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NEW LIFE THROUGH FORGIVENESS AND HEALING OF OUR PAST - stephenkhoo - 02-19-2012 09:45 AM
19 February, 2012, 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
NEW LIFE THROUGH FORGIVENESS AND HEALING OF OUR PAST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25; 2 COR 1:18-22; MK 2:1-12
Are you happy with your life or the situation you are in? Is your unhappiness due to your work, finance or even relationships? But failures in life and broken relationships are passing events. In truth, for many of us, the crux of the problem is that we are not happy with ourselves. Although we make others the scapegoat of our unhappiness, in reality, it is because we lack self-integration and authentic love of self. Indeed, there is no greater failure in life than to fail oneself. Perhaps you want to begin life anew, but you cannot get out of the situation you are in. Why is it so difficult to change your life or yourself?
The truth is we have a history of broken past. It is a fact that who we are today is very much determined by our past. Whether we are positive or not towards life and people and oneself, to a great extent, is affected by how life has treated us since the day we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs. If our entry into this world was positive, then we tend to be positive towards our environment. Of course our upbringing, the environment and the relationships we had also contribute to the moulding of our characters.
But what makes us unhappy is that we are prisoners of our past. Instead of letting go of the hurts and wounds inflicted on us by our loved ones and our fellowmen, we continue to cling on to the emotional and psychological hurts of our past. As a consequence, we become distrustful of people. We live in fear and in deep insecurity. Indeed, we are like the Israelites who had just returned from exile. We keep looking back at the past so much so we cannot move forward. So, too, the paralyzed man in today’s gospel.
How can one be crippled by the past? The obvious way to being a prisoner of our past is through the sins that we have committed. Some of us, like the paralyzed man, cannot forgive our past mistakes. We are paralyzed by our sins, guilt and shame. This is symbolized by the stretcher that we continue to depend on. Whenever there is a call to change, we would think of our past and condemn ourselves. Sometimes we deny our mistakes and miss out on the opportunities to seek forgiveness.
The second way in which we are crippled by our past is through our inability to let go of the hurts that we have suffered, especially inflicted by our loved ones. Our wounded ego and bruised heart cannot forgive those who have disappointed us, especially those who should love us most. Even if we can forgive from our head, that is, logically, the heart cannot let go of the pain. That is why we often take joy in recounting the mistakes others have made. We like to remind our spouses of the mistakes they made years ago, and harp on these, even though they have changed. We condemn them for life and in turn cause them to condemn themselves and thereby making it difficult for them to change.
Many of us suffer from trauma and fears because of the unpleasant events that happened in our lives. Hence, it is not physical healing that is most needed. It is the healing of the heart and the memory. Unfortunately many of us are just like the people who brought the paralytic man for Jesus to be healed. We all desire to be healed physically. We only seek superficial healing. We do not get to the root of our misery. We are not ready to explore the depths of our unconscious, our sinfulness and bondages.
But Jesus knew better, for the man was not simply paralyzed physically but he was paralyzed by his sins, especially the lack of forgiveness in his life, both towards others and to himself. Hence, by forgiving the man’s sins before healing him physically, Jesus got to the root of the problem. Many of our pains and even physical ailments are due to our spiritual, emotional or psychological pain. What makes us physically sick is the lack of forgiveness in our hearts, our resentment, jealousy, greed, fear and hidden sins, especially sexual sins. At the same time, we feel too ashamed to confess them.
So what is truly needed is spiritual and inner healing. And this healing is given precisely in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, provided it is properly celebrated. But not many people are making full use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or making sincere and contrite confessions.
The Good news is that God takes away our sins and heals our past. Christianity proclaims the Good News that our past is forgiven and forgotten. In the first reading, God proclaims that “I it is, I it is, who must blot out everything and not remember your sins.” But the truth is that not many people believe in God’s healing mercy and forgiveness.
As a consequence, by making ourselves prisoners of the past we also limit the power of God’s grace at work in our lives. This was the case of the Israelites. They were prisoners of the past, not only of their sins but also their doubt in God’s ability to restore them to freedom as He did during the time of the exodus. They could not believe that God would transform the situation they were in. Hence, God said through the prophet Isaiah, “No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before. See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?”
Indeed, God was reminding the people not to live in nostalgic times or to cling on to their past experiences and history. Whilst it is important to remember the past, we cannot be crippled by the past. We must not limit ourselves to what was done in the past. We must have the faith to see what greater future the Lord has in store for us. If we remember what He did for us in the past, it is only to have confidence that He will do even more for us.
The problem is that we do not truly believe He can make all things new. This tendency to underestimate the power of God was what happened to the scribes and Pharisees. They could not accept that God could give man the power to forgive sins. “Why do you have these thoughts in your hearts? Which of these is easier: to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven” or to say, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk?” In posing this question, Jesus was challenging them to go beyond their narrow understanding of the ways God works in their lives. The irony is that people seem to be more convinced that God can heal them than that God can truly, unconditionally, forgive their failings. Man cannot forgive themselves because they cannot accept God’s unconditional forgiveness.
Where can we find faith in surrendering to the Lord? We must cling to the promise of God, as St Paul says, for God is always faithful to His promise. As St Paul wrote, “The Son of God, the Christ Jesus that we proclaimed – was never Yes and No: with him it was always Yes, and however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him.” We can be confident of the promise of Jesus to set us free from our past and our sins. Just as He healed the paralyzed man after forgiving his sins, He too can heal us both bodily and spiritually.
The wonderful news is that this promise to liberate us from our past for a new life is not something that happens only after our death. On the contrary, we already have a foretaste of this freedom, joy, peace and love in the gift of the Holy Spirit. St Paul reminds us “That is why it is ‘through him’ that we answer Amen to the praise of God … it is God himself who assures us all … of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.”
Indeed, if only we turn to the Lord today, we too can experience the freedom of the Spirit because once our sins are taken from us, we will feel lighter in the first place. We can now carry our past and mistakes joyfully and not be crippled by them. On the contrary, we can now even praise God for them! For this was what happened to the paralyzed man, “And the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and walked out in front of everyone, so that they were all astounded and praised God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”
Secondly, when our spiritual eyes are purified, we can see our problems in a new perspective; seeing them as opportunities for growth and sanctification. We come to realize what is essential in our lives. When we know that the love of God and of others is of paramount importance, we will not be too preoccupied with making money and a name for ourselves. This will relieve us of unnecessary stress. We will look at our enemies with eyes of compassion rather than hatred. We will look at ourselves with the merciful eyes of God rather than condemnation.
Finally, once we have been forgiven, we can walk upright and take our stretchers with us, like the paralyzed man. Strengthened by His love, we will be able to persevere in the new life. Like St Paul, we can remain faithful to Jesus. We will become more proactive like the friends of the paralyzed men. We show our gratitude to God not only by walking in the truth but also help others who are trapped in their past to come to Jesus for healing and liberation. By our faith and love, we can help others to surrender their lives and their past to the Lord and be healed of their brokenness.