The Pharisees believed a person’s afflictions were the result of sin. In their view, people had to suffer as a result of their own evil. They had to suffer, as a just punishment. Therefore, to heal them was in a way letting them off the hook so that they didn’t suffer the consequences of their acts. The Pharisees were indignant with Jesus, because he healed those kind of people. Instead of allowing them to suffer, according to the Pharisees, Jesus "cancelled" their debt of punishment and suffering. They accused Jesus of being in league with the devil because he seemed to be giving people license to sin with impunity (Matthew 9:32-38).
Jesus saw things differently. He had compassion on afflicted people and did what he could for them. That involved the forgiveness of their sins. He showed them true freedom, and made them taste it. To have compassion means to feel with the other, to suffer with the other. This is God's compassion, God's mercy: He even suffers with us. He doesn’t look at our faults, but at the places in us that are trying to say “yes.” As we ourselves do the same with our children, He looks beyond our naughtiness and failures to look into those places where we are open to the divine. He sees beyond the “no” to the abiding “yes.” He sees the divine image in us as we see our image in our children.
God’s mercy is so powerful to bring about righteousness in us. The Muslims have a saying. They say that no one can escape from the power of God, and the power of God is his mercy.
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