Courage, child

Today's Gospel (Matthew 9:1-8) is, and will always be, a favorite of mine. I have written about it before. And if you have yet to give Scripture a try in your life, let me just say, this is a good Gospel to begin with. Because each and every time I prayerfully read it, I always...ALWAYS...find new meaning and hear a new message, that without a doubt, is God's personal intention, just for me; his terrified, paralyzed and all too often disappointed daughter.

The words that have been impressed on my heart today? Courage, child....

People have brought their friend, a paralytic on a stretcher, to Jesus to be healed. These are the kind of friends we all need to pray for; Those who bring us to Jesus when we are too stuck to move ourselves. And my focus has always been on them...their faith...their strength...their love...their fierce determination to get this loved one where he needed to be, in the presence of God. Because really, how else will he get well?

But today, all I hear is Jesus is saying to the paralytic, "Courage, child...."

And I never thought about what this man?...child?....teen?...felt like. What his face must have looked like. Did he want his friends to take him to Jesus? Was he there against his will? Was he too ashamed, too afraid, too disappointed, too exhausted, too embarrassed, to even face Him?

For Jesus to begin with, "Courage", we can safely assume...he was afraid. The fear was written on his face. And Jesus saw this immediately. He was afraid to come to Him. And because our Father is good and kind and compassionate, He does something I would never have thought of doing...or of even needing to be done. He absolves him of his sins. Before the healing of his physical illness, he frees him from his spiritual paralysis.

And maybe this is why those in our lives who are paralyzed on their stretchers...those we keep trying to restrain and bring to someone who can once and for all cure them...maybe this is why the healing has yet to happen? Maybe it is not so much their physical illness we need to be praying for, but first and foremost, their spiritual decay. Maybe it is not that they do not not want to get well, but are simply too afraid to approach the Healer because their soul is so sick they are unable to move. I am not sure, but something tells me this is so. That the physical and spiritual go hand in hand. And that perhaps, facing Jesus with a broken arm is way easier than facing him with a laundry list of ways you have betrayed Him.

Either way, it is something good to think about. At least I think so. That for all of us...whatever piece of us is paralyzed...that the only way we can ever rise and walk is if we first seek forgiveness. For, if we desire our healing to be whole and complete, it makes sense to begin from the inside out. Then when we do, we too, will be able to pick up our stretcher and go home.