Reading 1 Is 35:1-10
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
They will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.
A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
nor fools go astray on it.
No lion will be there,
nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.
It is for those with a journey to make,
and on it the redeemed will walk.
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
Gospel Lk 5:17-26
One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
“We have seen incredible things today.”
The Gospel of today narrates the story of how Jesus forgave a paralytic and eventually cured his paralysis.
This incident is a re-affirmation of the prophecy of the first reading from Isaiah 35:1-10. Isaiah tells us in a prophetic language that when the Messiah comes there will be great rejoicing, restoration, healing and a great manifestation of the power of God.
This is exactly what we see in the Gospel. Today’s Gospel gives us a lot to reflect on. However, I will want to look at the determination of the friends of the paralytic.
They brought the paralytic and finding no way to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they didn’t return home, they didn’t sit outside lamenting, they didn’t go and wait for another suitable opportunity.
They must find a way, they must surmount the challenge, this man must get to Jesus, they transcended their limitation, they did the unusual, they climbed the roof, open the roof, let him down through the tiles, position him just before the master Jesus. They were so sure that once Jesus sees him, he will no longer need his bed because he won’t remain the same. They were ready to do anything to get to Jesus even to the extent of risking a court charge of “breaking into someone’s apartment inappropriately,” they won’t mind paying fines and repairing the damage.
The faith and determination of his friend became the causative factors for his testimony.
One of our problems as Christians is that we lack determination, we lack courage, we easily get discouraged and we give up, the moment we encounter an obstacle in our plans and purposes, we go back, we give up, we are frustrated.
Zacchaeus experienced the mercy of Jesus because he didn’t allow his limitations to limit him, he found a way through.
The woman suffering from haemorrhage pushed through the crowd, she damned the consequences of her action.
Bartimaeus didn’t allow himself to be shouted down by the crowd.
Dear friends, one of the reasons, we are not growing spiritually, one of the reasons we don’t obtain what we desire, we can’t fulfil our resolution, one major factor why we have not obtained the virtue we long for and abandon the vices ruining our soul is that we give up too easily.
Today, we need Christians who will not go back because of the wall of Jericho, we need Christians who are firmly resolved to follow Jesus and live for him no matter the pressures and discouragements, we need people whose courage will be unfailing and whose determination will be firm and unchanging.
These are the ones who can change the world because they have the courage to change their lives.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Okami on Monday December 10. 2018