Lk 5:17-26
One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus.
When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Wheto n Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said the one who was paralyzed—”I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.”
Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Who Can You Lift Up?
How far would you go to help someone you love? In today’s Gospel, the paralytic’s friends literally go “above and beyond“ and lower him through the roof, just to bring him into the loving and healing presence of Jesus. When someone we love is figuratively paralyzed by fear, depression, loneliness, grief, anxiety, or sadness, we will do anything, and everything, to help them heal and find their way back to their true selves. As we bend to grasp the corner of their mat, we remind them that they are good, and worthy, and holy, and deserving of love. We lift them up, loving them the way Jesus loves us, wholly and unconditionally.
Who, in your life, is experiencing a figurative paralysis from fear, depression, loneliness, grief, anxiety, or sadness? Who needs your love to bring them closer to Jesus? Who else can you enlist to help you lift up the other corners of that person’s mat and lower them into the loving arms of Jesus?
—Jackie Schulte is the Dean of Faculty Formation at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska.
Prayer
Lord, You walked on the earth, understood the broken world, yet also rose from death into resurrected life.
I pray for my loved ones, that you hold them in your loving arms during this difficult time….
Fill my loved ones from top to toe with your restorative Spirit.
May your resurrection bring healing and wellness into their being.
May your grace carry them through this hard time into a new season filled with hope and joy.
—Adapted from jesuitresource.org