(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
The prophets often spoke of God’s changing the desert into fertile land, of flowers growing in what once was arid, dry and parched earth. They also spoke of the blind seeing and the deaf hearing. They spoke of things seemingly impossible really happening in the future when God would come to save us. Did they even have a clue that God would forgive sins?
Then Jesus came on the scene. His message was simple: “Words are words. I can just as easily forgive sins as I can make a paralyzed person stand up and walk. If I can do the one, I can also do the other.”
This is an interesting point Jesus makes, that words are only words. With words God created the universe, including people. With words, Jesus can remake creation, undo paralysis, bring back to life and forgive sins. It is all as easy as speaking words. Yet, it is in these words that we recognize God among us.
The reaction in the gospel was swift. The accusation of blasphemy was made because only God could utter a creative, or a re-creative, word. The re-creative reply of Jesus proved his point. The astonishment of the people followed as they glorified God.
The God of nature is the God who creates and never leaves creation. The God of nature is the God of healing and wholeness. There would have been no wholeness in the man with the paralysis unless he received the forgiveness of sins at the same time. The restoration of the paralysis was a symbol of the restoration to complete wholeness of body, mind and spirit.
Jesus acknowledged the connection between physical sickness and spiritual sickness. We likewise recognize the connection between matter and spirit. This is the basis for what we call sacraments. In the sacraments, through things physical, actions and words, Jesus gives healing and powerful grace to our inner person.
We recognize in the words and action of Jesus in the Bible, the presence of God among us. We must also recognize the presence of God in the whole of creation. We are supposed to see, in human created nature and in all nature, God’s presence among us because Jesus took on our human created nature.
Advent challenges us to find Jesus and God in the people around us and in the world around us. It also challenges us to bring the presence of Jesus and God to those around us.