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Seventh
Sunday of Ordinary Time Readings: Isaiah
43: 1-19, 21-22, 24-5: I myself will wash you
of your sins Psalm
40 2
Cor 1:18-22: The Son of God, Jesus Christ was
never Yes-and-No; his nature is all Yes. Mark
2:1-12: What is easier: To tell the paralytic
that I forgave his sins? This
Sunday’s readings offers us with a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that
forms part of Jesus' polemic regarding the Pharisees. There are five
ways that Jesus offended the Pharisees: he forgives sin, sits at table
with sinners, he does not impose fasting upon his disciples, he violates
the sabbath and tells others not to observe the sabbath rest. Today’s
Gospel takes us to the polemic which ends with the decision of the Jewish
authorities to kill Jesus. Today's
gospel reminds us of the constant contact that Jesus has with the people.
These people hear him and have experienced miracles. Today we are invited
to think about the curing of the paralytic who was lowered through the
roof because of the crowd that had gathered to hear Jesus. There are
three things to notice about this story: 1.
Jesus doesn't just perform the miracle. When confronted with human pain,
his emotional response demonstrates that Messianic times had already
started (see Isaiah 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1; Matthew 11:5). The tyranny
of Satan has ended and is replaced with the dynamic love of God for
the world. 2.
The value that Jesus places in faith and the creativity with which the
paralytic and his friends use to overcome the problems of the crowd
suggests that with faith we can do anything. The story also shows us
that Jesus first forgives us of our sins and then cures us. 3.
Jesus' attitude around the Pharisees reemphasizes his power to forgive
sin, cure the sick, and be the Messiah. In the same way we can see the
reaction of the people in the last verse: we see the surprise of the
people who witness Jesus' actions and hear his words. The
people begin to compare Jesus' actions and speech with that of the authorities
and religious teachers of their time. The differences between the religious
authorities and Jesus becomes apparent to them. They can see that Jesus
commands admiration. To join him in his path is to have faith in him. Here
we must pay close attention to an important point: Jesus' words to the
sinner. Jesus sought out the sinner and forgave him of his sins. Here
the gospel writer is showing us Jesus' compassion and salvation. Jesus
taught about salvation by doing it. This is a common theme throughout
the Gospel of Mark: the actions of the Messiah to establish Jesus' authority
as the Son of God. The
Gospel of Mark is often called the Gospel of the Son of God, because
so many people (demons, the sick, the disciples) come to learn that
Jesus was the Son of God. This was the "messianic secret." Jesus is
often seen telling people that have learned that he is the Messiah that
they aren't allowed to tell anyone. That he is the Messiah is finally
proven by the Centurion who sees Jesus on the cross. We
can imagine ourselves being in Jesus' presence during this story. We
might imagine listening to him, or admiring him, or criticizing him,
or using our creativity to access him. In
our own time we must pay particular attention to Mark's sayings. We
need to take an extra step towards him to be converted. With our conversion
we learn about the forgiveness of sins, which comes freely from Jesus
Christ. We learn that changing our lives makes this forgiveness possible.
The paralytic had a life before he met Jesus, but from the point when
he was healed on, he had a new life without limits and without sin. Today,
we learn to admire Jesus more. We admire his words and his actions.
We're not used to hearing the kinds of things that Jesus says in today's
gospel lesson. To admire Jesus more is to increase our faith in him.
It is to avoid the mistake of thinking that God is always with us but
never trying to get our attention. The
liturgical response we made to Psalm 40 today could be our prayer for
the forgiveness of our sins, for a change to be made in our lives. We
could use it to ask Jesus to help us feel the forgiveness that God has
granted to us. Read
aloud, the miracles of Jesus ask us to increase our faith and strengthen
the presence of the reign of God within our own daily lives. It makes
us today's version of the lepers, the possessed, the oppressed, marginalized,
foreigners, and pagans. The question for us becomes, "What does it mean
to me (or us as a community) when Jesus says, "Those who believe in
me will have the work that I have, including many that are more important"?
(John 14:12) Each
one of us has our own way of thinking when it comes to faith and the
place of God's providence in the world today. Without my faith? To what
point is my faith part of exterior life? What does my faith have to
do with the kingdom of God? With conversion? With the complete liberation
of people? With the changing of society? What gratitude do we offer
to God for our work in service to the kingdom? For the Group's Consideration: 1.
In search of hidden powers. What do we make of experiences that are
outside of our own experience? What do we make of consultations with
fortune tellers? Witchcraft? Ghosts? Healers? What phenomenon do people
in our area experience? What causes them? What do these experiences
have on our mentalities as Christians? 2.
Discernment of the powers. In our world there are many powers: the forces
of economics, technology, industry, military, political, business, media,
fashion, sports. There are gangs and the mafia. There are political
movements like Green Peace. What powers today have the same values as
Jesus? Which work towards the establishment of the Kingdom? Which of
them produce exclusion, alienation, and death? Which produce life, liberation,
and hope? 3.
And what about the Church? Jesus' disciples received the Spirit to do
powerful things in Jesus name, announcing the coming Kingdom along the
way. In what ways is the church actively acting in Jesus' stead, proclaiming
the kingdom? The Prayers of the Faithful: For
the holy people of God: that all of humanity might be saved and grow
in hope and unity, we pray to the Lord. For
pastors of the church, that they might know how to recognize Christ
in the entire family of God, and serve them humbly with the Word as
their example, let us pray to the Lord. For
those who are responsible for our nations and international organizations,
that they might rightly help the world to progress without being corrupted
by money or power, let us pray to the Lord. For
all who help to alleviate the suffering of other people, that they might
recognize Christ in all people, including the sick and the marginalized,
let us pray to the Lord For
those of us here, that we might be constructors of the Kingdom of God
in everything we do according to the gifts which we have been given,
let us pray to the Lord That
we might discover the action of God in the forgiveness of sins of all
people and in God's compassion and love in the situations which we are
concerned about, let us pray to the Lord That
we might have wisdom and faithful hearts to understand and help the
"new poor," the elderly, the handicapped, the marginalized, the sick,
Let us pray to the Lord Let us pray Lord God, we are looking everywhere for Jesus' face and we see it in the faces of those who are suffering as a result of our sins. We also know that this is the face of Jesus crucified. It is he who has taken our pain away from us and has saved us from all which is evil. He has helped us to understand your compassion. That your spirit will always help us to follow Jesus' example, our brothers. Amen. |
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