Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; The Holy and Glorious Prophet Elijah.
Romans 12:6-14; James 5:10-20; Matthew 9:1-8; Luke 4:22-30.
Read Matthew 9:1-8
We can empathize with the scribes and Pharisees in their huge responsibility. If, after being returned from exile for unfaithfulness to God, we were entrusted with the responsibility of spiritually guiding the faithful, and someone came along claiming the prerogatives of God like forgiving sins, we wouldn’t necessarily be doing something wrong by questioning such claims. Yet these scribes were doing something wrong; Jesus said they had “evil in their hearts” for thinking that Jesus was blaspheming by claiming to forgive sins. Why?
The answer lies in Jesus’s response to the paralytic and those who brought him: “Jesus saw their faith.” By this time, Jesus had revealed enough of himself for people to make a response of faith in him. Jesus wasn’t judging the scribes for exercising their responsibility, he was saying to them that he had already revealed enough of himself that they could receive his words and deeds in that moment in the same way that the paralytic and his friends had – with faith.
In reprimanding the scribes, Jesus was not calling wrestling with faith evil.
We all experience times in our lives where having faith is hard. Jesus’s words remind us that it is helpful to remember in those moments that we are never starting from zero. Everything about our relationship with God begins with him loving us first; he is the first actor in everything, our creation and redemption. That is why the word “remember” occurs so often in the Bible. God has always already done something through which we can respond in faith to him. When you find it difficult to respond in faith to God, pause and recall previous times when God has given you faith, and let that affect you in what you are going through.