“My child, God is not angry with you”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, LA

February 19, 2012

The Lord Jesus had completed the tour of the Synagogues and thereafter returned to Capernaum. Shortly after his arrival, news of his homecoming spread around. In no time, a crowd of people had filled the house to capacity and all were attentively listening to the wisdom and liberating words that were coming out from Jesus’ mouth.  The gospel says “Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door.” 

As Jesus was preaching, four men came carrying on a stretcher a friend of theirs who was paralyzed. They tried to gain entrance through the front door, but there was no space. They tried the back door, but it was nearly impossible to go through it. They tried the side doors, but they could get through the crowd at all. With all the entrances blocked by people who came to listen to Jesus, these four men devised a desperate means of reaching Jesus. They refused to turn back. They were men of resource. Instead of turning back, they turned upwards. Climbing the roof of the house, they opened up the roof above him and lowered the paralyzed man right in front of Jesus. When the Lord saw their faith, a perfect faith, a faith that is never discouraged by any obstacle, he was thrilled. When Jesus saw their faith, a perfect faith, the kind of faith that laughs at barriers, he was flabbergasted; and he must have said, “What a faith! What a perfect faith!” Surely, the action of these four men was a distraction and an interruption. Remember, Jesus was preaching. But typical of Jesus, he compassionately looked at the paralyzed man and said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

You know, the expression “your sins are forgiven” seems an odd way to begin a cure. But then in the time of Jesus, it was important to emphasize that because the Jews linked sin and suffering. They argued that if a person is suffering he or she must have sinned. Remember Job. His friends accused him of wrongdoing hence his suffering. The Rabbis had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.” To this day, there are still many people who attribute suffering to sin. If someone is suffering it means that he or she must have sinned. In Nigeria, if a woman is not able to conceive immediately after marriage, she is accused of wrongdoing: “Yes, she must have committed several abortions when she was single, and now God is punishing her;” or “She is a witch, she is eating up her babies;” or “She is married in the marine world and have given several births there, that is why she cannot conceive here.” And when a man is not doing well in life, the hardship is most times attributed to either what he has done wrongly or what his parents or grandparents had done in the past. So, from the time of Jesus to this day, suffering continues to be linked to sin.  

To the Jews, a sick person was someone that God is angry with because he or she had sinned. Now, it is true that some illnesses are due to sin, but not all illnesses and sufferings are due to the sin of the sufferer. It may be due to the sin of others. It is also true that not all illnesses and sufferings are as a result of one’s wrongdoing. But the man in today’s gospel’s story may have been paralyzed because consciously or unconsciously his conscience agreed that he was a sinner, and the thought of being a sinner brought the illness to him which he believed was the inevitable consequence of sin. But Jesus intervened. 

When his friends lowered him from the roof right in front of Jesus, the Lord saw a man paralyzed not only by his sin but also the thought of being punished by God. It is one thing to sin, and another thing to think that God will not show mercy. What may have paralyzed this man may not be the sin he had committed, but the thought of God being angry with him. And in the Jewish society of Jesus’ time, the anger of God brought the wrath of God. The thought of God being angry with someone is enough to cause paralysis. When Jesus saw the paralyzed man, he also knew the thought of his heart. So, the first thing he said to him was “Child, God is not angry with you. It’s all right now.” On hearing that, the burden of the terror of God was removed from his soul and he was completely healed. 

If there is anyone out there who thinks that God is punishing you due to sin, Jesus says to you today, “My child, God is not angry with you.” If you are carrying a burden of guilt thinking that God will never forgive you, Jesus says to you today, “My child, God is not angry with you.” I have met some persons who said to me, “Father Marcel, I think God is angry with me.” To those thinking that way, Jesus says to you all, “God is not angry with you.” Our good God may be disappointed with some of our actions, but he is never angry with us. Anger is a weakness. But God is an absolute perfect being. Psalm 145: 8 says, “The Lord  is merciful and compassionate, never angry and filled with unfailing love.”