SEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME – Year B

Mark 2:1-12

THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

After several days, Jesus returned to Capernaum. As word spread that he was in the house, so many people gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching to them, Some people brought a paralysed man to him. The four men who carried him couldn’t get close to Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was and lowered the man on his mat through the hole.

When Jesus saw the faith of those people, he told the paralytic: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now, some teachers of the law, who were sitting there, wondered to themselves: “How can he speak like this, insulting God? Who else can forgive sins but God?” Jesus immediately knew in his spirit what they were thinking and asked: “Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your mat and walk?’ But now, you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. And he said to the paralytic: ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.’” The man rose and in front of everyone, he picked up his mat and left. They were all amazed and praised God, saying: ‘Never have we seen anything like this!’

In this story, there are various rather improbable details. It is not realistic to expect some men to climb up to uncover a roof built with beams, twigs, reeds, and a thick layer of sun-dried mud. At the same time, in the room below, a group of people continued to converse as if nothing had happened. Think of the noise anddust, dirt, and pieces of wood that were to fall on their heads. Was it possible that no one moved to convince the stretcher bearers to wait a moment and stop destroying the house? It’s hard to understand how these four managed to hit the exact spot beneath Jesus.

There are other questions a minimally careful reader might raise: how did one notice there were four carriers? That detail is superfluous. The pardon granted by Jesus to the paralytic is also inconsistent with the faith of the stretcher bearers. In another moment of his life, Jesus rejects interpreting the disease as a punishment for sin (cf. Jn 9:2-3); why, before performing the miracle, does he forgive the sins of the paralyticwho came only to be cured? The silence of the stretcher bearers and the paralytic is also surprising. Healingand forgiveness are not asked for but are freely granted by the Lord. Finally, the grammatical construction of verses 10-11 is not smooth: there is an abrupt transition from the second person plural to the singular.

These observations lead to approaching the passage with close attention: one immediately senses thatMark did not intend to write a chronicle but a theological account. Jesus has certainly healed a paralytic, yet the images and language reveal the evangelist’s catechetical intent. It is, therefore, rather difficult (and not too important) to determine how the story unfolded. What matters is the message that Mark wants to convey.

The characters appear clearly divided into two groups. Let us consider who they are, the environments in which they are set, and the attitudes they adopt.

The first scene is set inside a house, in a closed space, with people gathered around Jesus and listening to him. It includes a multitude of people and some scribes who are “sitting” (v. 6), therefore immobile and impassive. We will meet them often in the Gospel. They are experts in the Law, sure of themselves and theirtheological convictions. They belong to the Pharisees’ sect and share its attachment to tradition. They consider themselves righteous, of integrity, and blameless, and do not let themselves be approached by sinners.

Their stillness is an image of their spiritual condition. They represent the Jewish religious institution thathas drawn an impassable line of demarcation between the saintly people and the sinners. Their presence isan insurmountable obstacle to those who need to draw close to Jesus to receive his salvation.

In contrast to these, the four men carrying a paralytic are the static people. They are outside the house,not stationary but moving. Indeed, they are agitated because they cannot wait. They sense an irrepressibleneed to meet Jesus, but they cannot approach him because the door is blocked and access to the house isclosed to them.

They have with them a paralytic lying on a bed. The patient’s condition is marked by complete immobility and passivity. He is unable to help himself, provide for his own needs, or even approach the one who can give him health. He symbolizes humanity that cannot enter the house where the scribes are installed. He represents the pagans, sinners who, only by encountering Christ, can be cured of the disease that prevents them from standing and walking.

The number of stretcher bearers completes the symbolism. In the Bible, the number four—recalling the cardinal points—signifies the entire world. The four and the paralytic together represent humanity that can bring to Jesus only its own weakness and is not even able to call for help.

Now, the symbolic meaning of the house where Jesus stays is also clear. It is the Jewish institution that claims salvation is reserved for the chosen people and prevents it from reaching others. It is the House of Israel—an expression that occurs 119 times in the Old Testament. If it does not open her doors to the pagans, she is unfaithful to her mission. She must be uncovered or roofless, open wide to all. In fact, Jesus considers the work accomplished by the four bearers a gesture of faith.

This brings us to the story’s central theme: the forgiveness of sins. The rabbis said that the patient could not recover from his illness until his sins had been forgiven.

At the time of Jesus, there were various ways to obtain remission from God.

Those who imagined sin as a “stain” to be washed away or an “impurity” to be eliminated believed that forgiveness required scrupulous performance of the purification rites prescribed by law. This idea of “purification” also appears in the Bible, which describes ritual baths and numerous ceremonies in which blood, fire, and the scapegoat were used to remove sin from the community.

Those who considered sin an injustice against another saw no other possibility of remission exceptrepairing the damage done.

Finally, there was someone who, disgusted by the relentless spread of iniquity and injustice, was convinced that there was no longer any possibility of remission and that the sinner had nothing to do but waitwith trembling for God’s intervention. It was said: one day he would destroy all the wicked, put an end to this world, and create a new one.

It is in this context that Jesus takes a scandalous and shocking position toward the spiritual leaders of his people. He addresses the paralytic with an epithet full of tenderness and affection, “Son.” Sinful humanitywas unaware of it, but God has always felt for her as a father and mother feel for their children. The sinner, even if not repentant, remains a lovable child to God. This is the first message.

Then Jesus continues to proclaim God’s unconditional and gratuitous forgiveness. He does not ask whether the paralytic is determined to change his life or whether he promises not to commit other sins; hesimply says, “Your sins are forgiven,” a statement that means: “God forgives your sins.”

It is this generosity that shocks the scribes. They also believe that God forgives, but they are convincedthat one should earn this grace through good feelings, good intentions, good works, and the performance of the rites prescribed by law. Jesus, instead, unhesitatingly proclaims God’s initiative of forgiveness, and this forgiveness is offered to people without their asking.

The embarrassment of the scribes reflects the reaction now evident on the faces of Christians when, bysome preacher, they hear it said that God forgives everyone without requiring either repentance or an intention to repair the harm done. Yet this forgiveness is no more than what God demands of us. Did he not perhaps enjoin us to love our enemies, regardless of whether they apologize for the hurt they caused us?

We are instinctively prone to retributive justice. We believe that punishments and sanctions are the only way to restore the balance that has been broken. We would like the Lord to think like us. But he is not after retribution because he loves, and those who love do not punish but eradicate evil.

To sin is to miss the mark. It is building one’s life the wrong way, and this failure cannot be erased with a sponge. God does not cover the mistakes that man commits. He does not pretend as if nothing happened. When he forgives, God does not leave the situation as it was before. He transforms inwardly, heals moral illnesses, changes hearts, and from evil he makes him good.

This forgiveness cannot be earned through repentance. Repentance is not the means by whichforgiveness is granted, but rather a sign that God’s love has been understood and that the word of life has been accepted.

For the scribes, there was another reason for scandal: Jesus claimed that God had entrusted the power to free us from sin to the “Son of man.” In Jesus’ language, this expression simply meant man. God thereforedecided to offer his forgiveness through a man, Jesus of Nazareth. He brings it to humanity through his disciples, in whom he “dwells.” It is through the Christian community that he continues, with his word and his Spirit, to renew the face of the earth.

God’s forgiveness has healing power. It also influences material reality. The sinner who accepts theliberating word of Christ is back on his feet and able to build a life and a world completely different. The injunction of Jesus to the paralytic, “Stand up, take up your mat and go home” (v. 11), indicates the signs of the occurring healing. Who welcomed God’s forgiveness “resurrects” to new life, takes in hand, exerts one’spower over what previously dominated him (the mat), and walks toward his house. Not to the house of others, but to his own home, to the one that is really his, that of the Father who is in heaven.