Lk 5: 17-26; 2Cor 1:1-7; Is 57:14-19
Long ago I heard someone use the expression: "Too clever by half." For some reason it stuck with me. It can mean that we are too full of ourselves. We've got a situation so thoroughly figured out that we can see no alternatives to what we understand the situation to be. This can sometimes mean that we think we have all the knowledge we need about a subject and we act on that view, only to discover that our plans have gone awry. We thought we knew more than we did. We thought we had figured it all out, only to discover that we totally missed the boat. Maybe I liked the expression because it seems to capture all too well the human tendency to think we know it all. Or at least about some things we know it all. I suspect that we can all look into our own lives and find times when this has been the case.
In professional sports this can also happen and it takes place in such a public arena that we all see it. In part it's the nature of the enterprise. For example, General Managers put together a team making personnel decisions based on what they think is the best available information. But the nature of human reality leaves a lot of the outcome of their decisions to factors they cannot control: future health of a player, the ability of the player to learn the approach of a new manager or coach, the ability of the player fit into the chemistry of the team, forecasting the future trajectory of the player's skill – will it rise or fall off, to name only a few factors. Not surprisingly, General Managers lose their jobs when they make the wrong choices, even if they have attempted to analyze the situation taking into account as many factors as possible. "Too clever by half" might figure in here if the decisions were made with total confidence that the decision was absolutely the right one. A little humility around such decisions, which many people have, puts all this in a different perspective. It is a question of:
"I'm right" vs
"It's the best decision I could make with the information available to me."
For the Pharisees, as presented in today's gospel passage, the scales seem to tilt in the direction of the first characterization. One does not get the sense that they were open to alternative possibilities to their views of what the Messiah should be. After all they were relying on sacred scripture to support their view. But scripture can all too easily be manipulated to serve our immediate objectives rather than God's.
So what were the objectives of the religious leaders? They were part of a system which controlled the path to healing through the forgiveness of sins. If it is believed that only God can forgive sins and that all aliments are sin related, then if one needs healing this can only come when one's sins are forgiven. And if access to that healing must come through a system set up by the religious authorities then they control the path to that healing. The last thing they want to deal with is someone who is in some measure challenging that system. Jesus shows another understanding of how God heals.
We think we're like the paralytic's friends, open to the possibilities that Jesus, someone frequently acting outside the usual norms and channels of authority, can make a difference in the life of their friend and in their own lives. And yet, maybe we might find ourselves in the Pharisee's position, defending the established way despite strong evidence indicating that something greater is being revealed to us.
Another way to see this gospel story is to see it showing us how to overcome seemingly impenetrable obstacles and to break through barriers. The crowd around Jesus is the first barrier to be overcome. But another barrier is the building in which Jesus is teaching. So the paralytic's friends need to break through two barriers, the people and the house. But there is a third barrier, all the Pharisees and legal experts in that crowd, who by their teaching and status in society, require anyone who wants to approach Jesus for healing to withstand their opprobrium. In a society where honor and conforming to societal norms and expectations are so powerful, this is no small barrier. But this small band of intrepid people of faith, faith in something beyond their understanding, and motivated by their fervent desire to help their friend, pressed forward with their goal despite the obstacles. They did not flee before these obstacles and seek another way, they used their ingenuity and harnessed their passion to make the seemingly impossible happen. And Jesus, seeing their faith and their desire, responds.
True to form the Pharisees and legal experts, the clever ones, are furious and the crowd, while praising God, is also awestruck and fearful in the face of this unexpected event. But the paralyzed man takes the gift given to him and enters into a new life. This is what the Kingdom beckons us to.
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