7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Is 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25; 2 Cor 1:18-22; Mk 2:1-12

Four people carried a paralytic and brought him to Jesus. When the Lord noticed their great faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Upon hearing this, some teachers of the Law reacted strongly, saying, “He has no respect for God, because who can forgive sins except God?” (Mk 2:4-7).

The reaction of the Pharisees was understandable because at this point, neither they nor the other people have understood that Jesus is the true Son of God. Jesus is the complete fulfillment of God’s promise of a savior. As Saint Paul in the second reading says to the Corinthians, Jesus is the total “Yes” of God and there will be no other (1:20).

The first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah gives us a picture of an all-forgiving God. “I am He who blots out your offenses and remembers your sins no more” (43:25). The people of Israel were ungrateful to Yahweh. They have stopped worshipping God and have burdened Him with their sins. And yet, Yahweh kept declaring His love to them.

In Jesus, the paralytic also experienced the unconditional love and mercy of God. The paralytic never acted or said anything. Maybe he just consented to the pleadings of his friends to go to Jesus. But he was no sooner in the presence of the Lord when Jesus looked at him and assured him that he is forgiven. In the midst of so many people, the man received from the Lord total healing of his physical and spiritual self.

Some of us may not feel comfortable with the idea of an all-forgiving God. In fact, I have met people who cannot accept readily God’s great compassion for the sinner. And yet, “rich in mercy” really is part of the nature of God that we come to know in Jesus.

Once there was a very old man who used to meditate early every morning under a large tree on the bank of the Ganges River in India. One morning, having finished his meditation, the old man opened his eyes and saw a scorpion floating helplessly in the strong current of the river. As the scorpion was pulled closer to the tree, it got caught in the long roots that branched out far into the river. The scorpion struggled frantically to free itself but got more entangled in the complex network of the tree roots.

When the old man saw this, he immediately stretched himself into the extended roots and reached out to rescue the drowning scorpion. But as soon as he touched it, the animal jerked and stung him widely. Instinctively, the old man withdrew his hand, but then, after having regained his balance, he once again stretched himself out along the roots to save the agonized scorpion. But every time the old man came within reach, the scorpion stung him so badly with its poisonous tail that his hands became swollen and bloody and his face distorted by pain.

At that moment, a passer-by saw the old man stretched out on the roots struggling with the scorpion and shouted: “Hey, stupid old man. What is wrong with you? Only a fool risks his life for such an ugly, useless creature. Don’t you know that you may kill yourself to save that ungrateful animal?”

Slowly, the old man turned his head, and looking calmly at the stranger’s eyes, he said: “Friend, because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, why should I give up my own nature to save?”

(The story is from an unknown author)