(Is.43:18-19,21-22,24b-25; Ps.41:2-5,13-14; 2Cor.1:18-22; Mk.2:1-12 “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.” What a wonderful promise the Lord makes to us today, and proves His word true in Jesus His Son. Yes, the Lord “has regard for the lowly and the poor,” and so He looks with pity on the paralytic lowered through the roof for healing. Jesus “help[s] him on his sickbed” and “take[s] away all his ailment,” both spiritual and physical, first granting him forgiveness of sins, then calling him to “rise, pick up [his] mat, and go home.” And so indeed his sins are gone, remembered no more, and so he is made whole… and so the home to which he returns is more than the one with walls and a roof – he returns to his eternal home in the arms of the Lord. How the Lord indeed reveals that He is “doing something new!” For do not all the people exclaim, “We have never seen anything like this” at the healing of the paralytic? And is it not right that they should glorify God in such a manner? What could be more remarkable than the teaching and healing and forgiving presence of Jesus in our midst? How could God fulfill His promises in a greater way? It could not be. “God is faithful,” indeed, and “the Son of God, Jesus Christ” is He who is the Father’s “yes” to all His promises. What can we do but rejoice in such grace? “O Lord, have pity on me; heal me, though I have sinned against you.” “In the desert [you] make a way, in the wasteland, rivers”; to the desert and wasteland of my sinful soul bring your cleansing waters. As you took pity on the paralytic, as you called him to rise from the unyielding pull of his mat, so call me to lift myself up from the mire of sin into which I have fallen. Let your promise be fulfilled in me: wipe out my offenses and remember my sins no more, that I might walk resolutely to my home in heaven and there “stand before you forever.” I give you my “yes” of faith this day. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "I Used To Be So Weak" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, you now work something new in our sight – our very salvation; forgive us all our sins. YHWH, what wonders you work in our midst through the Person of Jesus, for He comes to us as a stream in the desert, forgiving us all our sin and restoring us to health in your sight. Here indeed is something new, your very presence among us. O LORD, let us not fail to call upon you, let us not fail to come to you with all our ills, that you might readily heal us because of our faith. We shall be raised from our sickbeds if we but believe in the power upon your Son. Yes, the Spirit is with Him, and shall be with us if we but give ourselves over to you. Let us not remain dead in our sin, O LORD, doubting your goodness and your grace; let us put our faith in the One you have sent, and we will be blessed, and we will come to the home you prepare for us through the ministry of your only Son… and we will praise you forever.