Thursday, January 14, 2021

1st Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 15-01-2021

Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 / Mark 2:1-12       

Currently, one of the hot topics in the news is about privacy. 

The privacy that is highlighted here is the personal data that is transmitted over messages and contacts.

Privacy is certainly important to us especially when it concerns personal privacy.

Who we know and the contents of the messages that we have with them, where we have been, what we have done are not for public knowledge.

But in the gospel, when the paralytic was brought before Jesus, the first words that Jesus said to him was: My child, you sins are forgiven.

That may have surprised the paralytic as well as the crowd who were there. Some may be puzzled, others may be agitated.

They may have wondered: why did Jesus talk about such a private thing like sin and was there something He knew about the paralytic that only the paralytic himself knew.

Of course, God knows our sins, but it is something between us and God. We certainly won't publicise our sins nor would we like others to publicise our sins.

But sin is not really a private matter. The effects of sin breaks our relationship with God and with others, beside being self-destructive.

Yes, we all have sinned, and no one can say that he has no sin.

What we need is not the privacy about our sins but our need for forgiveness.

Jesus wants to forgive us and heal us. Let us acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness and be healed by Jesus.