DGeMs- Daily Gospel eMessage
Dear Friend in the Lord,
Faith – Anger: In today’s Gospel, Jesus cured and forgave the sins of the paralytic. However, the Pharisee and scribes were angry at Jesus for doing so. Ponder on, “Is our faith in Jesus deep and committed, or is our faith superficial, reactive and angry towards people and situations that do not do or go the way we want?
Fr Philip Heng, S.J.
Matthew 3:1-6, 11
Jesus was teaching one day, and Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem, were sitting there. Then some men appeared, bringing on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. But as they could find no way of getting the man through the crowd, they went up onto the top of the house and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’
The scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over. ‘Who is this man, talking blasphemy? Who but God alone can forgive sins?’ But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply, ‘Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralysed man – ‘I order you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ And immediately before their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God.