Faith for others
Indeed, which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven? Or, Rise, take up your stretcher and walk? (Mark 2:1-12) It’s an open, rhetorical question. Jesus does not answer it. And indeed it can be answered in different ways.
Anyone can say, Oh, God will forgive you. Jesus himself can say your sins are forgiven. There is no tangible proof, no visible proof. And so Jesus performs the miracle hoping that his critics will believe that he does have the authority to forgive sins. On the other hand, forgiving sins is just about the most difficult and most important thing that any religion can preach. It is much easier to judge and condemn than to believe in forgiveness.
Jesus left the question open because forgiveness and healing are intimately connected. Jesus always looked deeper into the human existence than any religion or healing professional could. Jesus saw a paralyzed man being brought to him. But he also saw the faith of the men who carried him. He could have healed the man and sent them on their way. But he saw their faith, and so he went deeper.
Why did Jesus come into the world? Just to show us a new way to believe in God; so we can believe in God as Trinity? Was it to give us a better theology that he came into the world? That was the result of his coming, to be sure, and our knowledge of God certainly is deeper because of Christ. But that was not the reason why he came into the world as a human being. He came as a human being. God could have pronounced a new theology the way he did in the Old Testament – with fire and thunder. God chose another way because this wasn’t about religious laws and beliefs.
No, Jesus came as a human being. He called himself the Son of Man. Today too, he tells his critics that the Son of Man – meaning, himself – has authority to forgive sins. Because he is one of us, he knows what makes us tick, he knows that we need more than just physical healing. He also knows our pains and our ability to rise above them. Have you seen the Italians on coronavirus lockdown singing?
God created the heavens and the earth and God placed human beings in the midst of this glorious creation. I watched one of these BBC nature programs narrated by David Attenborough. It showed a male river trout in Tennessee gathering thousands of stones in the bottom of the riverbed so that the female could lay her eggs in between the stones where they would be protected from predators. By the time the eggs hatched, the stones would no longer be needed and they would be washed away by the river current. The following year the whole scene would be repeated. I ask: How will those newborn river trout know what to do when they reach adulthood and will need to protect the female’s eggs so that the next generation will survive? Does it not show a wisdom built into the cosmos? Have we lost touch with this wisdom? Have we replaced the inborn wisdom that is present in a baby with the clutter of artificial know-how?
The river trout in Tennessee still tap into the wisdom built into nature. I don’t know how it happens, but it obviously does. And it does in human babies as well, who instinctively know when to cry, and when and how to smile, how to use their mouths to receive nourishment, and so on. But as adults we have broken that intimate connection. And I believe that is very much part of why Jesus came as a human being: To reconcile us with our origins, to reconcile us with God, to reconcile us with each other. And so, yes, forgiveness of sins is very much at the heart of why Jesus came. The theology, the deeper knowledge of God as Trinity – those are added bonus. And quite frankly, how many of you have that theology on the tips of your tongue? But how many of you know that you need forgiveness, that you need to be made whole?
The people reacted in the Gospel narrative: “We never saw anything like this!” What did they see? A paralysed man walking again. What did God see? A man made whole again – not just in body, but in spirit and body. Pope Francis has placed Dorothy Day on the track to sainthood. But Rome has to wait for a ratified miracle before proclaiming her a saint. You see, we still look for miracles. Her extraordinary ministry to the poor and the downtrodden is not enough for Dorothy Day to be proclaimed a saint. Mind you, I like to think that Dorothy Day will not perform a miracle, just so she won’t be made a saint! One of the most famous things she ever said was: “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” She also said: “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” She doesn’t need to perform a miracle from heaven so Rome will proclaim her a saint. She is a saint in God’s eyes because of the countless miracles she did during her life on earth!
Jesus saw the faith of those who carried the man, and he acted beyond the healing. Remember the ten lepers who were healed and only one came back to say thank you? The other nine were still healed, Jesus did not rescind the healing, but they were healed physically. Only the one who came back received the deeper healing that restored his unity with creation, with God, with his fellow human beings. And what did he say to the one who came back? “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” His faith, that one man’s faith has made him well – not just healed him. So today, Jesus saw the faith of the men and he made their friend well.
Faith is what we need – not only for ourselves, but for each other. Only with such faith might we overcome the challenges facing us today and in the long term. Faith that is grateful, that is supporting of others, faith that shares supplies during this coronavirus pandemic, faith that checks on neighbours and the elderly, faith that goes beyond material and physical needs. Faith that enables God to move mountains!