Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany: February 19, 2006.

Isaiah 43:18-25

Psalm 41

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Mark 2:1-12

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isa 43:18-19)

First Reading

God does new things, but do we recognize them? The texts for today remind us that God has made promises to God's people, but the way that God fulfills those promises may be new and different. Yet, because of God's past faithfulness, we can trust God's present and future faithfulness.

Isaiah offers God's people hope for the future. This hope is grounded in the history of Israel, which remembers God's saving acts. In the midst of Babylonian exile and the devastation of land, community, and family, the prophet commands the people not to remember the "former things," or the "things of old," because God is about to do something new. Ironically, these new things--the way in the wilderness, the river in the desert, the drink for the chosen people--evoke images from Israel's history, especially God's saving act through the exodus from Egypt and God's provision of water for the people in the desert. The promise is that God will continue to be with God's people in the midst of their despair and distress as God always has been, providing for the people so that they might praise God.

Then, the prophet reminds God's people of how they have denied God's presence, not offering sacrifices of praise to God but burdening God with sins and wearying God with iniquities. God has not abandoned Israel; Israel has abandoned God. And yet, God declares, "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (v. 25). God remains in relationship with Israel for God's own sake, not because of Israel's merit. Therein lies the hope for all of us.

Again, in Mark's account of Jesus' teaching the word and healing the paralytic, we recognize that God is doing a new thing. In Jesus, God entered into the world in a new way. Through Jesus' authority as Son of God, God now engages with other authorities (in this case primarily religious), and this causes conflict. However, as we find throughout Mark, this conflict is part of "the way" of the gospel in the world. The word that Jesus proclaims is God's very presence and purpose in the midst of the opposition that God's word faces.

Through the faith shown by the friends of the paralytic man, Jesus recognizes the faith that these people have in his ability to provide them with some kind of relief. Because of this faith, Jesus frees this man of his sins, offering him forgiveness. This does not heal the man's physical condition, and it does not mean to imply that the man's paralysis is a result of his sin. Not until the scribes start to question Jesus' ability to offer forgiveness of sins does Jesus heal the man's paralysis--a response to the challenge of the scribes to his authority to speak on behalf of God to forgive sins. The reality of the man standing and walking away is a sign of God's power residing in the "Son of man," God's new way of relating to God's people in the world--a new sign of God's faithfulness.

This portion of Paul's letter to the Corinthians is also a reminder of God's faithfulness to God's people and of the new way that God is working in the world through their proclamation. Paul seems to be defending his decision not to come to see the Corinthians again, apparently because of the pain that it could cause everyone in the midst of conflict. As the people of Corinth appear to be concerned about Paul's faithfulness to them, Paul reminds them of God's faithfulness throughout time--that in Christ "every one of God's promises is a 'Yes'" (v. 20). And because Paul, Timothy, and Silas have all been anointed by God through Christ with all of the Corinthians, and through their conversion/baptism have received the Spirit in their hearts, they know that Paul will be faithful to them in the promise of God's glory regardless of what the opposition tells them.

Pastoral Reflection

Psalm 41, in the midst of these readings, is really the song of each of the characters--of each of us. We all have known times when we have felt as though the world is getting the best of us. We feel weak and sick. We know that our enemies are working against us, hoping for our despair, for our demise. We hear the horrible things that others are saying about us, and their desire for the worst to happen to us causes us hurt. Even our friends seem to turn against us, and we feel that we are all alone.

I am sure that is how the people of Israel in exile felt. They were all alone in the midst of enemies. They were even turning against each other at times. Where could they turn? The paralytic was at the end of his rope, and the friends that he still had were willing to try anything to find some healing for him. The people in Corinth felt alone. They were facing the people who were speaking ill will toward Paul and making them wonder whether Paul really cared for them. Paul felt that he had been misunderstood, and others had been undermining his work in Christ in that community.

In times like these, when the world seems to be turned around, we can call to God in faith, "'O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you'" (Ps 41:4). Only in a posture of faith can we receive the transforming power of God, to recognize the new things that God is doing for us in the midst of our pain and our joy, to feel God's presence through Christ bursting forth with new life. We can then respond in faith, receiving the ever-new, transforming power of God's love, enjoying the intimate relationship between God's saving presence and the people's response of faith. As one of my favorite quotes states, "Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will" (Ben Stein).