The Saint 75
Jesus came to deliver the gospel, which means the good news.
What is this good news? It is, to speak very broadly, that the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Or, to put it more provocatively (and probably
with more accuracy): the kingdom of heaven is Now. And what is
this kingdom of heaven? It is life free from the Self. Time and again,
Jesus comes forward to save us from ourselves and teach us to live
in heaven. Now.
We have multiple ways of sustaining slavery to Self, and Jesus is
out to expose them all— even the forms that can sometimes grip the
Savior himself. The Self grows strong in isolation, when we are un-
able to surrender ourselves to the community of sharing. We think
of ourselves only and not of the rest. We hide our resources away
so that we can use them privately. We believe that if we do not rely
on ourselves and only ourselves, we will not survive.
But the Self hood has other devices too. Earlier in the Gospel
according to Mark there is a scene where people come to Jesus
bearing a paralyzed man. The crowd around Jesus is so dense that
they cannot get him into direct contact with the suff erer, so they take
the roof off the dwelling where Jesus is teaching and they lower the
man down. Jesus sees the faith of the man and of those who have
brought him and he says quite simply, “Son, your sins are forgiven”
(Mark 2.5). The scribes— professional priests— who are pre sent are
angry. Who is this man to forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins.
Jesus feels their disquiet and he says to them, “Which is easier
to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Stand up
and take your mat and walk’?” He continues, “But so you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to
you, stand up, and take your mat and go to your home” (Mark 2.8–9).
And the man does. All who witness the event are amazed.
They believe that they have seen a miracle and in a sense they
have. But the miracle is in all probability a miracle of perception and