Thursday, July 4 : Saint John Chrysostom

The scribes were saying: “This man is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?” But how did the Saviour reply? Did he condemn such speech? If he hadn’t been God’s equal he would have had to ask: “Why are you attributing such a pretension to me?”… Yet he said nothing like that; to the contrary, he actually endorsed his enemies’ statement. Testifying to oneself is always suspect; truth is better supported when it comes from others – and not just from one’s friends but, still more, from one’s enemies… Our Lord had shown his power through his friends when he said to the leper: “I do will it. Be made clean” (Mk 1,41) and to the centurion: “In no one in Israel have I found such faith” (Mt 8,10). Now he is causing his enemies to give testimony… But in this passage there is yet another testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ and to the fact that he is the Father’s equal. It is not just that God alone can forgive sins but that God alone can discern the secret thoughts of the heart. As it is written here: “Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said: ‘Why do you harbor evil thoughts?’” The prophet wrote: “You alone know the hearts of men” (2Chr 6,30); “It is God who searches the heart and soul” (Ps 7,10)… “Man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart” (1Sam 16,7). At the same time, Christ gives us fresh evidence of his gentleness: “Why do you harbor evil thoughts?” “Which seems easier to you: to heal a sick man’s body or to forgive the sins of his soul? The soul is the superior and its ills the harder to heal. But because this particular healing cannot be seen I will carry out before your eyes a healing that can be seen, even though it is less important”… Thus Jesus caused the paralytic to rise and sent him home… It was as though he said: “Through what is happening to you I should like to heal these people here who ssem to be in good health but who, in reality, are sick in soul. But since this is not what they want, go home. There, at least, your healing will bear fruit.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team