“If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them. - Immanuel Kant: (1724 –1804: was a German philosopher who is considered the central figure of modern philosophy)

Gospel Text: (MK 2:1-12)

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,

it became known that he was at home.

Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,

not even around the door,

and he preached the word to them.

They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,

they opened up the roof above him.

After they had broken through,

they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,

"Child, your sins are forgiven."

Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,

"Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.

Who but God alone can forgive sins?"

Jesus immediately knew in his mind what

they were thinking to themselves,

so he said, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,

'Your sins are forgiven,'

or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'?

But that you may know

that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"

–he said to the paralytic,

"I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home."

He rose, picked up his mat at once,

and went away in the sight of everyone.

They were all astounded

and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Jesus could have spent His earthly life working physical cures and raising people from the dead. Had he stuck to these aims alone, He would have remained popular. There’s no telling how successful He might have become in the eyes of the world! But it was not for this “fifteen minutes of fame” that He came into our world of sin and death. It was to die that He dwelt among us. Give thanks that Jesus shows us how to put our mission above popularity, and how to put the aim of death before that of earthly life.