by Jose Kurian Puliyeril

Gospel Reading: St. Mark 2: 1 – 12

As we all know on all Sundays of the Great Lent we are supposed to meditate on each miracle of our Lord. We started with the miracle at Cana where our Lord transformed water as good quality wine. On last Sunday we meditated on the blessing achieved by the leper. This Sunday we are obliged to meditate on the blessing granted by our Lord to the Palsy. We will have to realize these incidents/miracles as steps towards perfection of salvation than watching them as just miracles. The first miracle in this series is to be considered as our submission. The creation is to be submitted before the creator so that the creation would be viewed by the creator. When water was submitted before our God, there occurred transformation. We are expected to achieve such a transformation for our spirit and body in the beginning of the Lenten season itself. The second miracle in the series is the cleaning. The leper also longed for his cleaning. And the Lord God was indeed happy to clean him. Like wise, we also have to be cleaned from inside and outside. Let us submit ourselves before His mighty presence.

In today’s reading we learn about the healing obtained by the Palsy man, who was carried by four people to the presence of Lord Jesus. We might have heard many interpretations for this incident, like the four who carried the Palsy were hope, faith, love and prayer etc. The people who carried the Palsy did not get disappointed, when they realized that there was no way to bring the patient to the presence of Lord Jesus due to the crowd that had surrounded our Lord and the house where He sat. They were happy to climb up the roof of the house and do the needful. If we were in the place of the four people who carried the patient, we would have taken the patient back or might have left him somewhere, cursing the fate of the poor patient. They were good enough to undertake the troubles. There is no mention of the faith of the patient but the faith of the people is the core theme of the incident. It is the proof that our prayers for others with true faith would be answered by God Almighty. When our Lord uttered: “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” there occurred the transformation in the patient. Till that moment, he was not able to do what he required without the help and assistance of others. Spiritually we all are in such a condition and our Lord is ordering each and every one of us to arise from the deadly condition. Let us decide whether we do listen Him and react accordingly. Till this moment we might not have responded to Him positively. But it is the right time to respond to His call. Let us arise and move around to do His will. As soon as we might freedom from our immovable condition, we must leave away all the settings that forced us to remain immovable. That is why our Lord ordered the Palsy man to take his bed and to go in his way to his house. Like wise our Lord is asking each and every one of us to leave away our bed on which we were also bedridden or immovable.

On the first Sunday we all were supposed to submit ourselves to His disposal and on the last Sunday we were supposed to submit ourselves for His cleaning. This Sunday we are supposed to say bye to the conditions and circumstances that forced us to remain far aloof from God and our own brethren. Let us give heed to the divine call and absorb the needy transformations.

In the last verse of today’s reading, we find “And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.” Let us also glorify God Almighty, who showers His abundant blessings upon us continuously. Let us seek His continued blessings on us and all our dear and near ones.