forgive sins, thereby tagging his action as blasphemous. This moment highlights the power and significance of forgiveness in Jesus’ ministry.
The whole scenario draws our attention to the fact that there is a connection between our bodily needs and the soul’s needs.
God does not satisfy the body if the soul has not been satisfied. This is because God is more interested in the wellbeing of our souls than material or bodily needs. Consequently, Jesus needed to heal the paralytic of his sins first, then his body was later attended to.
“My child, your sins are forgiven….(then) he turned to the paralytic (and said), I order you: get up, pick up your stretcher, and go off home.’ And the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once, and walked out in front of everyone…”
After his sins was forgiven, he was still on that stretcher until Jesus uttered the words of healing. And so, it is a call for us to make sincere efforts in freeing our souls from sins to make the work of Jesus in attending to our bodily needs easier.
May the Lord give us the grace to strive on in our earthly journey. Amen!
Peace be with you 🙏🏾🙌🏾
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