7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
\n<\/a>Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25
\n2 Corinthians 1:18-22
\nMark 2:1-12
\nFebruary 19, 2012<\/p>\nIsaiah is speaking in the first reading to the people who have been held in exile for 50 years in Babylon.\u00a0 Israel had once a great nation.\u00a0 It was God who made them a great nation under King David.<\/p>\n
But they had come to think they were a great nation by their own merit.\u00a0 They turned to false gods or no god.\u00a0 For this, God withdrew his protection from them and allowed their enemy, the Babylonians to defeat them as punishment for their sin.<\/p>\n
Many of the Israelites were taken in exile from their own lands to Babylon.\u00a0 It would have been good if this had led them to repentance but many did not.<\/p>\n
After 50 years, God says he is going to do something new.\u00a0 God removes their sins in a new way\u00a0and restores the freedom of his people and returns them to the Promised Land.<\/p>\n
Jesus comes with the power to do something incredibly new.\u00a0 He comes doing miracles and preaching God’s word and\u00a0he comes to forgive sins in a way.\u00a0\u00a0Now, in today\u2019s gospel, he combines the miracles and his preaching.\u00a0 He does a miracle and uses it as an opportunity to preach the truth.<\/p>\n
Jesus has returned \u201chome\u201d and is preaching to the people.\u00a0 So many people have come that there is absolutely no space left.\u00a0 It\u2019s even more crowded than we see at Christmas and Easter.<\/p>\n
In the midst of the crowd, four incredible men arrive, actually five with the fifth being carried by his friends.\u00a0 I call them incredible men for two reasons.\u00a0 First, they care enough about their paralyzed friend to bring him to Jesus.\u00a0 Secondly, they have enough faith to do it.<\/p>\n
When they find the crowds, they are not discouraged.\u00a0 They know that nothing is impossible for God.\u00a0 They know in their hearts that Jesus can help their friends.\u00a0 This is so important to them that they climb up on the roof and open it up.\u00a0 They get their friend up on the roof and lower him down to Jesus.<\/p>\n
What is Jesus\u2019 reaction?<\/p>\n
Is he surprised?\u00a0 Does he yell at them for tearing the house apart?<\/p>\n
No.\u00a0 We are told \u201cWhen Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Child, your sins are forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n
It does not say \u2018when Jesus saw what they were doing\u201d but \u201cwhen he saw their faith.\u201d\u00a0 He saw their faith in what they were doing for their friend but it is not their action that he is interested in but the faith behind the actions.<\/p>\n
But he doesn\u2019t just heal the paralytic.\u00a0 He forgives his sins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Immediately the scribes react, seeing Jesus\u2019 words of forgiveness as blasphemy for they know that only God can forgive sins.\u00a0 What they don\u2019t realize is Jesus is Son of God.\u00a0 They say Jesus is blaspheming because he is making himself to be like God.<\/p>\n
We have to remember that in those days, illness was seen as a penalty for sin.\u00a0 So, they should have seen a natural connection between healing and forgiving but they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to see that the man\u2019s paralysis is healed.\u00a0 It\u2019s far less easy to see that his sins are forgiven.<\/p>\n
Do we believe Jesus can forgive our sins?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do we truly believe that Jesus has paid the price for our sins on the Cross?<\/p>\n
Do we let Jesus forgive us?<\/p>\n
Jesus freely dies for our sins but he does not force forgiveness on us.\u00a0 We need to reach for it with a contrite heart.\u00a0 To do so we must admit our sins.\u00a0 If we aren\u2019t willing to admit our sins, we cannot be forgiven.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
To offer us forgiveness, Jesus has given us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, most commonly known as Confession.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It used to be that people would go as often as weekly.\u00a0 \u201cCatholic guilt\u201d said you must have done something bad.\u00a0 Now, the pendulum has swung the other way and people seldom go.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some people don\u2019t see their own sins.\u00a0 Some say why would I confess my sins to a priest.\u00a0 God is the one who forgives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are right.\u00a0 God is the one who forgives the sins.\u00a0 As a priest, I merely say the words as an instrument of God.\u00a0 I will also add that when we \u201cconfess\u201d we aren\u2019t telling God anything he doesn\u2019t already know.\u00a0 God is everywhere and sees all we do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, the sacrament is not about telling God about something He already knows.\u00a0 It\u2019s to declare our sorrow for our sins with contrite hearts.<\/p>\n
We accept a penance not just as a \u201cpunishment\u201d but as a sign of our desire to make amends.\u00a0 Then, the priest says the words of absolution and we are forgiven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know I haven\u2019t always gone to Reconciliation as much as I should.\u00a0 But I know now that I am in the habit of going often, I am very much aware that God does not just forgive my past sins in the sacrament but also strengthens me with the grace to resist future temptation.<\/p>\n
Jesus wants to forgive.\u00a0 Do you want to be forgiven?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is my homily for today. 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 Mark 2:1-12 February 19, 2012 Isaiah is speaking in the first reading to the people who have been held in exile for 50 years in Babylon.\u00a0 Israel had once a great nation.\u00a0 It was God …<\/p>\n
Continue reading ‘Do You Let Jesus Forgive You?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,11],"tags":[58,70,60],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-aT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":677,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}