 |
| Source: Carmelites of Colombia |
Mark 2:1–12
And when he returned to Caperna-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts, attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Commentary:
Curing of a paralyzed man
2:4. Many houses had a terraced roof accessible by steps at the back. The same structure can be found even today.
2:5. Here Jesus emphasizes the connexion between faith and the forgiveness of sins. The boldness of the people who brought in the paralytic shows their faith in Christ, and this faith moves Jesus to forgive the man’s sins. We should question how God views our faith: the faith of these people leads to the instantaneous physical and spiritual curing of this man; we should notice also that one person’s need can be helped by the merits of another.
In this man’s physical paralysis St Jerome sees a type or figure of spiritual paralysis: the cripple was unable to return to God by his own efforts. Jesus, God and Man, cured him of both kinds of paralysis (cf. Comm. on Mark, in loc.). Cf. the notes on Mt 9:2–7 below.
Jesus’ words to the paralytic—“Your sins are forgiven”—reflect the fact that his pardon involves a personal encounter with Christ; the same happens in the sacrament of Penance: “In faithfully observing the centuries-old practice of the sacrament of Penance—the practice of individual confession with a personal act of sorrow and an intention to amend and make satisfaction—the Church is defending the human soul’s individual right: man’s right to a more personal encounter with the crucified forgiving Christ, with Christ saying, through the minister of the sacrament of Reconciliation: ‘Your sins are forgiven’; ‘Go, and do not sin again’ (Jn 8:11). As is evident, this is also a right on Christ’s part with regard to every human being redeemed by him: his right to meet each one of us in that key moment in the soul’s life constituted by the moment of conversion and forgiveness” (John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 20).
2:7–12. Here we find a number of indicators of Jesus’ divinity: he forgives sins, he can read the human heart and has the power to instantly cure physical illnesses. The scribes know that only God can forgive sins; this is why they take issue with our Lord’s statement and call it blasphemous. They require a sign to prove the truth of what he says. And Jesus offers them a sign: thus just as no one can deny that the paralytic has been cured, so no one can reasonably deny that he has been forgiven his sins. Christ, God and man, exercised power to forgive sins and, in his infinite mercy, he chose to extend this power to his Church. Cf. the note on Mt 9:3–7 below.
Commentary on Mt. 9:2-7 and 9:3-79:2–6. The sick man and those who bring him to Jesus ask him to cure the man’s physical illness; they believe in his supernatural powers. As in other instances of miracles, our Lord concerns himself more with the underlying cause of illness, that is, sin. With divine largesse he gives more than he is asked for, even though people do not appreciate this. St Thomas Aquinas says that Jesus Christ acts like a good doctor: he cures the cause of the illness (cf. Comm. on St Matthew, 9, 1–6).
9:2. The parallel passage of St Mark adds a detail that helps us understand this scene better and explains why the text refers to “their faith”: in Mark 2:2–5 we are told that there was such a crowd around Jesus that the people carrying the bed could not get near him. So they had the idea of going up onto the roof and making a hole and lowering the bed down in front of Jesus. This explains his “seeing their faith”.
Our Lord was pleased by their boldness, a boldness which resulted from their lively faith which brooked no obstacles. This nice example of daring indicates how we should go about putting charity into practice—also how Jesus feels towards people who show real concern for others: he cures the paralytic who was so ingeniously helped by his friends and relatives; even the sick man himself showed daring by not being afraid of the risk involved.
St Thomas comments on this verse as follows: “This paralytic symbolizes the sinner lying in sin”; just as the paralytic cannot move, so the sinner cannot help himself. The people who bring the paralytic along represent those who, by giving him good advice, lead the sinner to God” (Comm. on St Matthew, 9, 2). In order to get close to Jesus the same kind of holy daring is needed, as the saints show us. Anyone who does not act like this will never make important decisions in his life as a Christian.
9:3–7. Here “to say” obviously means “to say and mean it”, “to say producing the result which your words imply”. Our Lord is arguing as follows: which is easier—to cure the paralytic’s body or to forgive the sins of his soul? Undoubtedly, to cure his body; for the soul is superior to the body and therefore diseases of the soul are the more difficult to cure. However, a physical cure can be seen, whereas a cure of the soul cannot. Jesus proves the hidden cure by performing a visible one.
The Jews thought that any illness was due to personal sin (cf. Jn 9:1–3); so when they heard Jesus saying, “Your sins are forgiven”, they reasoned in their minds as follows: only God can forgive sins (cf. Lk 5:21); this man says that he has power to forgive sins; therefore, he is claiming a power that belongs to God alone—which is blasphemy. Our Lord, however, forestalls them, using their own arguments: by curing the paralytic by just saying the word, he shows them that since he has the power to cure the effects of sin (which is what they believe disease to be), then he also has power to cure the cause of illness (sin); therefore, he has divine power.
Jesus Christ passed on to the apostles and their successors in the priestly ministry the power to forgive sins: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22–23). “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 18:18). Priests exercise this power in the sacrament of Penance: in doing so they act not in their own name but in Christ’s—in persona Christi, as instruments of the Lord.
Hence the respect, veneration and gratitude with which we should approach Confession: in the priest we should see Christ himself, God himself, and we should receive the words of absolution firmly believing that it is Christ who is uttering them through the priest. This is why the minister does not say: “Christ absolves you …”, but rather “I absolve you from your sins …”: he speaks in the first person, so fully is he identified with Jesus Christ himself (cf. St Pius V, Catechism, 2, 5, 10).
Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
No comments:
Post a Comment