Today’s Gospel reading recounts Jesus’ healing of the paralytic. Before granting him physical healing, our Lord says to him, “Your sins are forgiven.” Fr. Gregory focuses on the facets of forgiveness in today’s sermon.

First, he addresses the relationship with forgiveness and calamity. The paralytic came to Jesus not for forgiveness but for bodily healing. However, Jesus addresses the cause of his illness first by forgiving his sins. This does not mean that the paralytic was to blame for his illness on account of his sins, but rather the sinfulness of mankind in general was the cause. This is clear in another Gospel passage in which the apostles ask Jesus “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” to find blame for the man’s blindness. Jesus responds, “Neither this man nor his parents.”

The cause of every evil, the source of all sin, is humanity’s broken communion with God. To heal evil at its root, communion with God must be restored. This is what our Lord accomplished through the Incarnation, and we see this in Jesus’ conversation with the religious leaders. When Jesus granted forgiveness of sins, the religious leaders were indignant, saying that Jesus was a blasphemer because only God could forgive sins. By forgiving the paralytic’s sins, Jesus — being both God and man — showed that humanity and divinity had indeed been united to one another, restoring the communion broken in the Garden of Eden.

Fr. Gregory also addresses humanity’s role in forgiveness. While remission of sins comes from God alone, it passes through the human nature of Christ, shown in today’s Gospel reading. When Christ rose from the dead, he granted his disciples this power to remit sins. The apostles then transferred this power to the bishops, who transferred it to priests. The mystery of repentance and confession is accomplished through this authority passed down through the church throughout the ages. While God alone can remit sins, forgiveness and reconciliation with God passes through human beings. Another aspect of humanity’s role in forgiveness is our relationships with our brothers and sisters. If we wish to be forgiven of our sins, we must first forgive the sins of one another. This is emphasized in the Lord’s Prayer.

In repentance, confession, and forgiveness, we must have humility and love. Through these two paths, we can restore our broken communion with God and reconcile our relationships with our brothers and sisters.