Reading
Matthew 9:1-8
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Comment
Jesus temporarily distances himself from the crowds and goes "to his city" (v. 1), Capernaum, his main place of residence (Mk 2:1); here some people, animated by great faith (v. 2) bring him a paralytic on a bed. Their faith is an active faith, which becomes intercession; in fact, they do not wait for Jesus to visit them but they go themselves, with their sick friend, to him. Jesus' words of forgiveness indicate that this man's illness is a direct consequence of his sins.
Only once again in the Gospels does Jesus explicitly forgive sins: in the case of the woman who anoints her feet in the house of a Pharisee (Lk 7:48). The remission of sins is a central theme in Matthew's Gospel: the angel who appears in a dream to Joseph, Mary's husband, announces to him that Jesus "will save the people from their sins" (Mt 1:21) and in the last supper, offering the chalice with wine to his disciples Jesus affirms "this is my blood of the covenant, shed for many, for the remission of sins" (Mt 26:28), giving an expiatory meaning to his death.
The connection between sin and illness is frequent in the Old Testament (Ex 20.5; Lev 26:14-33; Dt 28:15-68; 2 Cr 21:15.18-19; Ps 103:3). However, the book of Job and the episode of the blind man born in the Gospel of John (Jn 9:1-41) attest that there is not always a correlation between sin and disease, being in the first case a test by God and in the other the occasion to manifest his glory with healing.
The episode of the paralytic shows that Jesus begins his healing work by healing the soul, before the body. The salvation of the soul, in fact, is more important to God than that of the body: "'For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?'" (Mk 8:35-36).
The paralytic healed through the remission of sins becomes the image of everything that binds our soul and that conditions our life, preventing us from expressing our full potential, and atrophying our relationship with God and with our neighbor.
Matthew does not explain the reason for the accusation made by the scribes against Jesus, which we find instead in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:7): "'Who can forgive sins but God alone?'"
Indeed, in the Old Testament the prerogative of forgiving sins is recognized only to God (Is 43:25; 44:22). The healing of the paralytic is therefore a sign to demonstrate to the Pharisees the divine authority of Jesus in forgiving sins.
Matthew introduces a significant difference from Mark's parallel account (Mk 2:12), extending to men the power to forgive sins (v. 8). This suggests that such authority was recognized in his church.
His answer "'Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?'" must make us reflect on the fact that if we are not able to perform miracles of healing, the forgiveness of others is certainly within our reach.
The law of mercy requires us not to overwhelm the other, not to enclose him in a judgment that paralyzes, but to help him get up, recover their dignity and get back on the road.
Prayer
Teach us, o Lord, to accomplish the miracle of forgiveness; so that, reconciled with our neighbor, we can walk the way of salvation. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
