Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
Today we have a grammar lesson on the divine passive. The divine passive is nothing to be alarmed about. It does not mean that God is passive about us. The divine passive is the use of the passive voice to refer to actions of God. It is a way a attributing something to God without using God’s name. “It’s raining” can be a statement of fact, but it can also be a way of praising God for the rain.
Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven. This does say that Jesus forgave the sins; it could be a statement of fact that the sins were forgiven already or that God has forgiven the sins. It does not say directly that Jesus forgave he sins.
In the discussion that followed, however, Jesus did say that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins. To prove this, Jesus simply told the man to pick up his mat and go home. We can infer from this that since Jesus could heal the body, he could also give freedom to the man ‘s spirit.
Now, it we are reading Mark’s Gospel as people who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then we are reading in order to find out how Jesus is God among us. The how is explained by following the story of Jesus as he preached, taught, healed, and went about his daily routines.
Further, if we also accept the fact that we are adopted (the use of the divine passive that God has adopted us), then we show how this is meant to work in us by doing the things that Jesus did. Our presence can be a healing presence, our words can be forgiving words, and our interactions with others can be patient and loving conversations.