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Reflection on this Sunday's scripture readings
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Isaiah 43:18-19.21-22.24-25
Psalm 40
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
Today's readings focus on our need for forgiveness and God's enduring mercy. In the first readings the prophet Isaiah presents the returning exiles with a picture of a God who, despite being forgotten by his people, is willing to overlook the past, forgive their sins and make a new beginning. Then the people, redeemed, will sing God's praises.
In the gospel reading, Jesus emphasises God's forgiveness when he pronounces a sick man's sins forgiven. The crowds must have been taken aback since the man expected to be healed of his physical ailment. Indeed, his authoritative declaration shocked the scribes, the first group of Jesus' "opponents" in this section of Mark's Gospel, who would have regarded a claim to forgive sins as blasphemous. But Jesus went on to heal the man, confirming his God-given authority to forgive sins.
Jesus remarked on the faith of the paralytic man and his friends. They believed that Jesus had the God-given power to heal and effect a change in their lives. Do we have that faith? God wants us to come to him and make our lives new. Then we will be amazed and sing God's praises!