I have been reading with sadness today about TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson, in the news because he was found shoplifting in his local Tesco. It is sad when people do the wrong thing, and it seems even sadder when they have it splattered all over the newspaper. I know very little about him, and I can’t begin to imagine what journey has taken him from a successful chain of restaurants to this petty crime, except to know he must be suffering.

I can never forget that we are all flawed in some way or another , that at times the face we show to the outside world hides a very different face which only those closest to us see, and we would prefer others not to know. 

When Jesus came face to face with the paralyzed man who needed his healing he knew instantly that the inability to walk was the least of this man’s problems, that what he was faced with was not the real issue and so to the consternation of those around him he tells the man he is forgiven, and then asks him to take up his mat and walk.

Whatever help Anthony Worrall Thompson receives I hope it gets to the heart of the matter and it reminds me to be more sensitive and  perceptive  to see what is really going on in the lives of those around us.

'Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”' Mark 2 :3-6