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In the
climactic scene of a recent rerun of the drama series Law and Order,
the mother of a teenage boy who had been brutally murdered by a couple
of unrepentant thugs tells the judge how much she has tried to hate her
son’s murderers. But, as mightily as she tired to hate them, the mother
said, she just couldn’t. Even in the midst of her tragedy and loss, the
love of God and neighbor present in this woman’s soul made it impossible
for her to hate. Instead, and despite her gut reaction, the mother told
the judge she felt profound pity for her son’s murderers.
Upon hearing this
testimony, the people gathered in the courtroom were aghast.
The mother’s words stunned them. The people wanted “revenge” not
“justice” and were sure that the mother’s testimony would get it.
However, their desire, animated not by love of God and neighbor but by
animal instinct, rendered the people in the courtroom paralyzed—they
were lame—because, after the mother concluded her testimony, no one
would stand by this woman who, even in her grief, wouldn’t allow her
desire for revenge to quench the love of God and neighbor present in her
soul. Echoing Jesus’ words, this mother was willing to love her enemies
and to pray for them because love not hate filled her soul.
Although that
rerun was entirely fictional, if we stop for a moment
to think about it, forgiveness isn’t a natural response. Typically, we
don’t feel forgiveness in our gut after we’ve been wronged.
That’s because forgiveness is a supernatural response, one giving
expression to the love of God and neighbor that is present in our souls. As the philosopher Hanna
Arendt wrote in The Human Condition, forgiveness is “the one
miracle each human being can effect.” She further says, “Forgiveness is
the miracle that can move mountains” or, I would add, warm the love that has
grown stone cold or become hate.
Recognize what
Jesus said first in today’s gospel: “Your sins are forgiven.” It was
only then that Jesus said: “Stand up and walk.” We cannot respond physically with the love of God and neighbor if our souls are not filled
with the love of God and neighbor. Because of this, spiritual healing
necessarily precedes physical healing.
So, let’s
consider, for a moment, this relationship between our soul and
body—between our spiritual and physical health—as children of God.
How many times
have we awakened during the night, feeling worried, anxious, or stressed
out over things we’ve done to others or ruminating about what others
have done to us? Spiritually, our souls are filled with a malignancy
and since our souls are not healthy, the physical effect is that we
cannot sleep. In turn, we become weary and grow increasingly
susceptible to disease. All the while, however, our debilitation is a
consequence of our stubborn refusal to extend forgiveness or to ask for
it.
Or, how many
times, as kids, have we lied to our parents, or, as spouses, lied to one
another, only to find ourselves feeling alienated and with a knot in our
stomach, or developing a stomach ache simply because we live in fear
that our deceit will be discovered? Spiritually, as darkness floods
into our soul, we don’t feel right or act naturally. We deny our sin
and grow blind to the truth. But, since our soul isn’t healthy, all of our worry, anxiety, and stress transform into feelings
of shame and guilt that progress beyond stomach aches and into ulcers
that even Maalox doesn’t cure, and even if it does, it’s only a
temporary remedy. This is a physical “gut reaction” to the spiritual
malignancy present in our souls.
The physical
healing of the paralytic was certainly astounding. Jesus saw what was
keeping this man from physical health, that is, from being able to stand
up on his own two feet. But, what was truly astounding was what came
first: the spiritual healing. Rendered paralyzed by sin, Jesus saw the
corrupted state of the man’s soul and said: “Your sins are forgiven.”
Then, with his soul healed, Jesus said to the man: “Get up and walk.”
The man’s body was healed of paralysis.
And so, in those
moments when we lie awake at night and when we feel fear,
anxiety, and stress pressing in upon us during the day, we should recall that what we need isn’t a
sleeping pill, melatonin, Maalox, or a good stiff drink to “take the
edge off.” What we really need is to ask for or to extend
the miracle of forgiveness.
What is ironic thing
about this, however, is that God has already forgiven us. As the
prophet Isaiah reminded us in today’s first reading: “See, I am doing
something new…your sins I remember no more.” God has already taken the
initiative and has wiped the slate clean rather than to wait for a
suitable response on our part. All we have to do is to recognize
and to accept the
forgiveness that God has already extended to us. We do that best by extending that gift to
others or asking for it from them.
The scripture
readings present us with a hard question. It is: “Do
you really believe this very good news?”
If our response
is “Yes,” Jesus says, “Get up, pick up your
mat.” And, later in the gospel, “go out to all the world and forgive
one another as your Father has forgiven you.”
But, if our
response is “No, I don’t believe,” our blindness,
our deafness, our inability to stand on our own two feet, as well as our
inability to speak God’s words of forgiveness will see us destroying the
life and the days we have—however few or many they may be—spending them filled with
debilitating if not malignant spiritual and physical illness. And, worse yet, we will
have turned our back on the one gift we have already received, namely, God’s forgiveness.
Today’s gospel
highlights the relationship between our spiritual and physical health.
That is, the health of our soul is reflected in our bodies, for example,
“being moved with pity” for sinners as Jesus was, or “seeking revenge,”
as the people in the Law and Order courtroom were. While none of
us can begin our lives all over again and we know that we cannot turn
back the clock, we do have a choice. We can stand still. Or,
we can move forward.
When we are forgiven, we experience our resurrection from the spiritual
death caused by sin and become a new person physically as health is
restored. And, when we forgive others, they experience their
resurrection from the spiritual death caused by sin and become new
persons physically as their health is restored.
By the healing of
the spiritual disease at the root of the physical disease, Jesus teaches
us that forgiveness is what empowers us to move forward. We no
longer have to drag behind us what seems to be an ever-growing list of
sins and always to view the past with regret.
Think about it.
Let’s
say you need to forgive an in-law. So, you decide to forgive that
person. Your spouse will be astounded, perhaps not saying “I’ve
never seen anything like this!” but “Holy feces! I can’t believe
it!” Astounded is astounded no matter what the colloquialism.
But, more importantly, notice the miracle. Not only is your
relationship with the in-law repaired but your marriage will be healed
also because the love of God and neighbor present in your heart will
enkindle and enflame your spouse’s love for you.
Or, kids, let’s
say you need to forgive your brother or sister. So, you decide to
forgive that person. Not only will your brother or sister be
astounded, so too your parents will be astounded, perhaps not saying
“I’ve never seen anything like this!” but “Holy feces! I can’t
believe it! What’s going to happen next? Is the roof going
to fall in?” Astounded is astounded. Period. But, more
importantly, notice the miracle. Not only is your relationship
with your brother or sister repaired but your family will be
strengthened because the love of God and neighbor present in your heart.
For this reason, I believe that Hannah Arendt is correct.
Forgiveness is the one miracle—not a gut reaction but a supernatural
phenomenon demonstrating spiritual health because love of God and
neighbor is present in our souls—that human beings can effect. And,
when we perform that miracle, people will be astounded. They will
say of us as they said of Jesus, “We have never seen anything like
this!”
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HOMILY
