"Man, your sins are forgiven you." (Luke 5:20)

"Man, your sins are forgiven you."  (Luke 5:20)
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Wherever Jesus went He preached His Gospel and healed the sick.

Why did Jesus Come to the world, to preach the Gospel or to heal the sick?

Of course, He did both, but what was His purpose?

We go to Courtalam, we take bath in the falls and go shopping.

Why do we go to Courtalam, to  take bath in the falls or to go shopping?

Of course we go shopping, but our purpose is to take bath in the falls.

Jesus' coming to the world is purely spiritual.

Preaching the Gospel by His words and life was the purpose of His incarnation.

He practised what He preached,

He loved all the sinners,

He forgave their (including those who crucified Him) sins

and

sacrificed His life on the Cross as amendment for the sins of whole world.

Jesus heals our soul

by forgiving our sins,

strengthening it by  His grace 

and feeding it with His own flesh and blood.

Jesus became man to redeem our souls from sin,

not to cure physical illness.

But out of love and mercy He cured the illness of His followers.

Healing people's physical illness too was also a spiritual work

as it was done as a good work, 

done out of pure  divine love and mercy.

All the same,

the purpose of His coming to the world is healing the soul.

That was why , when he cured the paralyzed man, He said to Him,

"Man, your sins are forgiven you."

He said to the Pharisees,

"now, to convince you that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins  while he is on earth"

and  to the palsied man,

"I tell thee, rise up, take thy bed with thee and go home."

Jesus forgave the sins of the sick man

and cured his sickness

to show

that He  has power to forgive sins.

Only God can forgive sins,

so when He said  that the 'Son of Man' has power to forgive sins,

He proved that He was the  'Son of God' too.

Now,

what is the purpose of our coming into the world,

healthy spiritual life?

or healthy physical life?

We know that we have a body and a soul.

But many a times we behave as though we have only a body.

Even when we happen to suffer from cold, we lose no time to see a doctor.

But when we suffer from sins,

we don't care to go to a  priest

to confess our sins

and get our soul cured.

We forget that

it is our soul

that should be taken more care of

than our body.

What is the use of a healthy body with a dead soul?

Our soul is immortal, but our body will one day get decomposed within the earth. 

Many a times we make pilgrimages to many shrines of saints

and make offerings in cash or even in gold, 

to get cured of our physical illness

without at the same time  taking no care

for making confession!

Suppose one man goes to a hotel,

orders for meals by paying cash in advance

and walks out without taking the meals ordered,

what would we think of him?

"Something wrong at  the top!"

If we return from a shrine

without getting our sins forgiven,

won't we get the same commentary?

Should we not pray for a physical cure?

No. We can pray for a physical cure,

but without forgetting our soul

which is more important than our body. 

Lourdu Selvam.