Amos 7:10-17 / Matthew 9:1-8
If people don't like to hear bad things said about them, then how would the people of God respond when they hear bad things said about them?
Certainly they, like everyone else, would not like to hear it nor will they be happy to hear it.
But being the people of God, they would also have this responsibility of discerning what was said and how true it is.
In the 1st reading, the prophet Amos prophesied against the people of Israel, and they could no longer tolerate what he was saying.
But there was no denying that Amos spoke the Word of God. The priest Amaziah called him "seer" and told him to go back to Judah to do his prophesying there.
And for not heeding the oracle of the Lord and the prophet, the people of God had to face the consequences.
In the gospel it was the paralytic who listened to the Word of God when Jesus told him - Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven.
The paralytic then understood that forgiveness comes before healing and so he opened his heart to forgiveness, and when Jesus told him to get up and walk, he was healed and got up and walked home.
When we acknowledge our sinfulness and the call to repentance, our sins will be forgiven and we too will get up and walk towards Jesus.
May we not let our sinfulness prevent us from listening to the voice of God and the call to repentance.