NOTES for Mat 9:1-8

It is no accident that there are so many stories of healing in the Gospel: every healing is a witness to the Kingdom. But, as can be seen, not everyone understands the essence of what is happening, even when everything happens right before his eyes. Hence the displeasure of the Pharisees around Jesus: Jesus speaks of the forgiveness of sins, and who can forgive a person's sins except God?

Yet even from the point of view of the ideas generally accepted in those days, the situation in this regard was not so unambiguous. The fact is that the question of a person's forgiveness of sins was connected above all with the day of Judgment and the day of the Messiah's coming, which in the Judaism of the Gospel era coincided. And the Messiah took a certain, though not fully defined, part in God's judgment, testifying for or against the accused; His testimony could become decisive. Then, depending on the outcome of the Judgment, a person received, or did not receive, the right to enter the messianic Kingdom.

Jesus, however, somewhat corrects these familiar ideas: He speaks of the Kingdom entering the world, giving everyone the opportunity to begin with a clean slate. He speaks of the forgiveness of sins with reference not to the Judgment, nor even to the judgments a person may pass through before the day of the final Judgment. He speaks of the fact that the sins of everyone who touches the Kingdom and shares in its life are forgiven precisely because that person begins a new life in the Kingdom, leaving the old one behind. And every healing is an act of faith, faith as trust in God and in the One who brought the Kingdom into the world. That is why Jesus says to the healed man: "...your sins are forgiven."

For the Pharisees, as can be seen, what is happening has no relation to the Kingdom. At best they see simply a miracle, an action of God which by itself gives the One through whom it is performed no right to substitute Himself for God, or His own determinations for God's judgment. Here passes the boundary between the world and the Kingdom, the very boundary that is so clearly visible from the Kingdom and often completely invisible from the world.

Sometimes there is no strength to begin some task, no strength to reassess one's position - civic, religious, whatever it may be - and simply no strength to get up. There is no strength because we have spent it on something or because an illness torments us; it does not matter. Sin or sickness - does it matter? Perhaps sin, perhaps sickness. Often no line can be drawn between them.

We very much want this, we very much want clarity, but we do not have it - and we do not need it, for there is only good and evil, and only between them is a strict demarcation line needed. But there is no need to classify either one or the other. We will be told: we do not know whom to go to - a doctor or a priest. It is worth going to both, but it is important to remember: we are going to God so that He may heal us.

Today people speak much about cooperation between the priest and the psychologist. And this is good: the time of divergence between types of activity has passed, since a fundamental limit has been reached, and before us is a time when convergence slowly begins again. This will enrich everyone, for in every phenomenon of the visible world there is the imprint of the Creator - but it is revealed from different angles. To see here not a "flat" picture, but a "three-dimensional" one, costs great labor - but this labor is blessed

Today the evangelist Matthew tells us about the healing of the paralytic, which Mark and Luke also mention. Its essential feature, apparently, is the words that the Lord Jesus Christ says at that moment: "Take heart, child! Your sins are forgiven you." These words provoked sharp rejection from the scribes, but by the miracle itself the Lord confirmed His authority to forgive sins. For us, what matters most is the connection between suffering and sin.

The many healings performed by the Lord Jesus Christ by no means always imply that diseases and sufferings are caused by the person's own sins. It is enough to recall the healing of the man born blind. But for the paralytic, it is precisely God's forgiveness that becomes the source of healing. This means that the cause of his suffering is sin. This is important because, when we come into contact with suffering, we experience its irrationality and meaninglessness very painfully, and we rarely manage to remain on the boundary between bewilderment and complaint. Seeking an explanation, a person almost inevitably asks the question, "Why does God allow this?" But as we see, God did not create death and suffering, and it is not Him but ourselves whom we should blame for them.

In essence, it is separation from God as a result of sin that makes us subject to death. Therefore forgiveness becomes for us the gift of freedom and the restoration of what was lost. The Fathers of the Church constantly remind us of this.

Christ can heal physical illness, and He has already healed many sick people, but this time He chooses to begin with the forgiveness of sins. This is the main thing needed not only by this particular paralytic, but by everyone who comes to Christ. To this day many who come to church for healing receive it, yet even then we are so reluctant to admit that our most serious illness remains our habitual, long-standing sin. Christ does not refuse at all to heal bodily illnesses, yet already in the healing of the paralytic He clearly showed what should follow what.

Meanwhile, by publicly declaring the forgiveness of sins, Christ truly bore witness to Himself as God. The Pharisees do not accept the works Christ performs and are ready to accuse Him of blasphemy, but they are right that no one except God can forgive sins. From this point on, the crack grows between the educated scribes, who do not want to entrust themselves to Christ, and the simple people, who understand the subtleties of the law less well and often do not understand who Jesus is, but are drawn to Him.

For the scribes, distrust will cancel out their knowledge; for simple people, trust will fill in theoretical gaps and lead to a deeper understanding of the meaning of revelation.

Perhaps the hardest thing in today's reading is demons. Many people do not know what they are, many shift their own guilt onto them, and others see only them everywhere. How should we relate to this extremely difficult concept in Scripture? After all, even in the Lord's Prayer we say, repeating after Jesus: "...deliver us from the evil one." This means that understanding what this power is and recognizing its existence is a necessary condition for praying the Our Father consciously.

The first and main thing to understand here is this: demons, whatever mental form we give them, are creatures, just as we are. In this sense they are on the same ontological level as we are, or even lower, for we are in some measure joined to God and to His true being. Therefore, in any case, they are not stronger than we are, and there is no need to fear them. On the contrary, they fear God and in fact are subject to Him. This is shown to us very clearly today in the story with the Gergesenes: we see how obediently they are ready to come out when they see the true power of Christ. The apostle James says this exactly: even the demons believe, and tremble (James 2:19).

The second important observation, and it is visible from today's reading, is that they recognize God faster than ordinary people do. Why? This is very easy to understand: they are the ones who resist Him, and for that very reason they know Him well. So one should not simply recoil from the mentally ill, fearing them as if they were lepers; at times one must listen very carefully to what they say, because amid delirium one can discern flashes of meaning that are inaccessible to us.

And finally, when we are afraid and it feels as if demons are tempting us, we must call upon Christ in all simplicity, and that alone will be enough for them to fall silent, because they fear Him greatly. Better still, do not let go of the hem of His garment at all. Then, when asked whether we know demons, we will be able to answer with a clear conscience: no, we are not good with demons.

Already in antiquity the psalmist said: "Blessed is the one whose sins are cleansed." A person experiences the sense of his own sinfulness very painfully, especially if this experience is hidden and unconscious. A vague, dark feeling of guilt bends us toward the ground and paralyzes every creative activity. The sense of our own imperfection, or, as psychologists say, a lack of positive self-esteem, drives us almost more strongly than hunger or thirst. At times this experience pushes us toward truly terrible things, but most importantly, it deprives us of joy and of the sense of the fullness and meaningfulness of life.

The whole experience of humanity converges on the thought that our imperfection and guilt are closely connected with humanity's disasters and sufferings. And this truly is captivity, a blockade that we are powerless to break through. That is why it is so important to hear these words of Christ about forgiveness. For by them He opens for us a new life in which we can be free and live meaningfully, fully, and joyfully. And nothing is required for this: no social reconstruction of society, no titanic efforts to change our own biography... Only faith that Christ's words about forgiveness are true.

Psalmist said in the antiquity “Blessed, whose sins are forgiven”. Man suffers very hard the feelings of his sinfulness, particularly if this affection is unobvious and inconscient. The sense of guilty weights us down to the earth anxiously and dreary, and paralyses any creative activity. The feelings of our own imperfection or as psychologists say deficiency of positive selfevaluation move us perhaps stronger than hunger or thirst. This affection pushes us at times to absolutely awful things, and worst – it deprives us from happiness and feeling of plenitude and life meaningfulness.

All mankind experiences meet with the idea that our imperfection and guilt are closely connected with disasters and human’s sufferings. And it is really captivity, blockade, which we are unable to break. Therefore, it is very important to listen to these Christ’s words about forgiveness. He thereby opens indeed a new life for us, where we can be free and live meaningfully, fully and joyfully. And nothing is required for that: neither social society reorganization, nor titanic efforts to change our own biography… only belief that Christ’s words about forgiveness are true.

Sin and illness have always been connected in the consciousness of religious people. So it was in the Judaism of Gospel times. It was taken for granted that illness, especially serious illness, was the consequence of a sin committed by a person. If a person had been sick from birth, people thought that he suffered because of sins committed by his parents: it was assumed that the consequences of sin could spread to the sinner's whole family line. In order to recover, one had to repent sincerely of the sin committed, and then God, having forgiven the sin, could deliver the repentant person from the illness as well. And when Jesus tells the person He heals that his sins are forgiven, there is nothing unusual in this.

Except for one thing: it turns out that, saying this, He forgives sin on God's behalf. And this raises the corresponding questions in those who hear Him: indeed, only God Himself can forgive sins, so who is this strange wonderworker who puts Himself in God's place? If Jesus had simply healed the man, there would have been fewer questions: it would mean God's power acts through Him, and such a thing is possible. Something similar had happened before; miraculous healings had been known from ancient times, in particular through the prayers of righteous people.

But here a claim to God's prerogative was voiced, and the reaction was corresponding. Meanwhile, Jesus said exactly what He intended to do and did. The matter is not a simple healing. An ordinary healing can indeed sometimes happen through the prayers of an ordinary person, if that person is righteous. But in such a case the prayer of the righteous person becomes part of the action of God that heals the person. Such healing costs no small spiritual effort, above all, of course, for the one who asks for healing. For in this case God's work is done first of all through him. And in the fallen world it is very difficult to resist the evil of which any illness is a manifestation.

Jesus heals differently. He simply introduces the person into the Kingdom. That is why He tells the one He heals that his sins are forgiven: now, having been joined to the life of the Kingdom and having trusted Jesus, the healed person begins to belong to Him, and from now on he will have to resolve the questions connected with his sinfulness personally with Jesus.

The Savior forgives the healed man's sins as the King of His Kingdom, into which He introduces the person He heals. And there, in the Kingdom, healing happens by itself and much more simply than in the fallen world: there is no place for evil in the Kingdom, and illness there simply disappears by itself. Healing a person despite his nature spoiled by sin is much harder than freeing him from illness by freeing that nature from the power of sin and changing it. Jesus acts precisely in this way, as He says directly to the people around Him. Whether to believe Him or not is for them to decide.

Addressing the people, Jesus said that He came “not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.” At the very least, this must mean that He understands this Law correctly. Yet as we read the Gospel, we repeatedly see Him enter into conflict with the Pharisees, people of special piety, and with the scribes, experts in the Law. Christ Himself explains His conduct with a quotation from the prophet: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Thus, in His understanding, the Law consists in love. For love’s sake, He works on the Sabbath, associates with sinners, and even breaks fasts. The time has come when Law and mercy become one. This means that new content requires a new form, so that the “new wine” does not end up in “old wineskins.” The Gospel cannot be contained within the “only correct” worldview; it requires a readiness for openness, forbearance, and forgiveness. Otherwise, it will burst through our lives and leave us with emptiness and thirst.

Much has been said and written about the world's reaction to Jesus' witness to the Kingdom that He brought into the world, just as much has been said and written about its reaction to Him Himself. And yet the brightest illustrations of this reaction are precisely the Gospel stories, despite the brevity often characteristic of them.

Such is also the story of Jesus' healing of the possessed man. In itself, from a spiritual point of view, such a healing was an outstanding event, even apart from the fate of the particular person freed from the burdensome power of the dark forces over him. But the inhabitants of those places were pagans, and in those times this meant practical irreligion. It is hard to say what they thought about the possessed man living not far from them, but in any case his healing, it appears, did not impress them very much. Something else impressed them instead: the loss of an entire, and probably rather large, herd of pigs.

Of course, the first reaction of anyone reading the Gospel to such indifference will be surprise, and perhaps indignation. But if one thinks about it, the reaction of the inhabitants of a typical pagan city was completely natural for pagans. Pagans are simply people who live by the laws of the untransformed world and know, or do not wish to know, any others. And in the untransformed world, inertia, worldview stereotypes, and behavioral patterns play an enormous role. People who live by its laws feel truly comfortable in it, and it never occurs to them that this comfort is deficient by definition.

The abnormality of the situation is emphasized by the constant presence beside the inhabitants of the city of a herd of pigs: from the point of view of the Torah, pigs are unclean animals, defiling the place where they live and the people who come into contact with them. Accordingly, the pagans in the Gospel story live in a state of uncleanness that is normal for them, just as it is generally normal for the fallen world. And all their behavior, all their reactions are "tuned" to this fallen world. The spiritual dimension in the proper sense of the word does not exist for them, while they understand very well what material loss is. And therefore the presence of Jesus frightens them.

Of course, trouble can be expected from Him, especially if the trouble is the very presence of the spiritual dimension in one's own life. And the townspeople honestly, with all the frankness characteristic of man, ask Him to leave. And He leaves: the Kingdom is not imposed by force; it can be accepted only by free will.