In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
Today's Gospel for the second Sunday of Lent,
also the commemoration of St. Gregory Palamas,
is taken from the second chapter of St. Mark's
Gospel. Just to put this event, which we have
heard about the... Curing of the paralyzed man
into perspective. In chapter 1, Jesus is baptized.
He calls Peter and Andrew and James and John.
He rebukes unclean spirits. He taught as one
who had authority. And he cures Peter's mother
-in -law and a leper. Now we get down in chapter
2. to the event which we have heard in today's
gospel, the healing of the paralyzed man. This
raises acutely the question of Jesus' identity.
Who is he? Who is this fellow who teaches with
authority? And especially in today's, who is
this person that thinks he can forgive sins?
Jesus knew what the scribes and Pharisees were
thinking and reasoning in their hearts. Jesus
had divine knowledge. Only God knows what goes
on in our heart and mind. The good and the bad
angels, they're pretty good guessers by our attitudes,
what we look at, how we talk, whatever. So they're
pretty good at figuring it out. Knowledge of
the heart. And so Jesus says to the people there,
after he says to the paralyzed man, your sins
are forgiven. Well, maybe people thought, well,
okay, what else? And he looks around, knows what's
in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees, and
he says, which is easier to do? To forgive sins?
or to say, rise up, take up your bed, and walk.
And so that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said
to the paralyzed man, rise, take up your bed,
and walk. This identifies who Jesus is, the Son
of Man, the Messiah, God incarnate. who has the
power to forgive sins, proven by the miracle
that he performs, the raising of the paralyzed
man. The people, this is a common theme in St.
Mark's Gospel. After almost all the miracles,
the people are astonished, they're amazed, and
they glorify God. All those miracles that Jesus
performed, In one of St. Augustine's sermons,
he poses a rhetorical question. What's the greatest
miracle that Jesus performed? Now, he does that
because his congregation in the year about 400
probably thought what many of us 1 ,600 years
later think. Why did all those miracles take
place with Jesus? And then in the Acts of the
Apostles, the apostles continued Jesus' ministry
of forgiving sins and performing miracles. And
the growth of the church was accompanied by extraordinary
events, prophesying, speaking in tongues, whatever
all of that meant. Prophesying, of course, is
interpreting scripture. That's a technical word.
for prophesying, not for telling the future.
And the people then were puzzled, undoubtedly,
because we raise that same question, too. Well,
why did Jesus did this in the first generation
of the church, these miracles took place, and
now, apparently, the miracles are less frequent
and much less obvious. So knowing this, St. Augustine
raises that question. What was the greatest miracle
that Jesus performed? Now let's have some congregational
participation. Who wants to pose an answer to
that question of St. Augustine's? What was the
greatest miracle that Jesus performed? Three
guesses. Come on, folks. Come on. Oh, yeah, that's
a common one, resurrection. Okay, giving sight
to the blind. You know, to me, I'd rather not
be able to walk or not be able to hear. Sometimes
for a married person, that's a blessing. That's
why God lets older people get a little hard of
hearing. But I think sight is the one sense that
I would really feel deprived of if I didn't have
that. So people give all kinds of answers. Normally
that one, the resurrection. But St. Augustine
says, uh -uh -uh. The real greatest miracle and
the clue is in this gospel passage. Augustine
says, the greatest miracle that Jesus performed
is the one that the church continues to perform
to our day. which is the forgiveness of people's
sins. That is the greatest miracle. By far better
than any physical cure is the spiritual cure
of those of us who are paralyzed, maybe not physically,
but paralyzed by sin. The forgiveness of sins.
In one of Jesus' post -resurrectional appearances,
as recorded in St. John's Gospel, Jesus appears
to his frightened disciples who are behind closed
and locked doors, and he breathes on them and
says, Receive the Holy Spirit, you know this
passage, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven,
and whose sins you retain, they are retained.
So that authority of Jesus, his divine authority
to forgive sins, was entrusted to his disciples
and to the church until his second coming. The
forgiveness of sins. And if you notice, just
about every one of our sacraments entails, in
one way or another, that common central theme
or idea. of the forgiveness of sins. Baptism
is obvious, forgiveness of sins. You know, the
Eucharist also, when the priest repeats Jesus'
words over the bread and the wine, take this,
all of you, and eat of it. This is my body, which
is broken for you, what? For the forgiveness
of sins. Drink ye all of this. This is the cup
of my blood of the new covenant. which is shed
for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
And then, of course, the sacraments of penance
and holy unction are very obvious. Penance, of
course, because it's directed precisely for the
forgiveness of sins after baptism. Holy unction
is also, we sometimes think of it primarily as
the anointing with oil. to bring about physical
healing. But if you look at the prayers, the
primary thing that's requested is the forgiveness
of sins. The forgiveness of sins is accomplished
through Jesus' grace in the church by the ministry
of the priesthood, which he entrusted to the
church. But St. Ambrose, Actually, he was a contemporary
of Augustine. Ambrose's preaching in Milan was
responsible for, by and large, for the conversion
of St. Augustine to Christianity. But St. Ambrose
reminds his congregation and reminds us also
1 ,600 years later. This is what he says. In
their ministry of the forgiveness of sins, do
not exercise this right of their own individual
power. Not in their name, but in the name of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do they forgive
sins. They ask, but God forgives. The gift comes
from the power on high. And this idea is expressed
very clearly in the prayers of absolution. I'm
sure you listen to them after you go to confession.
There are several different forms. The one that
I memorized as a young priest and the one I use
is a so -called later Russian prayer, which concludes,
And may our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ,
through his grace and love for mankind, forgive
you, my child, all your transgressions. And I,
an unworthy priest, through the power given unto
me by him, do forgive and absolve you of all
your sins. In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So St.
Mark's Gospel, as we see here, raises this question
of who Jesus is. Not just a miracle worker without
any particular focus or purpose, but a miracle
worker who brings about faith, or who strengthens
the faith of those present when he performs these
physical miracles. And this forgiveness of sins
he offers to us day by day, year by year, through
the sacraments of the Church. To him be glory
and honor forever and ever. Amen.