There are moments in every life when our own strength is not enough; when we need others to lift us, guide us, and accompany us. The paralysed man in today’s Gospel is blessed with such friends. He longs to come into the presence of Jesus, but he cannot get there on his own. So his companions carry him, not just through the busy streets, but all the way to the house where Jesus is teaching. And when the crowd blocks the doorway, they refuse to be discouraged. They climb, they improvise, they break through the roof itself . They overcome every obstacle so their friend can meet the One who brings healing.
That opening in the roof becomes a powerful symbol: a sign of open hearts, open faith, open trust. Jesus sees not only a man lowered before him, but a community of love. And so, before restoring movement to his limbs, Jesus restores first his soul: “Your sins are forgiven.” Grace flows first into the deepest places of hurt, and only then does physical healing follow. The man rises, carrying the very stretcher that once carried him. the stretcher is a reminder of old pre-healing times. He doesn’t discard his stretcher, no, he walks away with it. We too must never forget of how things were before we were healed, so we can appreciated all God has done for us, and continues to do so.
Those who witnessed the scene are left astonished, praising God. And all of it began with the quiet determination of a few friends who refused to give up. Supporting a friend in their moment of weakness can unleash a ripple of grace that touches many lives, including our own.
The mosaics of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna form one of the most remarkable visual narratives of Christ’s life in early Christian art, stretching along the nave with scenes from his ministry: miracles, parables, and encounters rendered in luminous glass tesserae. Ravenna’s extraordinary mosaic tradition grew out of its role as a political and cultural crossroads; once the capital of the Western Roman Empire and later governed by the Ostrogoths, it became deeply shaped by the artistic language of Byzantium when the city returned to Eastern imperial rule under Emperor Justinian. With direct links to Constantinople, Ravenna absorbed the Byzantine love of mosaic shimmering surfaces, and theological storytelling in colour and light. Sant’Apollinare Nuovo shows this synthesis beautifully: Roman architectural order combined with a distinctively Byzantine spiritual radiance. Our scene depicts the Gospel reading of today with Jesus shown as the largest, most prominent figure.
by Father Patrick van der Vorst
