Gospel for Yesterday: Blessed Afterthought

The Gospel for yesterday is familiar. Four friends try to carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus and because their way is barred, they make a hole through the roof of the house where Jesus was a guest and they lower their friend to Jesus. Jesus then proceeds to heal the paralytic and he picks up his mat and walks.

I was drawn to a phrase in this passage which is spoken by Jesus after the friends had lowered the paralytic to Jesus. Jesus said, "As for you, your sins are forgiven". I find it amusing that Jesus says "As for you" as if his attention was solely focused on the spectacle of the roof being broken down by the friends (I could imagine the owner of the house panicking. My tiles! My tiles!) and the paralytic himself was an afterthought. In fact the Gospel says that Jesus noticed the faith of the friends (and not of the paralytic) who took extraordinary measures to reach Jesus. And after Jesus said that phrase, he engaged the scribes and Pharisees in an exchange on his authority to forgive and the final act of healing seems to prove Jesus' point on his authority to forgive.

It seems that in the midst of all this, the paralytic was an extra in the cast. But then again, Jesus did talk to the paralytic and did heal him. Which is more than what any of us today have ever experienced.