St. Martin's Church

March 10                                                                  Mark 1:1-13                                                            

More and more, it is what we see first - our initial impressions of a person or given situation - that forms the basis of what we believe to be true. Like Jesus, we see a paralyzed man, but unlike Jesus, we believe the man wants for more than the simple desire of acknowledgement and forgiveness. Why is it that our society is quick to judge...quick to anger, and slow to understand? I am reminded of a time while working in gypsy camps throughout Eastern Europe, spending my time with one of Europe's most reviled and distrusted people. On the surface it seemed as these people lived a horrid and tortured existence constantly on-guard, endlessly wary of outsiders, and having their nomadic existences transformed by non-gypsies into that of mere refugees. How was it, then, that they could smile so easily, despite shivering with cold or not knowing if they would eat that day? I wonder sometimes why its those who feel the sharp end of people's opinions, like the gypsies, like the paralyzed man brought before Jesus and judged by the crowd, are the ones who seem more at peace than those who wield the stick? What is it that makes them endure or stand up and walk unburdened?

                                                         Michael Persson

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