We’re witnesses of a beautiful miracle this morning: through the living Word, Jesus Christ, we see a paralyzed man who cannot walk on his own, healed of his paralysis by God. Christ God, as the Logos (Word) of God, through whom all things were made, knew this man and loved this man with a fatherly love even before he was presented to him. The Psalmist David says concerning this foreknowledge of God, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 138).
He who made the paralytics’ legs and gave this man his first heart-beat in his mother’s womb is the same One who has healed him of his infirmity. The paralytic was brought to His Creator, our Creator, and He received healing and restoration from the Lord. He was given a new beginning, a new opportunity to live to the glory of God.
Every miracle is a testimony of the truth of God, the truth that is God; it points us directly to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the restoration of the human race, to the intervention of the Kingdom of God and His redemption, salvation, and restoration into this fallen world and all that’s corrupted by evil and sin. In other words, it’s a sign of Christ God’s triumph over sin and death.
Every miracle then reminds us of God’s victory over sin and death on the cross, His triumphant resurrection from the dead, His harrowing of Hades, His glorious ascension, and His victorious and final Second Coming when all that Christ has assumed, will be healed and restored to all those who have joined the new race of Adam in Christ.
Miracles are a sign then of the “eschaton,” that is, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God after the Second Coming of Christ. The healing of the paralytic alludes to all of these works and promises of God on our behalf, where those who are being saved will be gathered up to join the ranks of heaven in God’s near presence where “sighing and sorrow shall flee away” (Is. 51:11).
But a greater miracle than the healing from paralysis is at work here: We read that when Jesus saw the faith of those who had brought the paralytic to him, He instantly healed the man of his paralysis? No! He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” This wasn’t what some were expecting; Christ’s words must have come as quite a shock.
Christ clearly teaches us here the priority of our eternal souls over that of our decaying bodies. This is a crude way to put it and in no way meant to belie the value of our bodies, which, together with our souls, bear the image and likeness of God. I say this to underscore the fact that while our bodies will, like the earth, “all wear out like a garment,” (Isaiah 51:6), our souls are eternal. And yet, how much time do we spend prioritizing the priorities of this world over the need for our souls to acquire the virtues necessary to be in God’s near presence for all eternity?
It’s in this context of understanding sin and its sad consequences on our world, on our being enslaved to the world and all that is passing away, that Christ addresses the ultimate need of the paralytic. Yes, he needs his legs, but more importantly, he needs to be cleansed, purified, forgiven—He needs God. More important than the healing of his legs is the healing of his soul, of his soul being made whole in Christ. Everything else pales in comparison.
By forgiving the sins of the man, Christ clearly declares Himself to be God for, as the scribes rightly understood, “who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk. 2:7; Lk. 5:21) Exactly! Their sinful hearts could not comprehend that the God who lovingly spoke creation into being through His Word, would Himself enter into that human nature as Emmanuel (God with us), as the prophets foretold, to restore that nature, to restore a path to the Kingdom of God for His beloved children, the pinnacle of His creation, with whom He so dearly desires communion.
The Scribes instantly charge blasphemy because they refuse to acknowledge that God would love us to such an extent that He would even condescend to become incarnate to defeat the endless cycle of sin and death that’s enslaved the world since its beginning. Christ, to deepen the faith of all those assembled and silence the actual blasphemers, does two things that reveal Himself as God: first, He tells them what they’re thinking, saying, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, Arise and walk?’ Then second, He says, “that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…” and then and only then, Christ say to the man, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” The man arose, glorifying God.
Both of these miracles, the revelation of the inner thoughts and the healing of the paralysis prove that Christ is God. What joy! Can you see it on the faces of this man and his friends? Their burden’s been taken from them. They walk home together, rejoicing, glorifying God. But the greatest joy is that this son of Adam has been forgiven, reconciled to God.
Before our baptism and the possibility of the renewal of that baptism through confession, we too are paralyzed by sin. Even in the life of an Orthodox Christian who has become part of the new creation, a beloved child of the eschaton, this world and all its confusion and hedonism may take hold of the unwary soul and paralyze it with addictions and habitual sins.
Sadly, sin can also paralyze us from witnessing to the truth of Christ to those around us in that confusion so visible today. How easy it is ( we’ve all been there) to give into our pride and become cowardly and selfish when it comes to sharing and living the truth of Christ and the salvation found in His holy Church with those around us when given the opportunity to do so. We fear man more than we fear God and we fail to make Him the center of our lives.
In order for Christ to heal our infirmities, our weaknesses, our sin-sickness, the world—and all our temporal, passing, dying pursuits must cease to be center focus, so that He who is Life can become our true life, our true ‘reason for being.’
Instead of letting the world control us and distract us from the things of God, from the priority that our eternal souls need to participate in the life of God, to be in His holy, near presence, we grow to bring our Orthodox Faith to bear on us, our witness to the world around us, to share, what St. Paul calls, “the fragrance of Christ” (II Cor. 2:15) with the world around us. This is the evidence, the sign, of restoration, of a mature Orthodox Christian in the making.
Those beset by any passions, repeated sins, paralyze of soul, hear the words of our Lord this day, “Arise, take up your bed, and go unto your house.” With the Lord, there is forgiveness, there is new life, there is renewal. All things are possible with God.
Today’s Gospel is sometimes referred to in the Church as “the Paralytic Restored.” Christ God will restore us too if we come before His presence with the desire for faith, with the hope of restoration, of growth, of renewal in our priorities, of putting Him and His Kingdom first in our lives. Christ alone is God, the only One who can forgive our sins, renew our baptism through confession, and help us progress in our participation in His life. Call on Him, entrust yourself to His grace and mercy, confess Him before all, and cast your weaknesses upon Him for, as St. Paul reminds us, “His grace is sufficient and His strength is perfected in weakness” (II Cor. 12:9).
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, 12 July 2015
The Paralytic from Matthew’s Gospel 2
Epistle: Romans 12:6-14
Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8
