In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Imagine, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you no longer needed to pay mortgage or rent: this would be a significant saving in our lives. We would still have other expenses, other calls on our finances, but many of us may choose a different mode of living, have different priorities in our lives. Perhaps we would choose to change jobs, or work different hours, or to have a life with fewer worries and live a more content life. Imagine.
In our spiritual lives this has already been achieved. Christ has freed us from our enslavement, our debt to sin and to death, so that we may live a life of freedom. Yes, we must still work—we must repent of our sins, we must serve Christ by serving the least of his brethren (see Matthew 25:40)—but so long as we do these things we are on the path to Life. And we celebrate and we rejoice.
And yet this is self-centred, this is egotistical, this leads to sin because it focuses on me, on my needs, on my accomplishments and solely on my own salvation. I am as the Prodigal Son’s older brother (Luke 15:11–32), or the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14), looking out only for myself and my needs.
Four friends were good and upright according to the Law, yet they did not see this as an end in itself, they did not rejoice solely that they were freed from slavery. They prayed, not only for themselves but for another. And they carried him in their prayer to the Lord, to the roof and through the ceiling. And the Evangelist records for us an important detail.
And when Jesus saw [the friends’] faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
This is remarkable! The sins of one person are forgiven by the faithfulness of others. Because the four were not satisfied with their own health, their own salvation, but were concerned for another. And, paradoxically perhaps, their working on behalf of another assures them that they are on the path to Life.
And I am forced to consider my own life. I have been freed from a much greater debt than a mortgage or rent payments, I have been freed from sin and from death. And it is appropriate to rejoice, it is fitting to celebrate. But do I remain in that state, or do I look out for others I can bring before the Lord? Am I looking to carry my friends, my family, my neighbours—those who love me and those who hate me—to the Lord in my prayer and in my actions? Or do I remain content that I have found Life and leave them to struggle?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Apostle instructs us,
I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
First Timothy 2:1–6
for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,
who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Let us, therefore, bring before the Lord as many as we can in prayer that by our faithfulness they may come to know the one God and Father, “from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named,” (Ephesians 3:15) and be ransomed from the debt to sin and to death which hold them captive.
To our crucified and risen Saviour Jesus Christ, who has freed us from our debts and leads us to Life, be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning, Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end.” But to what angel has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet?” Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him.
— Hebrews 1:10–14, 2:1–3
At that time, Jesus entered Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak thus? It is a blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven, ‘ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-he said to the paralytic-“I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!
— Mark 2:1–12