Today I deviate from our Luke meditations and share a Homily By Deacon John Aitchison on forgiveness.
‘And after getting into a boat Jesus crossed the water and came to his own town. And just
then some people were carrying a paralysed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their
faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’ Then some of the
scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts,
said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are
forgiven”, 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’ – then said to the paralytic – ‘Stand up, take your bed
and go to your home.’ And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it,
they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human
beings.’
This Gospel is both a straightforward story and yet also deeply complex.
We are all so familiar with the idea that Jesus went around forgiving people and
irritating the Pharisees by doing so. We are now so used to the idea that Christians are
meant to forgive people that forgiveness can become quite formulaic. So we do not feel
the shock, the novelty, the revolution that is portrayed in this passage.
One of the Old Testament’s words sometimes used for forgiveness (nasa’) also means
lift up or bear up so there is something of a pun in Jesus telling the man to pick up his
bed and carry it home. People have to carry their sins (Leviticus 5:1, 17,; 19:8) and yet
now, through this act of forgiveness, this man can now carry his bed, proof of his
healing, proof that the paralysing weight of his sins is overcome. Jesus is not making
some sort of judicial pronouncement, putting into place a merely legal sort of
transaction – “I forgive you: you are acquitted, you are not guilty.” Jesus is saying that
somehow that burden will be carried.
The Old Testament was not hot on forgiveness, only God could forgive sins and people
had to make sacrificial transactions for the unwitting sins they committed. So it is not
without reason that the scribes in this tale consider that Jesus forgiving sins is
blasphemous. And Jesus’ intentions are clearly seen by the crowds. They understand
what is going on. Jesus is saying that human beings (anthropos) now have the power to
forgive.
Consider that message. God is giving, delegating, his divine authority to forgive – to us.
And that changes everything. But that change, that can rework history and undo the
deadly causal chain of sin and its consequences, comes at a cost. Again we are all
familiar with the idea that Jesus, on the cross, forgives all. But forgiving means a cost to
human beings too. Saying the words is not enough. Can we carry, help bear the burden
of, the person or group of people we have forgiven? Can we help carry the load, can we
ensure that the forgiven are indeed lifted up, carried forward?
Prayer
O Christ, Redeemer and forgiver,
You who represent all humanity as you forgive,
forgive the sins of all who are inextricably joined to me –
relatives, friends, neighbours, enemies, far off people.
Help us to forgive too, sharing in your divine authority,
and enable us carry each others burdens, one for another.
May we live in the changed world that forgiveness creates,
one in your love and glory.
Amen