Daily Gospel Reflection

You’ve Never Seen Anything Like This

The Gospel of Jesus is as radical and relevant to our own lives today as it was 2,000 years ago. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant where we're exploring the genius of the gospel, the genius of Catholicism, and how to apply them to our lives, searching in each day's gospel for a word, a phrase, or an idea, to hear God speaking to us through that word, phrase or idea, and then a virtue to apply into our lives because when we focus our day on a virtue, we grow exponentially more than when we just wander through our day without that kind of focus.

"And when Jesus returned to Capernaum, after some days, it was reported that He was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door. And He was preaching the Word to them. And they came bringing to Him paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him. And when they had made an opening, they let down the stretcher on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.' Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak thus? This is blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone?' And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His Spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, 'Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise, take up your stretcher and walk." But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,' he said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, rise, take up your stretcher and go home.' And he rose and immediately took up his stretcher and went out before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this.'"

So much here. It's the paralytic. There's the four men that lower him through the roof. Every single one of us needs four people in our lives like that. I want four men in my life like that who are that committed to getting me close to Jesus. It's a beautiful friendship right here. We're experiencing a beautiful friendship. But the phrase that I want to strike on today is, "We never saw anything like this." In this reading, it's so rich because the scribes are saying, "Hey, he can't forgive sins because only God can forgive sins." And Jesus is essentially demonstrating, "You're right. Only God can forgive sins, and I am God. And to prove to you that I'm God, let's ask, is it easier to say, 'I forgive your sins,' or is it easier to say to this paralytic man, 'Get up and take your stretcher and walk and go home.'" And so the scribes would have been absolutely infuriated. When you really look at the subtext here of what Jesus was demonstrating to those who knew what to be looking for in the Christ, in the Messiah, they must have been absolutely infuriated.

He says to them, "Why do you question these things in your heart?" I think it's a good question for us to ask ourselves, or to let Jesus ask us today like, "Why do you question these things in your heart?" And what are those things for you? Different things for you than for me? Different things for you in this time in your life than maybe 10 years ago? But what are you questioning in your heart and why do you question those things in your heart? But the phrase, "We never saw anything like this." We allow God to work in us. That is what we're going to experience. We're going to experience life on a whole new dimension, on a whole new realm, on a whole new level, not just an incremental tweak, but something extraordinary, an extraordinary shift, an extraordinary transformation. And we will say, "We never saw anything like this." And other people will say, "We never saw anything like this." If we will make ourselves available to God, how much? 100%.

And so, again, to question ourselves today, "How available are we to God?" 20%, 80%, 96.4%. Again, to pray that prayer that we've talked about so many times, make ourselves 100% available to God because that is when miracles happen. Have a great day. Remember, don't just be yourself, be the very best version of yourself. Be all that God created you to be