Third Sunday of Great Lent

The gospel portion, St. Mark 2: 1 – 12, is the story of a paralytic who was carried to the house where Jesus was preaching, by four men. They carried the man to the house and because the house was so crowded and they could not bring him in, they went in to the roof made and opening and made him reach the Lord.

 A couple of personalities to be noted here.

1. The first ones on the scene are the four men carrying the paralytic man to Jesus. What could be the reasons which made them work that hard in bringing the man to Jesus?

1. One of the reasons will be the love they have to the man. They wanted him to be cured and be able to walk and live like them. Jesus said to love your brethren, and therefore it’s the duty to take care of those who are struggling. The man might have been in bed for long time and when the four people heard about miracles happening, they wanted him also to be able to receive the blessings.

2. The second reason was of course their faith. They had strong faith in the man who was doing the miracles, and they believed that he is able to cure the man. In last week’s gospel, we heard a testimony saying, ‘if you are willing you can save me’. No doubts arising there. They all strongly believed that if Jesus was willing, he can save them. And that faith made them climb up the roof to reach him. Abraham believed and his belief has saved him.

 Two guidelines for practical Christian life can be derived from here.

1. Love your brethren and be ready to suffer anything to bring him or her to the way of Christ. The person to be changed often will not be able to respond or struggle with you but as we all are children of God, we all have the responsibility to bring our brethren to Christ even if they can’t struggle by themselves. That was the reason why all the apostles, and the disciples and the church fathers struggled so much to keep the faith. The wanted the whole world to be evangelized as they all were God’s children and therefore brothers and sisters and therefore, it was the responsibility God has given. The same responsibility is given to us too, and as Christians it is our duty to do whatever needed, climb the roofs, struggle, whatever to bring our brethren to the path of Christ.

2. Second guideline is the faith we saw in the four young men. If we have the same faith, we can do miracles in this world with the power of Jesus Christ. Because they believed and had faith, they climbed the roof. The majority if Christians today lacks this true faith. We often doubt the God, and we often think if the promise given from our God will happen or not. We often hesitate to do something in the name of God worrying that if it fails you will be ridiculed in front of others. Abraham followed God by faith and therefore he was considered righteous. We need to follow this same faith and belief while struggling in life and while struggling to help others in life.

 2. The next key person in this story is the paralytic man. He was cured by Jesus Christ and before curing his body, his sins were forgiven. Sins and different actions of a person can lead to spiritual or physical paralysis or both. The will to be cured from that condition is the important factor. In this story too, the will of the paralytic man to be saved is very important.

Spiritual paralysis has become a major issue in the Christian church nowadays. There are a lot of people who are paralyzed by the strength of sin, and not able to reach God. As this person was unable to get up by himself and travel to see the Lord, there are a lot of people who are spiritually paralyzed who are unable to go and seek the Lord. Similarly, a lot of us are spiritually paralyzed and are unable to reach the Lord even if we wish to do so. As the body of the man kept him away from reaching the Lord, the paralyzed minds of us keeps us away from reaching the Lord.

But the man had the wish to be saved and therefore he was brought to our Lord and was cured. We all should have the wish to be saved from the state of paralysis we are in and we all should be ready to wake up and walk in Christ proclaiming his name. We have the responsibility to bring our spiritually paralyzed brothers too to the path of God so that He can save them.

3. The third type of people we saw in the story was those who questioned the authority of Jesus to forgive sins. Those who claimed to be the most knowledgeable about the religion have failed in understanding that Jesus is the son of God and he has the right to forgive sins. Their knowledge has not saved them; it has neither taken them to the right path. What saves is the belief and faith in God. And this was lacking in those who questioned Jesus.

Similar kinds of people are seen today too who claims to be the most knowledgeable about God but often denies the path of Lord. Some go by worldly explanations to justify their actions; some misinterpret the teachings of Christ. Its some times amazing how certain people explain the word of God and make it apt there own wishes and thoughts.

As Christians one of our responsibilities is to stay away from these false teachings. St. Paul said not to accept any preaching against what our Lord has taught us. This can happen in our church too, and as Christians we have to be awake in realizing the right and the wrong. When those people correlate word of God to wrong explanations, we have to stay in Christ understanding the truth he has taught us. Understand and realize Christ first and then we all will be able to distinguish between the right and the wrong.

To conclude, this story is able to strengthen our faith. Jesus has forgiven the sins of the man; similarly, we all have the chance to have our sins to be forgiven. Jesus has cured the paralytic; similarly he can cure our physical and mental paralysis once we reach him.Praise God who has come to earth to save us. Praise him as we have given great opportunities to have our sins to be forgiven and to be cured from our paralysis and proclaim the word of the living God. Praise Him!!!