7th B, February 19, 2012

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, B

Jesus is back at his adult home town of Capernaum. There he does what he has been doing for quite some time now. Jesus heals a man who is stricken with a terrible infirmity. And even more importantly, Jesus also forgives the man his sins. It may seem like just another of Jesus’ amazing healings of body and spirit. But it is not the same. It is quite different. For, in this healing, it was not the ailing man who came to Jesus; it was, instead his friends, who brought him to Jesus. The gift of healing came to the man, not through his own actions, but through those of his friends.

Nowhere in the scriptures is the evidence stronger than in this gospel today. We are responsible for helping our brothers and sisters on their road to salvation. The paralytic man could not have been healed without the effort of his friends. His sins would not have been forgiven unless others helped him to get to Jesus.

It is no different for any of us. We may think our salvation is all about our own efforts on our own behalf. But it is not. Our salvation comes through our working together as a people of faith, helping each other when we cannot help ourselves. That is why we gather at least once a week as the family of God, united in prayer and worship. We need each other in order to achieve the salvation that comes through our baptisms. Some may think that they can remain outside of the church community and pray alone, feeling that their salvation is based on a private relationship with God. They may think, incorrectly, that they can pray to God and ignore those about them. But that is not what God intended. We save ourselves by saving others.

Our saving relationship with God is a relationship with the Body of Christ, the communion of all the children of God, working together for the good of all. Building up the Body of Christ on earth is the way we join ourselves to that Body, and so inherit eternal salvation.

The reason why we celebrate the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and marriage within the gathered community and not in private is for this very reason. People are not celebrating a relationship between themselves and a distant God in the heavens. People who celebrate the sacraments are joining themselves to the Body of Christ on earth and so they come into the assembly of that Body so that others may see them experience their faith and, in so doing, reach out to be there to help them when they may be stumbling in their faith. We have to be like the men in the gospel who carried their friend when he could not walk.

That means that we, like the four men in the gospel story, must seek out those in need of healing, and those who cannot come to Jesus by themselves. We all know such people. There are the smug people who think they do not need Christ, or anyone else. There are the lonely people who have noone to reach out to them. There are the angry people who don’t trust anyone. And there are so many more who, for whatever reason, need help in order to come to Jesus.

We have many people in our parish who are like the four friends in the gospel. We see some of them each weekend. They are the ones who go out of their way to bring to church someone who cannot drive, who is infirmed or in a nursing home. There are the Eucharistic ministers to the sick and homebound who are unable to come and pray with us. So they take our prayers and love, and the gift of the Eucharist, to them. They too are bringing their friends to Jesus.

There are so many more here. There are the sponsors for those who will be confirmed, the sponsors for those in the RCIA program, baptismal godparents, and others who walk with those who are not yet able to walk alone the journey of faith. And our religious education teachers are another group of people who are bringing their students to the experience of Jesus. Through their sharing of knowledge and faith, these students come to experience Jesus and, in turn, learn to share Jesus with others too.

What about you? Have I mentioned the way you bring a friend to Jesus? Do you bring someone to church? Are you a Eucharistic minister to the homebound? Are you walking with someone on their faith journey? Are you sharing your knowledge and faith with someone? If not, why not use these days before the season of Lent begins (It is only a week-and-a-half away.), look about you and find the friend who cannot get to Jesus for healing, and then make it your Lenten resolution that you will be the friend who helps this person experience the healing love of Jesus? It is not such a difficult thing to do, and you may just find yourself face-tp-face with Jesus, just as the four friends did in the gospel story.

One final thought. Maybe you are not the one who can help someone else come to experience Jesus’ healing forgiveness. Maybe you are the one who needs help from your friends. Maybe you are sitting there thinking how much you want to hear Jesus say to you, "Child, your sins are forgiven" [Mark 2:5b]. Is there no one to help you here? Can you muster the courage to ask a friend for help? I know you are here with us this morning, but I don’t know who you are.

Let us pray in this Mass that someone will reach out to the ones who cannot ask for help. Let us pray for those who are afraid to offer help to their friends in need.