(Isaiah 35; Luke 5)
One day I went to a party. When I arrived, I felt a little upset that no one offered a glass of wine or a bottle of beer. I didn’t realize at the moment the purpose of the party. It was meant to celebrate the anniversary of a very fine man’s sobriety. Fifteen years to the day my friend gave up drinking and never looked back.
It is not that drinking in itself is bad. Nor is it the case that an alcoholic’s every drink is a sin. As Alcoholics Anonymous teaches, compulsive drinking is a disease that diminishes moral responsibility, at least to a point. But an alcoholic’s drinking can be the root of much sinfulness, including irresponsibility at work and abuse at home.
In the gospel, Jesus forgives the sin of the paralytic as the first step in the process of his total healing. As he indicates, this healing of soul is an even greater claim to Jesus’ being the Messiah than his healing the man’s lameness. But Jesus also fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah as well. He makes the lame man “leap like a stag.”
Jesus again proves himself worthy of our trust. He tells us that he will come to bestow salvation on his faithful. We can count of his word as we prepare ourselves for that coming during Advent.
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