Today's Gospel

The Greatest Friendship

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the Gospels, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to capture your attention and draw you into the gospel in a new way. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. 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 a parallelogic 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 palette on which the paralytic man 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? It 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 thus in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic? "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise, take up your palate 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 palate and go home." And he rose and immediately took up the palate and went out before all so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this."

What jumps out at you today? I love this reading. I love this reading. What I love about this reading is the friendship. Paralytic can't do anything. All he can do is lay there. And he wasn't getting anywhere near Jesus without these friends. So these friends bring him to see Jesus and crowds are everywhere and can't get anywhere near Jesus. So what do they do? They go up on the roof, they take tiles off the roof above Jesus, and then they lower their friend down. So the story is about many, many things. We could read it 100 times, and the Spirit could use 100 different words, phrases, or ideas to capture your attention. But what captures my attention today and what captures my attention almost every time I hear or read this story. It's just the friendship. And this guy had these friends who cared enough, who had faith enough, who were willing to go out of their way. And was it convenient? Absolutely not. And I think it today is an invitation to friendship. It's an invitation to celebrate the great friends we have, to be grateful and appreciative of the great friends we have, and to return that friendship in kind to the people that God places in our lives. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.