Isaiah 35:1 –10,
Psalm 85:9ab and 10. 11 -12.13-1,
Luke 5:17-26 Full Readings
Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone?
Indeed, who can forgive sins but God alone? This was a complaining and a criticizing question asked by the Scribes and the Pharisees after Jesus had healed a paralytic man, who was brought to him by his friends through the roof of the house because the crowd was too much, and they could not access Jesus apart from removing the roof and bringing him down to Jesus. These scholars of the law knew the Bible, and indeed they were right in saying that it is God alone that forgives sins and to see the man standing before them claim to do just this must have been stunning. Where they missed a point was in their failure to recognize that the man amidst them was God, his only begotten Son who has the power over everything including the power to forgive sins.
To forgive is almost God’s chief prerogative. This is the meaning of his sacred Name, too holy and too intimate to be pronounced, revealed to Moses in Exodus 34 as ‘God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy, forgiving fault, crime and sin.’ This is the same God coming to save his us people as Isaiah puts it clearly in the first reading and as the psalm proclaims it. Isaiah is encouraging the Israelites and encourages us today that God is coming to heal us. We should therefore be consoled and encouraged because the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy. This is a message we need to hear always so that we shall not break out perseverance in waiting for the time of God.
Advent is the time to prepare for this wonderful peace brough by the coming Messiah. One of the ways is to repent and ask for forgiveness from God, the only one who can forgive sins, so that when His Son comes in glory, he finds us with clean hearts and authentic Christian life worthy to receive eternal salvation and happiness.
God forgives sins through his Son and his Son Jesus forgave the sins of everyone who came to him with authentic faith and contrite heart. The ultimate act of forgiving our sins is by dying for us on the cross so that everyone can receive salvation. God saves his people by forgiving their sins and returning the original harmony between Him and His people. What the forgiveness that God gives through his Son does can be clearly seen in today's gospel. His forgiveness not only gives spiritual freedom but also heals us spiritually. That is why those who came to Jesus for physical healing were first healed spiritually by forgiving their sins and then physical healing came automatically. This is the power of God's forgiveness.
Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD) explains why Jesus first forgave the sins of the paralytic before he told him to pick up his stretcher and go home. "When the Savior says to him, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you,' he addresses this to humankind in general. For those who believe in him, being healed of the diseases of the soul, will receive forgiveness of the sins which they formerly committed. He may also mean this: 'I must heal your soul before I heal your body. If this is not done, by obtaining strength to walk, you will only sin more. Even though you have not asked for this, I as God see the maladies of the soul which brought on you this disease.'"(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12).
The prophets had foretold that when the Messiah came to usher in God's kingdom in the physical way: the blind would see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk (Isaiah 35:5-6). Jesus not only brought physical healing, but healing of mind, heart, and soul as well. Jesus came to bring us the abundant life of God's kingdom (John 10:10). But that new life and transformation can be stifled by unbelief, indifference, and sinful pride. Sin cripples us far more than any physical ailment can. Sin is the work of the kingdom of darkness, and it holds us in eternal bondage. There is only one solution and that is the healing, cleansing power of Jesus' forgiveness.
Therefore brethren, as we await the coming of Christ, sin must be driven away from our lives by asking the forgiveness of God in order to make our hearts and lives clean for Jesus to be born in us. Are you humble enough to approach God with a contrite heart so that you can receive his healing forgiveness, or you are stuck in your sinful pride? This advent is the time of transformation.
Let us Pray
Lord, you alone can forgive sins. Through your merciful love and forgiveness, you bring healing and restoration to body, soul, and mind. May your healing power and love touch every area of my life - my innermost thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and memories. Pardon my offenses and transform me in the power of your Holy Spirit that I may walk confidently in your truth and righteousness. Amen
Be blessed
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