(Matthew 9:1-8)

In the Gospel reading for today we hear the account of the healing of the paralytic. Our Lord Jesus Christ had just returned to Capernaum from the country of the Gergesenes, where he had healed the men possessed by demons. A small crowd awaited Him upon His return and brought to Him this man who was sick and paralyzed by his illness. This sick man’s friends cared for him and had faith that Jesus Christ could heal him. It is interesting and important to note that the Gospel indicates that when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven thee’. Whose faith was Christ responding to? Our Lord was recognizing and honoring the faith not just of the man who was sick, but primarily of those who loved him and brought him before the Lord. Their faith mattered… God recognized and responded to the love and faith of those who brought the sick man before Him.

This is an incredibly important lesson for us! It is sometimes the case that we get discouraged in our spiritual life: what does it matter if I fast, if I skip my prayers, if I miss Divine Services at Church? This is all just so hard and does my faith even really matter?

Well, as today’s Gospel reading helps to illustrate… yes, your faith does matter! Your faith has implications and influence upon the rest of the world. Our Lord healed the paralytic in response to the love and faith of those friends who brought him before the Lord.

There is much that is sick and paralyzed in today’s world. The love of many has grown cold. What can we do about it? We can bring our cares for our loved ones and our concerns for the sickness and paralysis of the world before the Lord. We must do so with a soul aflame with love and faith. The Lord sees the faith of those who bring their cares before him and He responds with His grace to heal.

It is important for us to recognize this connectedness of all things. Do we see trouble in the world? Do we see the love of many growing cold? Do we see, as Archimandrite Gerasim of Alaska called it, ‘the love of God evaporating from this earth’? If we see these things, and if we are concerned about them… then let us not wring our hands in despair, let us not harden our heart in bitterness about the way things are going… Let us take a lesson from the Gospel – when the people brought their concern before the Lord, He saw their faith, and He responded with compassion.

This, brothers and sisters in Christ, must be our response to the cares and concerns before us. Let us bring them before the Lord that He might see our faith and respond accordingly.

Now let us examine another important lesson from today’s Gospel…

What was Christ’s immediate response to the faith of those who brought the sick man before him? The Gospel indicates that when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven thee’. This response was surprising to everyone gathered there – the paralytic and his friends were surely hoping to receive healing from his physical illness, and the Jewish Scribes who were present responded with shock and anger, accusing our Lord of blasphemy that He would dare to pronounce forgiveness of sins. Our Lord, throughout His ministry, emphasized the spiritual realm before the physical realm and He does so here as well – healing the man’s spiritual infirmities as a prerequisite and higher priority to the healing of his physical infirmities.

When we call upon the Lord in faith to heal us, to heal our loved ones, to heal whatever may be troubling us in this world – we have to do so with humility and with trust.

We must have humility and recognize that our perspective on things is very, very limited. We can only understand what is in front of us, what we are experiencing in the moment. As Apostle Paul says, ‘For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.’ We do not have the timeless, omniscient perspective of God… but God does have this all-knowing perspective!

And this is why it is important for us to trust Him. God does see the bigger picture and God does know what is best for our salvation and for the salvation of each of His beloved children.

In the case of the paralytic brought before the Lord in today’s Gospel… Christ’s primary concern was for the salvation of this man’s soul. And through the faith and intercession of his friends, and through the faith of the paralytic himself, our Lord pronounced his forgiveness. And perhaps this may have been the extent of the healing offered to this man. His spiritual infirmities were cleansed, and it might have been that he would remain paralyzed. If this is what would best facilitate the man’s salvation, this could have been the end of the story. But Christ also told the man to take up his bed and walk… providing the physical healing as well. God knew what was best and what was necessary.

We all have situations like this… We may have a loved one who is sick or paralyzed by troubles in some way, and we call upon the Lord with faith that this person would be healed. Sometimes the Lord may indeed intervene and tell our dear one to take up their bed and walk… healing their infirmities. These miracles are tremendous and fill us with joy and gratitude to God. But sometimes the Lord may not heal the physical infirmities of those we pray for… and in these cases our faith is sometimes challenged. We need to be careful about this and remember the twin ingredients of humility and trust in God.

God, in His care and love for mankind, is primarily concerned for our eternal salvation and the healing of our soul. It may be that this sickness, this paralysis, these troubles that we are experiencing can be toward the salvation of our soul. In all cases, God will do the right thing – facilitating the conditions that are right for the salvation of each individual soul. We have to trust Him and we have to have the humility to realize that we don’t know and we cannot see what is best.

Yes, we should pray, and we should pray fervently, for the physical healing of those who are sick… we should pray for the betterment of things in this world for those who are suffering, in sorrow, in pain. This is our Christian duty and the call of our Christian heart!

But the underlying theme of our prayer must be those four most powerful and significant and difficult words given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: ‘Thy will be done.’ We say this not in defeat, but in love – knowing that our faith and our prayer truly do matter, and trusting in faith that God’s will is the very best that any of us can ever dream of or hope for… that God’s will facilitates paradise and salvation for each and every person… for God loves us with His perfect love.