Several themes are woven into the readings for today. Why is faith important to experiencing God’s presence in our lives? Why do the Scribes and Pharisees have problems believing in Jesus. Can the faith of our friends help us even when our own faith is weak? And what is this “eternal rest” that we pray for when someone we love dies?
The First Reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 4:1‑5,11), is addressed to those Jews who already have accepted Jesus as the Son of God and as their Savior. In the letter, Paul makes frequent allusions to Hebrew scriptures. Today’s passage refers to the creation and also the entering of the people into the Promise Land. Paul points out that God rested on the seventh day of creation. The ancient Israelites were promised rest at the end of their 40-year journey in the desert, but they were not able to fully rest because they were not faithful to God. Rest is a divine quality. Resting with God is something for which the faithful long. But what is eternal rest?
A few years ago, I was asked by a friend about the concept of “eternal rest,” the rest that is in store for those who live their lives faithfully. My friend questioned the idea of just resting forever. How dull, he said. Why would anyone want that? After pondering the question, I came up with a response. Biblically speaking, “rest” is what God did after six days of creation. It implies the completion of a task and not having to do more “work.” It is a time of celebration and rejoicing. It does not mean “lack of any activity.” Rather eternal rest means a time of being able to enjoy what God has done, and what we have done, and actively being with others who also are free from laboring.
The Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 78) urges the Chosen People to call to mind God’s promises by remembering all of God’s glorious deeds. We are called to remember that God fulfills the promises He makes. When we forget God’s compassion and love, we fall into sin and lose the promised rest and the other gifts that God seeks to give His faithful ones.
In the Gospel (Mark 2:1-12), Jesus returns to the town of Capernaum. He seems to have set up His headquarters in this town where Peter, James, John, and Andrew lived. As He ministers to the people gathered in a small house, the crowd fills the house and spills out into the surrounding areas. It is then that we hear about the faith of four friends who bring the paralytic on stretcher, hoping to have Jesus heal the man. Because of the crowd, they cannot get into the house. They climb up to the roof, remove the roof covering (how many of us would be happy about someone coming and tearing the roof off OUR home?), and they lower their friend down in front of Jesus. Moved by the faith of the individuals who have gone to so much trouble to bring their friend to Him, Jesus brings the man salus – He heals the man’s spiritual illness by forgiving the paralytic’s sins. It was the faith of the paralytic’s friends, as much as the faith of the paralytic himself, that has bought the forgiveness of his sins! What a great gift!
But the religious leaders, in the privacy of their hearts, begin to have problems with Jesus. They know that only God can forgive sins, so they are upset by Jesus’ words. Jesus reassures them that He has the power of GOD to forgive sins. He challenges them to go beyond their quiet doubts. It is easy to say words of forgiveness, Jesus tells them, something which no one can see happening. Jesus then demonstrates not only His power to bring spiritual salus but also physical salus by healing the man of his physical illness. The man stands up, picks up his stretcher, and walks away.
The activity described in the readings seems to be: God performs some marvelous deeds, people reflect on them and act upon their reflections, God does even greater deeds. It is the description of faith. Faith is first and foremost a gift from God. God is the giver of faith. That is the great deed that God performs.
Secondly, faith is the human response to God’s action. It may be the moving force that leads some people to bring a friend for healing. It may be living a life that shows that one is journeying toward the place of eternal rest. The more we respond positively to God’s action, the easier it is for God to continue to do mighty deeds in our lives and the lives of the people around us. That does not mean that our journey here on earth is filled with rest (wouldn’t that be great!). Our path of life and faith is filled with paralyzing experiences, happenings that prevent us from acting the way we would like to act. It can be the death of a loved one, the pandemic, dealing with a medical problem with a family member, having to face tests and trials, financial worries, fear of being deported because of not being an American citizen, even though other family members are Americans.
Any of these experiences could paralyze our relationship with God if we only focus on the pain, the sorrow, the struggle, and/or the hurt. We need to look at God’s Word, the divine action recounting what God has done for the Chosen People, for us. We need to look to the promise of rest with God. It is only when we reflect on how God has been moving in the lives of faith-filled people and what God has in store for us that we can start to move with the freedom of people who have been touched by the Lord Jesus, and we can proclaim what we have received – the salus (physical, mental, and spiritual) that leads to resting in God’s presence. Let us, as the psalm reminds us, “forget not the deeds of the Lord” – the deeds in the past and the deeds yet to come.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!