Second Sunday of Great Lent - 2020 Fr. James Jorgenson

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.