When the teachers of the Law questioned in their minds how Jesus could forgive sins, he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts? Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’”?
And before they could answer, to prove himself Jesus cured the paralyzed man, “Stand up! Take up your stretcher and go home.” And the man got up and went home.
Indeed we do make decisions on what to say: we choose what words to speak, what stories to tell, what details to stress. Approached for advice or opinion or when volunteering information, we would tell what we consider more favorable to ourselves and our image and reputation.
Like most everything in life, it is our choice. We may choose to “save face,” or to go with the more popular opinion or position or to honestly speak the truth, based on what we know and believe.
The paralyzed man was brought to Jesus to be cured, as he had cured so many others. Though Jesus knew this as his petition, Jesus wanted to give importance to a more important cure, a more important healing, of his relationships with God. So he began with this more important cure and lesson, “Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven.”
Only after that, at the unexpressed query of the biased teachers of the Law, does he physically cure him, “Stand up! Take up your stretcher and go home.”
Both healings are miracles of God’s loving mercy: may we value the healing of the spirit more.