THE PARALYTIC
Sermon by H.G Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, 12th March 2017
Today, we heard in the Holy Gospel about a miracle that Christ did. There was a paralytic man and he was carried by four friends of his to be brought to Christ. Because the house where Jesus was preaching was full, they climbed on the roof they destroyed part of the roof in order to be able to approach from the top, down to where Christ was.
When the Lord saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven” and as a proof that his sins were forgiven, He added: “Stand up, take your bed and start walking.” And so it happened. Some of the Jews who were there got scandalised thinking: “Who is he who has the power to forgive sins?”
What happened in this house is exactly what happens in our Church. Christ is there and He is preaching through the Holy Gospel. Christ was there and He was trying to get people closer to their salvation. Some had faith like the paralytic and his friends, and some were just there in order to criticise what was happening. But Jesus knew everything. He knew what was going on in their minds. That’s why when we go to Church we should make sure we go for the right reasons. We should go there for our own personal salvation and not to see what happens around us and judge everyone else. This cannot lead us to our salvation, but in the opposite direction.
When Christ saw their faith, He did not give to the paralytic what he asked for straight away. The paralytic was there for his health, for his recovery, but Jesus gave him what was the most important thing for him, his spiritual health. He told him that his sins were forgiven. Walking and healing the body was a proof that his soul was cured. But it was not the most important thing. The cure of the body was like a positive side effect of what Christ did to this person’s soul.
Sometimes when we suffer from illnesses it’s because we have done few things wrong in our lives. If we fix them, if we repent and fix the spiritual aspect, then Christ can safely remove the material part of our cross, the illness. If we don’t, God will allow for us to be humbled, unless we humble ourselves first. And that’s not because He wants to punish us. It’s because He loves us and He wants to save our souls. One way or another He wants our sins to be forgiven and for us to be able to enter His Heavenly Kingdom.
In the same way that Christ sensed the faith of these five friends, He also sensed the negative thoughts of those who criticized Jesus’s words: “Your sins are forgiven”. God can see deep in our hearts. We can’t hide the smallest thing from Him. He knows our thoughts and He also understands our prayers. Even if we do the minimum possible to help or pray for someone, it will not go to waste. It does count. We will receive our reward on time.
Another thing that I want to mention to you is that when Jesus says something, His words are not just words. His words are words and acts. This means, when He says to the paralytic: “get up and walk”, His words become actions. His words enabled the Paralytic to get up and walk. He could literally get up and walk. Likewise, when a priest says to a person: “your sins are forgiven”, your sins are literally forgiven and it’s Christ who does this and not the priest. When a priest says in a Sacrament: “this man is married to this woman”, then and there the husband is connected to his wife spiritually. This is what a sacrament is. God’s words are not just words. They are words and acts. We need to remember. If we don’t see miracles happening in our everyday lives, this is either because we are spiritually blind or because we don’t have the faith that the Gospel talks about today. The faith of the paralytic and his friends.
When we get the chance we should help others who are sick in their body and soul to go closer to Christ, the way the paralytic’s friends did for their friend. Then if are in his position with an illness, God will send us friends to support us too.
Having a faithful friend could even save us after death, believe it or not. I will give you an example about Elder Ephraim of Katounakia, Mt Athos, who passed away a few years ago. He was an ascetic and a Holy man. His spiritual father, his elder, when he passed away was not in a good place and Elder Ephraim prayed for him in a way that he only knew. He prayed for him very deeply and God forgave his spiritual father’s sins and Elder Ephraim saved his spiritual father, his elder, after his death. Likewise, our mother’s, our grandmother’s and our grandparent’s prayers are not wasted. The problem is what we will give to the next generation. Whether we will give them spiritual encouragement and support or we will give them material weapons for a spiritual disaster. Sometimes I wonder if with our actions, we carry our family and our loved ones towards Christ, or away from Him and unavoidably towards the devil. The devil can cure bodies too, can give us riches, glory and power, but he will also make our souls very very sick, ready for eternal death.
Our doubts in faith, our easy way of life, our material goals, our ideals and our wrong emotional attachments, are just a few of our actions and reactions which carry our loved ones away from themselves, and away from God, towards the devil. We pull our people apart like an octopus which has its eight tentacles pulled towards eight different directions. That’s why we can’t become whole, and we develop multiple split personalities.
Imagine there is a paralytic, just like the one in the Gospel story, and four people carrying him, but instead of carrying him to Christ, they pull his hands and feet apart, running towards the devil.
It might sound awkward or funny, it might sound scary, but unfortunately this is what we sometimes do to our loved ones, whether we realise it or not.
I will give you an example. If we encourage our children and our grandchildren to come to confession, this is like we are lifting them and carrying them towards Christ, just like the paralytic’s friends did for him and his sins were forgiven. But if we were to tell them: “you don’t need to tell your sins to the priest, God knows everything” and, that’s just to cover our own conscience, then it’s like we drag our kids from their hurt hands and feet away from Christ and we lead them towards the devil.
When the Lord saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven” and as a proof that his sins were forgiven, He added: “Stand up, take your bed and start walking.” And so it happened. Some of the Jews who were there got scandalised thinking: “Who is he who has the power to forgive sins?”
What happened in this house is exactly what happens in our Church. Christ is there and He is preaching through the Holy Gospel. Christ was there and He was trying to get people closer to their salvation. Some had faith like the paralytic and his friends, and some were just there in order to criticise what was happening. But Jesus knew everything. He knew what was going on in their minds. That’s why when we go to Church we should make sure we go for the right reasons. We should go there for our own personal salvation and not to see what happens around us and judge everyone else. This cannot lead us to our salvation, but in the opposite direction.
When Christ saw their faith, He did not give to the paralytic what he asked for straight away. The paralytic was there for his health, for his recovery, but Jesus gave him what was the most important thing for him, his spiritual health. He told him that his sins were forgiven. Walking and healing the body was a proof that his soul was cured. But it was not the most important thing. The cure of the body was like a positive side effect of what Christ did to this person’s soul.
Sometimes when we suffer from illnesses it’s because we have done few things wrong in our lives. If we fix them, if we repent and fix the spiritual aspect, then Christ can safely remove the material part of our cross, the illness. If we don’t, God will allow for us to be humbled, unless we humble ourselves first. And that’s not because He wants to punish us. It’s because He loves us and He wants to save our souls. One way or another He wants our sins to be forgiven and for us to be able to enter His Heavenly Kingdom.
In the same way that Christ sensed the faith of these five friends, He also sensed the negative thoughts of those who criticized Jesus’s words: “Your sins are forgiven”. God can see deep in our hearts. We can’t hide the smallest thing from Him. He knows our thoughts and He also understands our prayers. Even if we do the minimum possible to help or pray for someone, it will not go to waste. It does count. We will receive our reward on time.
Another thing that I want to mention to you is that when Jesus says something, His words are not just words. His words are words and acts. This means, when He says to the paralytic: “get up and walk”, His words become actions. His words enabled the Paralytic to get up and walk. He could literally get up and walk. Likewise, when a priest says to a person: “your sins are forgiven”, your sins are literally forgiven and it’s Christ who does this and not the priest. When a priest says in a Sacrament: “this man is married to this woman”, then and there the husband is connected to his wife spiritually. This is what a sacrament is. God’s words are not just words. They are words and acts. We need to remember. If we don’t see miracles happening in our everyday lives, this is either because we are spiritually blind or because we don’t have the faith that the Gospel talks about today. The faith of the paralytic and his friends.
When we get the chance we should help others who are sick in their body and soul to go closer to Christ, the way the paralytic’s friends did for their friend. Then if are in his position with an illness, God will send us friends to support us too.
Having a faithful friend could even save us after death, believe it or not. I will give you an example about Elder Ephraim of Katounakia, Mt Athos, who passed away a few years ago. He was an ascetic and a Holy man. His spiritual father, his elder, when he passed away was not in a good place and Elder Ephraim prayed for him in a way that he only knew. He prayed for him very deeply and God forgave his spiritual father’s sins and Elder Ephraim saved his spiritual father, his elder, after his death. Likewise, our mother’s, our grandmother’s and our grandparent’s prayers are not wasted. The problem is what we will give to the next generation. Whether we will give them spiritual encouragement and support or we will give them material weapons for a spiritual disaster. Sometimes I wonder if with our actions, we carry our family and our loved ones towards Christ, or away from Him and unavoidably towards the devil. The devil can cure bodies too, can give us riches, glory and power, but he will also make our souls very very sick, ready for eternal death.
Our doubts in faith, our easy way of life, our material goals, our ideals and our wrong emotional attachments, are just a few of our actions and reactions which carry our loved ones away from themselves, and away from God, towards the devil. We pull our people apart like an octopus which has its eight tentacles pulled towards eight different directions. That’s why we can’t become whole, and we develop multiple split personalities.
Imagine there is a paralytic, just like the one in the Gospel story, and four people carrying him, but instead of carrying him to Christ, they pull his hands and feet apart, running towards the devil.
It might sound awkward or funny, it might sound scary, but unfortunately this is what we sometimes do to our loved ones, whether we realise it or not.
I will give you an example. If we encourage our children and our grandchildren to come to confession, this is like we are lifting them and carrying them towards Christ, just like the paralytic’s friends did for him and his sins were forgiven. But if we were to tell them: “you don’t need to tell your sins to the priest, God knows everything” and, that’s just to cover our own conscience, then it’s like we drag our kids from their hurt hands and feet away from Christ and we lead them towards the devil.