Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9, 1-8
After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
At that, some of the scribes said to themselves,
“This man is blaspheming.”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said,
“Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
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 then said to the paralytic,
“Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
Jesus came into his own town
1. A paralytic. This is a person who becomes dependent on others. It also refers to a sort of existential paralysis that you yourself can take on in your life, always depending on others and not doing things on your own. It means tying yourself to what others say and, even worse, to others deciding for you. This paralysis even leads you to become a spectator of your own life instead of being the protagonist; not accepting the joys and mistakes, but rather blaming others for what’s going on in your life. Don’t let this existential paralysis take over your life, take charge of it.
2. People brought to him a paralytic. People who love you, want your freedom and not to bind you to themselves. That’s why a good person of faith leads you to Jesus, so that you may have dignity, so that you can decide for yourself, and, above all, so that you can fulfill your potential. Those who tie you to themselves are not noble or fair. Whoever leads you to God so that you may be free is a good person, a person of faith.
3. The scribes. There will always be people who will attack and criticize you when you do something for others, but that shouldn’t prevent you from doing good. Jesus knows that He’s being criticized and that many even want to kill him, but that does not stop him from taking action, from saving a life.
The story goes that one day a well-known professor was invited to give a master class. In the course of his class, he wrote the 9 times table on the board and when he got to 9 times 10 he wrote 91. At that moment, everyone started to laugh at his mistake and some even made fun of him. Nobody realized that the master class was not over yet. The professor went on to say, “Gentlemen, there’s a great lesson for life here. You were silent during the entire lecture, but when I made a mistake, you laughed and made fun of me. Such is society and humanity itself. When you do things well no one congratulates you nor encourages you to continue, rather they remain silent. But when you make a mistake no one looks at the record of your achievements, they attack you, ridicule you and even laugh at you”.
Many times, we do not act for fear of what people will say or do, but we’re also leaving aside the possibility of doing good to others. Never stop doing good for fear of what other people might think or say. Today look at your life and if you make a mistake and people laugh or ridicule you, don’t be afraid. Life goes on and your achievements will silently outweigh that momentary social laughter.
Never forget that something good is on the way.
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
