The Faith Of The Paralytic's Friends

Written by Rev. Fr. Don Mendoza | 09 February 2012

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Green) Cycle B, Year II (February 19, 2012)
Is 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25/2Cor 1:18-22/Mk 2:1-12

THE FAITH OF THE PARALYTIC’S FRIENDS

When there is a medical/dental mission being held in a certain place, often times many people with health or teeth problems flock where the mission is. They know that such mission is a golden opportunity for them to be healed of their illnesses for free. Similar situation happened when Jesus went to Capernaum. People knew Jesus to be a Teacher, Healer and Miracle Worker. They then flocked where He was to ask for their cure. 

Among the multitude of those who were hoping for Jesus Christ’s cure was a paralyzed man. What was touching and astonishing was the action of his four friends. These men were carrying him to Jesus Christ. Since there were a lot of people that obstructed the entrance to the house where Jesus was, they opened the ceiling of the house and from there lowered the paralytic at the feet of Jesus Christ. Jesus was moved upon seeing the faith of the four friends of paralytic. He saw how these friends did everything in order to bring their paralyzed friend to Him and to get the needed healing. 

Jesus cured the paralytic but He did not cure him simply because the paralytic needed healing. Rather, Jesus cured him because He saw the faith of his friends. It was because of the ingenuity of these four friends that the paralytic was brought at the feet of Jesus Christ. It was because of the faith of the four friends that Jesus cured the paralytic and forgave his sins. 

The gospel for this Sunday teaches us the importance of having Christian friends. The real friends are not those who bring us to a place or situation where we will enjoy at the cost of our Christian faith. Rather, the real friends are those who bring us to a closer union with Jesus Christ even at the cost of our selfish enjoyment. The gospel then challenges us to review the kinds of friends that we have and treasure. We are called to choose and treasure only those friends that will bring us to Jesus because it is only with Jesus Christ that we can encounter the real healing, peace and happiness. 

The gospel also reminds us of the importance of the social dimension of our Christian faith. Our faith cannot remain private and individual. It must be expressed publicly and be shared with other people. This is the reason behind the existence of our Church. The Church is none other than the people who publicly and jointly express their faith in the One Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to give importance to our Catholic Church and to our prayer meetings, religious/faith organizations and liturgical activities under the supervision of our Catholic ministers. Faith has its social aspect and we only manifest such aspect when we join in the said ecclesial activities.

The importance of the Church and of the social dimension of our faith is that, like the paralytic, we may not be aware that we are so sick as not to be able to move and advance in our spiritual journey; but with the help of our Christian community, we can be carried by our Christian companions and be brought to the fullness of loving relationship with our Saviour. Indeed, no man is an island as the famous English poet John Donne once expressed. We will always need companions in our journey through earthly life, especially in our spiritual and faith journey. No matter what happens, let us then always have a strong bond with our Christian community and the Catholic Church so that we may always be one with Jesus Christ, the Head of our Church and our Saviour and Lord.