5 December 2022
Monday of the Second Week of Advent
“Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Rise and walk’?”
There are many beautiful, powerful episodes of healing in the Gospels. I think we sometimes get so used to hearing these readings that we can forget just how mind-blowing they really are. We have to take a moment to step back and re-imagine the sheer amazement and joy that must have come from witnessing the miraculous occur first-hand. Imagine being a friend of the paralyzed man and watching his healing that day. What would you have felt? How would you have responded?
Despite the intensity and goodness of the miraculous healing that takes place, Jesus reminds us that the greatest miracle in this instance is not the healing of the body but rather of the soul. How incredibly precious is the salvation that was purchased for us at so high a price that it was beyond our capacity to ever accomplish it for ourselves. The physical healings that Jesus performs are always accompanied by internal, spiritual healings as well. The external restoration of health is a visible manifestation of the invisible but very real internal healing that accompanies restoration to friendship with God through the forgiveness of sins.
This is the mystery we venerate and contemplate this Advent as we await the coming of the Lord: that God chose to take on flesh and blood to make visible and finite the reality of the invisible, infinite Godhead. He came to walk among us, to speak to us, to teach us, to heal us, and ultimately to call us home to Himself.