Paragraph 145

It is also recorded in the Gospel according to St. Luke, that on a certain day Jesus passed by a Jew who was sick of the palsy, and lay upon a couch. When the Jew saw Him, he recognized Him, and cried out for His help. Jesus said unto him: “Arise from thy bed; thy sins are forgiven thee.” Certain of the Jews, standing by, protested saying: “Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” And immediately He perceived their thoughts, Jesus answering said unto them: “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, arise, and take up thy bed, and walk; or to say, thy sins are forgiven thee? that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” This is the real sovereignty, and such is the power of God’s chosen Ones! All these things which We have repeatedly mentioned, and the details which We have cited from divers sources, have no other purpose but to enable thee to grasp the meaning of the allusions in the utterances of the chosen Ones of God, lest certain of these utterances cause thy feet to falter and thy heart to be dismayed.

In many ways, this is the last substantial paragraph regarding "sovereignty", the next paragraph being the summation of this whole section. And isn't it interesting that He has looked to Jesus for these last two examples to explain what is truly meant by that word?

The uncle of the Bab, no doubt, would have recognized the sovereign nature of Jesus, and probably known these stories. He was, after all, fairly well-read in religion.

In the previous paragraph, the question was asked about His claim, and Jesus basically said, "Can't you see Me? Sitting on the right hand of power and might?" The uncle would obviously have understood this, even though at that point in His story, Jesus is a prisoner, and about to suffer crucifixion. He appears to all to be a lowly prisoner, and yet He claims to have this great seat.

In this paragraph, He goes to heal someone, and further extends this to the forgiveness of his sins. How can this be? The Jews wonder. And His reply is to the effect of "What's more difficult? Healing someone of these ills? Or forgiving their sins?" To many of us, we would say the former, for we don't understand how that miraculous healing can occur. Yet, to one who is wise, the latter would be. To the common person, merely saying these words, forgiving their sins, is easy, for there is no proof of it, but to one who understands Jesus' station, they know that the latter is infinitely more difficult.

As Baha'u'llah says, "This is the real sovereignty..."

To go on a bit of a tangent, we just want to look at the concept of Jesus' healing for a moment. Baha'u'llah, in Gleanings, writes, "Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified." He continues by pointing out, "Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil that interveneth between man and the recognition of the Lord, his God."

To look at this again, we realize that any doctor can basically heal the body. And while we know that healing is also dependent upon God, this physical healing is something that more and more people can accomplish today. But here, Baha'u'llah links these stories of healing by Jesus to the education of humanity.

Today, we see various social ills running rampant. Racism, for example, is on the rise. And we know that racism is based on ignorance, and is considered a disease. So when we think about healing humanity from this illness, racism, we can see how the education given through the holy Writings can be a great source for healing us, and our society, from this horrendous disease.

In this paragraph, Baha'u'llah quotes Jesus pointing out that it is the spiritual that is far more important. Sure, healing the body is wonderful and all, but healing the soul, forgiving the sins, is of far greater import.

Hasn't this been His message throughout regarding sovereignty? Earthly sovereignty pales in comparison to that divine sovereignty.

And here, we can see that it is Their ability to heal these dreadful ills of both the individual and society that are, again, far more important than anything else.

There is also an allusion to the importance of recognizing the Messenger. Baha'u'llah says that the Jew "recognized Him", and perhaps that is why Jesus was able to forgive his sins. By placing this point here in the text, perhaps Baha'u'llah is adding the reminder to the uncle that he needs to recognize his Nephew if he also wants his sins forgiven.

Now that He has finished His explanation of true sovereignty, it seems timely that He introduce the importance of recognizing. And don't forget, part 1 was centered around this whole issue of being detached from one's own beliefs and understandings so that recognition was possible. Here, we seem to be coming back to that theme again.