St. Mark 2:1-12 (3/23) Gospel for the Sunday of Gregory Palamas: the 2nd of Great Lent
Revelation Concerning Healing: St. Mark 2:1-12, especially vss. 10, 11: “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’ - He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’” When the Lord Jesus came to Capernaum, “immediately many gathered together” (vs. 2). Despite the press of the crowd, the friends of a paralyzed man brought him to Jesus for healing (vs. 3-4). Our Lord responded to the faith of these friends and spoke to the paralytic about his primary problem - his need for forgiveness (vs. 5). However, Jesus was aware of the “reasoning” of the scribes, “in their hearts” (vs. 6). These theologians believed “this Man,” Jesus, was blaspheming by forgiving sins (vs. 7). How ironic! They were correct in saying that the authority and power to forgive are vested in God alone.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus addressed their spiritual resistance and declared that “the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mk. 2:10). As Blessed Theophylact notes, “by healing the body, the Lord makes credible and certain the healing of the soul as well, confirming the invisible by means of the visible.” Do you see? The healing occurred in a believing community gathered to the Lord. The friends’ faith was more important than paralytic’s.
The scene in Capernaum has, in fact, the appearance of the Church. Christ the Lord is in “the house” (vs. 1). People learn that He is there, and gather together. He preaches to them (vs. 2). Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us that the first and often overlooked action of the Liturgy is the gathering of the Faithful, what he calls the “Sacrament of the Assembly:” “When I say that I am going to Church, it means I am going into the assembly of the Faithful in order, together with them, to constitute the Church, in order to be what I became on the day of my Baptism - a member, in the fullest, absolute meaning of the term, of the Body of Christ.” The full expression of the Church’s gifts, including every sort of spiritual and physical healing, is most appropriate and likely in the context of the Church gathered around her Lord. Church - the Assembly of the Faithful - is the locus for anticipating Christ “Who is gracious unto all thine iniquities, Who healest all thine infirmities, Who redeemeth thy life from corruption, Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion” (Ps. 102:3,4 LXX).
Second, notice that the paralytic man was passive, not merely because of his physical need to be carried (Mk. 2:3). There was more. The man never said a word. He did nothing until he was directed to “... arise, take up your bed and go to your house” (vs. 11). Then he acted, but still without a word. It was not his faith to which the Lord responded, but rather the faith of those who brought him (vs. 5). Healing requires the faith of the Church more than the faith of a single individual. The system of Godparents, for example, is founded on this principle, which is especially evidenced with infants. The Orthodox anointing service, most often seen on Great and Holy Wednesday Evening, requires the reading of seven gospels by seven priests. The number seven expresses this same reality of the wholeness of the Church gathered in faith with her Lord.
Finally, this lesson reveals that all healing - physical and spiritual - takes its source from Christ. The scribes had the right point but with wrong reasoning (vs. 7). The Lord agreed with their assertion, but simultaneously fixed the authoritative power to heal in Himself: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He commanded the man to rise and walk (vs. 10). The poor scribes! The Lord revealed their innermost thoughts, healed the man’s body, and still they were not healed of delusion; still they could not receive their Savior.
O Master, Lord our God, raise us up from our sickness through the mercy of Thy goodness, that we who share in Thine inexpressible love toward mankind may sing Thy praises.
