After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
At that, some of the scribes said to themselves,
“This man is blaspheming.”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said,
“Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he then said to the paralytic,
“Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
REFLECTION
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
We read again this passage in the Bible where a group of friends bring a paralytic to a home where Jesus is staying. We know by this reading how important it is to pray for each other.
But wait, "there's more!"
Through the last couple of years we've been studying the Sunday readings via our Face ZBS meetings. This Bible study is also helping us prepare for our upcoming Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in September 2022.
While studying Face ZBS we have been learning that Jesus cured Peter's mother in law (Mt 8:14), got on a boat (Mt 8:23), healed the demoniac in Gadarenes (Mt 8:28), got on a boat again, and came to his own town (Mt 9:1).
Here we ask: why is He back to his own town? Whose house was He at when people brought Him the paralytic.? We learn through critical thinking techniques to pay more attention to the readings of the Bible, and ask questions on what is happening in the different passages.
Would you like to learn as many of us are learning about Jesus through the Bible? Check our Events to see when our next Face ZBS session is and let's follow the steps of Jesus in the Holy Land both via these Zoom sessions and our physical pilgrimage of the Holy Land.
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