The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, February 22nd: Isaiah 43:18-25; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12)

JESUS HEALS BODY AND SOUL

In this week’s gospel reading Jesus was in a home in Capernaum, preaching to a huge crowd which had gathered at the house.

While Jesus preached, four men carried a paralytic man to the house, hoping that Jesus would heal him. But the crowd was too large and the men could not get inside.

So they climbed on top of the house and opened up a hole in the roof. (I’m not familiar with first century building codes, but it seems that opening the roof was not too difficult, nor as big a deal as it would be to rip open a hole in one of our 21st century American homes. On the other hand, maybe the four guys brought along some scaffolding, a generator, and power tools. I don’t know.)

They lowered the paralytic man, lying on a mat, down through the hole into the room where Jesus was teaching. What a sight that must have been. I wonder what the guy who owned the house had to say.

Jesus was thrilled to see how much they wanted to get near Him. Scripture says, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’”

The paralytic man came to Jesus looking for physical healing. But the first thing Jesus did was give him spiritual healing. This should tell us something about which is more important.

Even if a person is in perfect health right now, within a few decades his body will start to break down and eventually die. His soul, however, will live for all eternity. If a person’s soul is diseased with sin, it will result in…well, let’s just say eternity will be a very unpleasant experience.

To show that Jesus cares for both the body and the soul (and to show the skeptics that He had the authority to forgive sins), He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”

The man immediately got up, grabbed his mat, and walked away completely healed—physically as well as spiritually.

Imagine if something like this happened today. Actually, something like this could never happen today. If a person is ill and desperately wants to be healed nowadays (even if he has four friends willing to go to extraordinary measures to help), he can’t just barge into a doctor’s office or hospital. And he certainly can’t bust through the roof and have an instant audience with the physician. Instead of being thrilled, as Jesus was, the doctor would be horrified and have the men arrested.

To get medical treatment today, a mountain of paperwork first must be completed. Then overworked technicians have to run a battery of diagnostic tests. Next, accountants and bureaucrats and lawyers must squabble and haggle to determine what procedures are covered. Only then will the sick person be allowed to meet with a doctor—for maybe three minutes or so—if the corporate managers deem it necessary.

By then the person is fairly well dehumanized—nothing more than a case number on an insurance claim file being processed by the assembly line of the Medical-Industrial Complex. (By the way, government-run universal health care is sure to make things worse. If you want to know what socialized medicine will be like, think: Motor Vehicle Dept. employees with stethoscopes. To quote P.J. O’Rourke, “If you think health care is expensive now, just wait till it’s free.”)

Modern society has developed remarkable techniques for treating physical ailments. But in the process, spiritual considerations are all but ignored—to the point that a journey through the maze of modern medicine can leave a person emotionally devastated. (What’s the number one complaint about the health care industry? The cost? The complexity? The out-of-date magazines in the waiting room? Those paper gowns that leave your butt hanging out? Nope, the most frequent complaint is the lack of compassion and poor bedside manner of health care providers. When you are treated like a broken-down car in an autobody shop, it has an impact on your spirit.)

It is critical that we turn to Jesus for spiritual healing. He has the power to forgive sins and heal our diseased souls. When our souls are healthy, we are better able to deal with physical trials and tribulations—including the trial and tribulation of being treated by the modern health care industry.

We know the paralytic man was healed both physically and spiritually by Jesus. But what if he had been given a choice: one or the other. What do you think would have been the wise decision? A few years of being able to walk around, or 2,000 years (and counting) of spiritual peace and joy in Heaven?

The choice is obvious. It is the same choice we face today. Are we focusing our energies on this fleeting, natural world, which is slipping through our fingers like sand through a sieve? Or are we focusing our energies on the heavenly, eternal world?

Jesus commanded us: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy….But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven….For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Speaking of treasures, in recent months many people who thought they were storing up sizable earthly treasures have opened their quarterly retirement fund statements and been shocked to discover that their treasure has been destroyed, not by moth and rust, but rather by greed and financial market manipulators run amuck.

This might be a very good time for some folks to realize that earthly health and wealth are fine, but they are nothing compared to spiritual health and wealth. Putting one’s faith in Christ and receiving the gift of eternal salvation can take the sting out of failed investment plans. And it also can lower one’s blood pressure and delay the need for a painful dose of modern medicine.

Make an appointment with Dr. Jesus. He has the cure for both body and soul.

©2009