Word for the Week: Being Whole
Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins... He said to the paralysed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home’.
Luke 5:23-24
Jesus sat teaching in a house packed out with very serious men, teachers of the law from far and wide as well as his disciples. Then through the roof above their heads a paralysed man was lowered down to lie at Jesus’ feet. A desperate man with determined friends, definitely not bothered with the serious teaching and discussion going on.
Jesus simply said to him, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’. A tense moment had become even tenser – the shock of blasphemy, a horrified intake of breath, silence, and all of them thinking, ‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And what was in the minds of the helpless man and his friends? Is that all they had come for, just forgiveness?
A friend of mine spent time on a ward at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, because someone else had fallen asleep at the wheel of a car. A number of the other young men on the ward had paralysed themselves, and killed or injured others, because they had been drunk, some while driving, others diving into swimming pools. Perhaps this paralysed man at Jesus’ feet faced the same kind of double anguish of remorse, regret and guilt about his own condition and that of others. What kind of healing did he need most?
Finding even the beginnings of forgiveness, peace of mind and conscience, can be far more crucial for our ‘health’, our wholeness and well-being, than having our various physical and social needs met. Jesus knew this damaged man's heart and his desperate need, as well as the hearts of those watching. So he demonstrated his authority for all to see and told him to get up and go home.
My friend has been going back to Stoke Mandeville for regular check-ups and physio for over thirty years now. He talks to the staff and to the other patients and tells them of Jesus, who can forgive and restore damaged lives to wholeness.
Sometimes we have to ask ourselves what kind of healing we, and others, need. And sometimes we need to seek out those who have hurt us to offer forgiveness so that they too can begin to find healing from the Lord who knows all and forgives all.
Margaret Killingray
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