At a Crossroad

Gospel: Matthew 9: 1-8

Jesus crosses the sea, an indication that what is to come will be a transformative event that leads the reader to a great challenge.  People bring him a paralytic, at which point Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven.  This announcement leads some religious leaders to assert that Jesus blasphemes with such a statement.  Who but God has power to forgive sins?  But this is exactly what Jesus tells the man: God has forgiven your sins.  

Jesus then asks them, and us, a challenging question: which is easier to do - announce to someone that God has forgiven their sins, or to heal a man with paralysis?  Do we find it easy to forgive other people?  Very often we do not, and yet this is something that is within everyone's power to do.  Very few, if any of us, have the ability to heal someone of paralysis, and yet we somehow would rather give that a try rather than forgive another person.  

God has forgiven our sins as well, and in so doing asserts that we are now free of our paralysis in showing mercy to others.  If God has forgiven us of our sins, we then must forgive others.  Each and every one of us is given this ability.  We may find it difficult.  We think we are paralyzed and unable to do so, but that paralysis is of our own creation now.  God has forgiven our sins.  We have no excuse not to forgive others and free them and ourselves from the cycle of sin.  Today is a day to reflect on this transformative crossroad and how we might respond to the invitation of Jesus to the ministry of reconciliation.