Four and a Half Miracles
Dec. 11: Monday of the Second Week of Advent
To the sick, to the sinner, to the sufferer—the time between the promise of help and the fulfillment of that promise can seem long. The paralytic and his friends teach us how to wait: not by sitting on our bums, but by actively seeking the Lord in persevering faith, no matter how long the time seems to take.
Reading I
Is 35:1-10
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; The abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus. A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it. It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk. Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.
Isaiah tells us, indirectly, that God is a universal God, not a God for one, just people. He takes special care of those in particular need, like the blind and lame, but he’ll also transform the world for the sake of everyone.
He’ll pave a road for us, but it’s still up to us to take it. Only the holy and redeemed can walk on it. We don’t want to be the fool who’s wandering astray. Follow God’s path and enjoy the scenery.
Responsorial Psalm
85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14
R. Our God will come to save us!
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Our God will come to save us!
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Our God will come to save us!
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. Our God will come to save us!
In modern times, it’s easy to be disconnected from certain Biblical imagery. Our roads are already paved, and we rarely have to worry about whether or not the Earth will yield crops.
But truth and kindness? Justice and peace? These are things every human everywhere will seek until the end of time. That’s the salvation the psalmist sings about.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold the king will come, the Lord of the earth,
and he himself will lift the yoke of our captivity.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Kings don’t usually lift anything. Our king comes to save us from slavery.
Gospel
Lk 5:17-26
One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”– he said to the one who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
This story starts with the miracle of faith. The paralytic’s friends believed so much, they cut a hole in someone’s roof!1 That’s some great problem-solving skills. But they wouldn't have bothered if they didn't believe in Jesus' healing power.
Miracle number two is, of course, the forgiving of the paralytic’s sins. At the time, many Jews believed sickness was the result of one’s sins, or the sins of one’s ancestors.2
The Pharisees say only God can forgive sins. And they’re right! Just not in the way they think. Jesus is God, and thus can forgive sins, of this man, His ancestors, and everyone else.
But notice the man doesn’t get up and walk yet, despite the forgiveness. Thus proving illness isn’t necessarily the direct result of his sins. Sometimes people just get sick, because that’s the nature of the world.
Next, Jesus “knew what was in their hearts.” Is this a miracle? It’s not entirely clear. As a man, Jesus presumably had a keen understanding of human nature. Was he just reading the room? Did he “know” what was in their hearts, or did he, as God, know what was in their hearts? We can’t know, so I award this miracle half a point.
The third? fourth? last miracle is the most obvious: telling the man to rise, grab his stretcher,3 and go home. It's great for that man, certainly, but it's a miracle for all the witnesses, too. Because Jesus doesn't perform miracles for the physical well-being of one person. He does them so that the whole community can come to believe—
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
So maybe that’s the the fourth (and a half) miracle in this story?
***
Luke writes that they lowered him through the tiles, because his Roman audience would understand what that meant. In the original story from Mark, they opened up the straw roof that would’ve been more common in Israel at the time.
Not entirely without reason. In Exodus, God says he is “inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation.”
I like how He tells the guy to clean up after himself, after his buddies cut a hole in a stranger’s roof.