Today's Old Testament Lesson is from the Book of Isaiah, beginning at the 43rd Chapter, and the 18th Verse:
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities. I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
Today's Epistle is from the 2nd Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, beginning at the 10th Chapter, and the 1st Verse:
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, beginning at the 2nd Chapter, and the 1st Verse:
And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he said to the paralytic-- "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
Today's readings talk about God's reactions to sin. They are not anger or vindictiveness, as some preachers would have it. God does not seek the death of sinners -- he seeks their life and healing, as the Gospel shows.
In today's Old Testament Lesson, The Lord is talking to Israel through the mouth of Isaiah. It is very significant to note that true Prophecy, as practiced by Isaiah and the other major Prophets, does not talk about the far future -- it is not forecasting.
It is, rather, talking about the present and the immediate future. When the Prophets talk about the future, they tend to say: "Here is what you need to do. If you don't shape up, and do the will of God, here's what is going to happen."
People who want to pick out specific dates from Isaiah or Daniel or Revelations say are simply deluding themselves. God is not in the business of hiding arcane clues to the future in dusty corners, for ingenious Obsessive-Compulsives to find.
He IS, as todays lesson from Isaiah says, interested in: "...the people whom I have formed for myself that they might declare my praise." He further says: "I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."
He sees the sins: "...you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities." But He is willing to forget, and in His love for us, to heal us and wash away the guilt and the sorrow and the sickness.
Here, in the Old Testament, which is supposedly full of the thunder and anger of a Righteous God, we find the loving Father that Our Lord talks about in the New Testament. Not a god of wrath, but a passionately loving Father, concerned for His children, and willing to forgive them everything.
For His people, He will: "...make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.." Out of love, He will change the earth -- perform miracles!
In the portion of St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, which we read today, he starts out with the phrase: "As surely as God is faithful.." What greater statement of God's purpose towards us could we have? He is Faithful!
Faithful in love, faithful in concern, and faithful in watchfulness. Faithful enough to pour Himself out to us, to take human form, to teach and touch us himself.
As St. Paul says: "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ...was not Yes and No; but in Him is always Yes." Always YES to each one of us -- forgiveness of sins, healing of despondence and dependence -- He is not some vast, unapproachable ruler, but is here among us and in us.
We are the Mystical Body of Christ, and He enters into each of us in the Euchatrist -- a continuing miracle every day of our lives, if we will just be faithful enough to receive Him. He comes to us and takes us, he is closer to our deepest selves than we are -- in Him, His forgiveness, His power and His energy, we are made whole -- and fully human.
Jesus, like His Father, is a passionate lover of mankind. He comes to us at once as a simple carpenter and teacher, and at the same time as the God and Former of Creation -- as St. John's Gospel says: "...and without Him no thing was made..." So He is both the tremendous and awe-inspiring Lord, and the guy next door with a job and a mortgage.
He undoubtedly had to by wood and tools for His carpentry business in Nazareth, and during the course of His ministry, he showed awareness of the problems of dealing with too little money. He came among us to do the Will of the Father -- which is to save sinners and heal the afflicted.
St. Paul says, a little farether on: "But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ..." In other words, God has willed that we become part of Christ, and thus be joined to himself.
And a bit further: "...He has put His seal upon us, and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee". Here, all three Persons of the Trinity conspire together to save us, to transforms us, and to lead us.
For those who would deny the doctrine of the Trinity, here is Paul speaking clearly of it, within 20 or so years of the Crucifixion. God the Father establishes us in Christ Jesus, and gives us the Spirit in our hearts. What greater thing could such a passionate lover of mankind do?
Today's Gospel carries on the theme -- Jesus is preaching in Capernaum, and the crowds are so thick, that to get a paralytic to him, they have to tear off the roof of the house where He is staying. Jesus promptly exercisies His authority, and forgives the man's sins.
Notice that He forgives the sins -- for sin is what divides us from God, which makes us afraid and lonely in the dark. By sin, we remove ourselves from God, but He, in the person of Jesus, reaches out to draw us back.
The usual suspects are grumbling in the corners -- Scribes, saying "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Jesus does not put up with this for a minute -- he cures the man on the spot, making the point that not only can he heal, but that he has God's authority to forgive sinners.
If no-one but God can forgive sins, and if Jesus forgives sins, and makes it stick by curing paralysis in the bargain -- then who can say, in good conscience, that He is not God? He is the Son of God, the Second Person to the Blessed Trinity, by whom, and with whom, and in whom, we live and move, and have our being.
So we go from the Father's miracle in the wilderness, for the people He has chosen, to the faithfulness of the Trinity in establishing us in Christ, to Christ Himself showing forth by a miracle His authority to draw us in and heal us. Let us all, then, work and pray that we may reach out as passionately to God in Christ, as He reaches out to us in the Spirit...
In the Name of
The Father +
And of the Son
And of the Holy Spirit
Amen.