“It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.”
And that was that!
And after hearing God’s description of what a king would require of them — a portion of everything — they would end up like slaves in service to the king, and his commanders and officials.
Their crops, vineyards, olive groves, oxen and asses, and their male and female servants — everything!
And Samuel’s warning fell on deaf ears.
Their refusal of his words were summed up as so, “Not so! There must be a king over us. We, too, must be like other nations, with a king to rule us and lead us in warfare, and fight our battles.”
And they got their way.
God’s simple answer was simply, “Grant their request and appoint a king to rule them.”
It sounded like a child’s rant, “I want what she has!”
And eventually everyone gets tired of listening to the child, and they “give them what they want.”
But in this story, there is something very much bigger going on.
As written here, God sees their desire for a king as a rejection of his kingship — a rejection of God himself.
Psalm 146 (not today’s psalm) warns —
“Praise the Lord, O my soul. … Put not your trust in princes. In man in whom there’s no salvation.”
And that is exactly just what they were doing.
And so .. the plot thickens!
+ In the Gospel, the crowds keep coming to Jesus.
But this story today is the cream of the crop, and pure determination.
A paralytic comes seeking healing but can’t get into a crowded house where Jesus was teaching.
So what do you do?
Simple!
Get your friends and family to take you up on the thatched roof, remove the roofing, and lower you down right in front of where Jesus was.
And so they did.
And Jesus’ response was classic.
And Jesus saw faith and gave them more than anyone could have understood or expected.
He taught and gave them an experience of forgiveness: “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Jesus was attacking the spiritual force of sin that gets into our lives and destroys.
And this was seen by some as blasphemous —
“Only God can forgive sins.”
And Jesus, once again, did more than they could have imagined or expected.
And he did so in a way that left them speechless.
He spoke of and offered forgiveness; and he healed and gave a man who was paralyzed the ability to walk, run, dance, and jump like a child!
Healing, love, strength, and peace.
This man had it all!
And as the man followed Jesus’ command, and as the man rose and picked up his mat and went away in sight of everyone —
“All were amazed!”
Just what he might do to and for us if we, too, were determined to seek his healing and his love?
I wonder!
Father Perry Dean Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.
