Lk 5:17-26
17One
day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were
sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and
Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. 18And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. 19But
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. 20When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
21Then the scribes and Pharisees began
to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God
alone can forgive sins?” 22Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24But
that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick
up your stretcher, and go home.” 25He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26Then
astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with
awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
Reflection:
He stood up immediately before them… and went home, glorifying God. Ever
notice how almost every person whom Jesus heals goes home immediately
after the healing? A Gerasene demoniac, upon being healed, pleads to
follow Jesus, but he is told to go home and tell his family what God has
done for him (cf Mk 5:19).
We all love coming home. No matter where
we go or where fate brings us, the longing to go home never dies.
Infirmities, differences, poverty, and physical or emotional illnesses
sometimes separate us from our homes and our loved ones. When the cause
of our being away from home is healed, we rush back home.
Our souls, too, have a home. Sin and
other worldly longings and desires drive us away from our true home in
God. Reconciliation and healing make us long to go home and glorify our
God and Father. That is what we were made for. As St. Augustine puts it
beautifully, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is
restless until it rests in you.”
Take your kids to their grandparents or to your ancestral home.
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