As we reach the 2nd Sunday of the Great and Holy Fast, the Church offers a powerful account of a miraculous healing that took place in Capernaum. When I heard the first words of the Gospel account, I am able to shut my eyes and visualize the scene, because this small city where this miracle took place still exists today on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. There is a large Franciscan Monastery built around the ruins of the city, and to this day, you can walk around and see the bases of the small houses that existed at the time of Christ. The highlight of the city is the large synagogue where Jesus taught and prayed.
When I was there a few months ago, one of the things that struck me was how small the alley ways in between these houses were. They were maybe 2 people wide, and the homes were tightly packed together. It comes as no surprise to hear in the Gospel of just how tightly packed the house where our Lord was preaching was, and how it easily spilled out into those ally ways, offering no one, most especially a paralytic, an opportunity to get anywhere close.
For many of us sitting here today, this is an image of our own relationship with God. We know He is nearby… “everywhere present and filling all things”, yet we place so many barriers between us and Him, that He feels almost inaccessible at times. Instead of trusting in Him, we trust in man-made institutions and ideas. Rather than making our relationship with Him a priority, we focus on our careers, our possessions, our comforts and entertainments. Instead of repentance from sin, we would rather remain paralyzed by what sin does to us and to the rest of the world.
This morning, we hear of one man who refused to remain in His condition. He allowed himself to be carried like a helpless child on a pallet by four friends. So often, when we hear commentaries on this miracle, the faith of the friends is pointed to as the reason for this healing. St. Gregory Palamas however, points out that it was the faith and repentance of the paralytic that ultimately led to His healing. The man was in his right mind and would not have been forced onto a pallet to be thrust into this throng of people if he didn’t want to overcome the barriers placed between Him and God.
This is where our path to repentance starts dear ones. It is where we started this Lenten Journey over a month ago, when we read about Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree, with a true desire to see the Lord. Do we want to see Him? Do we want a relationship with Him? Do we want to be healed? If this is truly the case, then there would be nothing that would stand in our way!
This certainly was the case with the paralytic. He allowed his four friends, who were no doubt bolstered by his desire to see Christ, to carry his dead weight above the crowd and onto the roof of one of the small houses. They removed the roof and lowered Him in front of our Lord, and the Gospel says that Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic and that of the four men, who allowed absolutely nothing to stand in their way from coming into the presence of God.
Jesus said these beautiful words: “Son”. This is a term of endearment. It is a term you use with someone you love. “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
St. Gregory Palamas, who we celebrate today on this Second Sunday of Lent, gives a beautiful commentary on this entire passage, equating this scene to our own fallen condition. He says:
“Anyone who is addicted to sensual pleasures is paralyzed in his soul and lying in a bed of voluptuousness, with its deceptive bodily ease. Once, however, he has been won over by the exhortations in the Gospel, he confesses his sins and triumphs over them! He is taken up and brough to the Lord by these four: Self-condemnation, confession of former sins, promising to renounce evil ways from now on, and prayer to God.”
St. Gregory reminds us how indeed, all of us are paralyzed by sin. All of us, regardless of our desire to be with God, have put up barriers toward being healed. What is required of us is humility, confession, a desire to repent, and prayer/conversation with God.
“These alone, however, bring him near to God without uncovering the roof, scattering the tiles, earth, and other building material. Our roof is the reasoning part of the soul, which is set above everything else within us. But it has a large quantity of building materials, in its connection with the passions and earthly matters, lying on top of it. Once this connection has been loosed and shaken off by means of the four things we have mentioned, then we can really be let down, that is, humbled, fall down before the Lord, draw near to Him, and ask and receive His healing”.
Dear ones, we are now in the second week of our Lenten struggle, the time of year where we focus all of our efforts and attention to removing the barriers that keep us away from the presence of God. We fast to train ourselves to say “no” to our bodily desires. We come to all the services so that we can hear the words of God. We go to confession and begin our turn towards repentance so we don’t remain paralyzed by sin. All of these barriers we break down so that we can hear those same sweet words from our Lord and Savior:
“Son/Daughter…I love you…your sins are rorgiven you.”