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Mission as
the good news of the forgiveness of sins
VII Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Year B -
19.02.2006
- Isaiah
43:18-19,21-22,24b-25
- Psalm 40
- 2Corinthians
1:18-22
- Mark
2:1-12
Reflections
The
healing of the paralytic and the forgiveness of his sins (Gospel)
make
up a double wonder and a piece of missionary good news that Mark
narrates with
an abundance of details. This shows a clear theological and
catechetical
intention, rather than the simple description of an event. In fact,
anyone who
tries to visualise the scene comes across some details that are
barely
credible: the almost causal way the bearers open up the roof
of someone
else's house; even giving the exact number of bearers seems irrelevant;
it is
hardly credible that while all the fuss was going on removing the
canes, beams
and earth of which roofs were made in those days, the crowd that had
made a
normal entry impossible seems to have sat there listening, in the midst
of the
fuss, debris and dust, and the Lord went on “preaching the word” (v.2)
to them.
There is no open request for healing, nor for forgiveness of sins, but
Jesus
gives them gratuitously: it is probable that the paralytic and his
friends
hoped for a cure, but Jesus starts with the forgiveness of sin (v.5).
Then comes
a theological link between the power to forgive sins and the power to
heal the
sick (vv.10-11). All these seem to be doctrinal and editorial
points.
They do not diminish the historical value of the miracle of Jesus, but
they do
serve to explain the saving significance, according to the catechetical
plan of
the Evangelist, Mark.
In
this Gospel reading there are two groups of persons in the presence of
Jesus.
First of all, some scribes - well known custodians of
the Law.
They were “sitting there” (v.6), inside the house, in the front row;
they are
the main obstacle to the sick man, blocking the direct route to Jesus.
They are
also spiritually static, representing the institutions which are
passing.
Outside the house is the busy group of four bearers.
They are
outside, but they get to work. They are a model of solidarity in the
effort
made to help the paralytic. They are driven by the urgency to get past
the
barrier. The sick man cannot help: he is the model of the state of
pagans and
sinners, who can only be healed, forgiven, by meeting Jesus; then they
can get
up and walk. The four bearers are the four points of the
compass, the
symbol of people coming from the four corners of the earth to meet
Christ
directly. “Now we can see the symbolic meaning of the house in
which
Jesus is restrained. It represents the Jewish institutions which claim
that
salvation belongs only to the Chosen People. It has to be uncovered,
opened up
to everyone; and indeed, Jesus looks on the gesture of the four bearers
as an
act of faith” (F. Armellini).
The
central theme of the Gospel reading today is the forgiveness of sins.
In the
mentality of the time, forgiveness depended on a series of ritual
purifications, or reparation for a wrong done to others. More
drastically, the
destructive intervention of a God who is tired of the wicked. In this
context,
the approach of Jesus is scandalous: he calls the man “my child” (v.5),
showing
that for God even the unrepentant sinner is a beloved child;
he overs
unconditional pardon, without even being asked specifically, with no
rite of
purification; and he does it with a freedom that scandalises those who
think
that a person could merit God's forgiveness by carrying out
certain acts
or rites. On the contrary, not even the repentance of the sinner
is
able to produce forgiveness, which is a free gift of God, a sign of
internal
renewal that is brought about by grace.
Form
the Christian viewpoint, the remission of sins does not mean to draw a
veil
over a negative reality that persists. It is the creation of a new
reality. God
transforms from inside, he renews heart and life; he does not
re-cycle,
but re-creates. God goes beyond restorations; He makes something new.
During a
time of exile, the prophet Isaiah (First Reading) shows
the ending of a negative period by announcing a divine surprise: “See,
I am
doing a new deed". Symbols of what is new are: the bud (new growth) the
road or path in the wilderness, the stream in the desert. This new life
from
God is in line with his fidelity, manifested in Jesus Christ (Second
Reading)
in whom all God's promises have become "Yes" (v.20).
God's
surprises are many: the power to forgive sins is now entrusted to the
'Son of
man on earth’ (v. 10) and from Christ this power reaches all humanity
through
the community of believers (Jn.20:23). The paralytic "gets up": a
movement described with a Greek word that is typical of the
Resurrection. The
man is now free, not tied to his bed by sickness. His dwelling space is
now
wide; it will be the House of the Father who is in Heaven - the house
of all
the children of the one Father. The miracle took place in the presence
of many
people, so that the mercy of the God who saves may be hymned abroad.
The same
objective is the aim of the missions entrusted to the disciples of all
ages, as
the Evangelist Luke notes at the end of his Gospel, in the Missionary
Mandate
given by Jesus: “In his (Christ's) name conversion and the
forgiveness of
sins will be preached to all nations” (Lk.24:47) (*)
The Pope's Words
“The
proclamation of the Word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a
complete
and sincere adherence to Christ and his Gospel through faith.
Conversion is a
gift of God, a work of the Blessed Trinity. It is the Spirit who opens
people's
hearts so that they can believe in Christ and "confess him'' (cf. 1 Cor
12:3) ... From the outset, conversion is expressed in faith which is
total and
radical, and which neither limits nor hinders God's gift. At the same
time, it
gives rise to a dynamic and lifelong process”
John Paul
II
Encyclical
Redemptoris Missio (1990)
n. 46
In the steps of
Missionaries
-
22/2: Feast of the See of Peter and of the Pope who, as Vicar of Christ
and of
Peter is called to preside over the community (Church) of love.
-
23/2: St. Polycarp, disciple of St. John and Bishop of Smyrna;
the last of the
Apostolic Fathers of the Church.
-
23/2: Bl. Josephine Vannini (+1911), foundress of the Daughters
of St.
Camillus, for the care of the sick.
-
24/2: Bl. Ascensión Nicol Goñi (1868-1940), a Spanish nun, co-foundress
of the
Dominican Missionaries of the Most Holy Rosary, who work in education
and
mission.
-
25/2: Bl. Sebastiano Aparicio (+1600), who migrated to Mexico from
Spain. He
was married and rich; when his wife died he became a lay Franciscan,
and died
in Puebla.
-
25/2: SS. Luigi Versiglia, bishop, e Callisto Caravario, priest; both
Salesians.
They were
martyred in 1930 in the Province of Guandong, China.
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Edited by Fr. Romeo
Ballan, mcci - Former Director of CIAM, Rome
Website:
www.ciam.org “Word for the Mission”
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