Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
When I would take teens to youth conferences and retreats, one of the hardest things they faced was going home. Today, Jesus’ command to the paralytic he heals is not to follow or to remain secret or to go out and teach everyone. Instead, he sends him home.
I think this was Jesus helping to fulfill Isaiah’s words today. Jesus, the Son of Man, had come into the world with vindication against our true enemies, sin and death. When this man was lowered through the roof sin was the foe he defeated. Sin was overcome by faith. However, the profession of that victory was not enough for everyone else. So Jesus helped this man become a testament to the Good News of what was happening. He is the lame man leaping like a stag. He goes home to bear witness to Jesus’ work. He is sent to inspire faith and to bring new life.
What will going home be like for this man? Will he become the local celebrity? Will he be trying to constantly redirect people’s attention back to Jesus or will he become caught up in the attention? Will the friends that carried him also be shown gratitude for their faith, or will their service remain hidden and unrecognized? Will naysayers and doubters begin whispering behind his back about how he was never truly lame and he is just an attention seeker? Will his new-found freedom to use his healed legs distract him from using his newly freed and healed heart? Will there be those around him just waiting for him to blow it again?
These are some of the challenges of going home. And yet that is where Jesus asked this man to bear witness and it is where Jesus asks most of us to bear witness. We might face some of the same challenges this man did. Yet we can find comfort and encouragement knowing that while some were sent on missions, others were sent home to bear witness to the Glory of God.
May we faithfully bear witness to the one that gives us freedom, healing, sight, and life. May we glorify the Lord at all times and in all places, especially around those who have known us in our weakest and most vulnerable moments.