Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song for going up to the Temple.

¹³ Many people came together in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. It was a very large crowd. ¹⁴ The people took away the altars in Jerusalem that were for false gods and all the incense altars that were for false gods. They threw them into the Kidron Valley. ¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the second month. The priests and the Levites felt ashamed. They made themselves ready for holy service. The priests and the Levites brought burnt offerings into the Lord’s Temple. ¹⁶ They took their regular places in the Temple as described in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood to the priests. Then the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. ¹⁷ There were many people in the group who had not made themselves ready for holy service, so they were not permitted to kill the Passover lambs. That is why the Levites were responsible for killing the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean. The Levites made each lamb holy for the Lord.

^18-19 Many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not prepared themselves in the right way for the Passover Festival. They did not celebrate the Passover the right way, as the Law of Moses says. But Hezekiah prayed for the people. So he said this prayer, “Lord God, you are good. These people sincerely wanted to worship you in the right way, but they did not make themselves clean as the law says. Please forgive these people. You are the Lord, the God our ancestors worshiped. Forgive them, even if some did not make themselves clean as the rules of the Most Holy Place say.” ²⁰ The Lord listened to King Hezekiah’s prayer and forgave the people. ²¹ The people of Israel in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy for seven days. And the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with all their strength.^{[a] 22} King Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who understood very well how to do the service of the Lord. The people celebrated the festival for seven days and offered fellowship offerings. They gave thanks and praise to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

²³ All the people agreed to stay seven more days. They were joyful as they celebrated the Passover for seven more days. ²⁴ King Hezekiah of Judah gave 1000 bulls and 7000 sheep to the assembly to kill and eat. The leaders gave 1000 bulls and 10,000 sheep to the assembly. Many priests prepared themselves for holy service. ²⁵ All the assembly of Judah, the priests, the Levites, all the assembly who came from Israel, and the travelers who came from Israel and moved to Judah—all these people were very happy. ²⁶ So there was much joy in Jerusalem. There had not been a celebration like this since the time of Solomon son of King David of Israel. ²⁷ The priests and the Levites stood up and asked God to bless the people, and he heard them. Their prayer came up to heaven, the holy place where he lives.

Jesus Heals a Crippled Man^(A)

2 A few days later, Jesus came back to Capernaum. The news spread that he was back home. ² A large crowd gathered to hear him speak. The house was so full that there was no place to stand, not even outside the door. While Jesus was teaching, ³ some people brought a paralyzed man to see him. He was being carried by four of them. ⁴ But they could not get the man inside to Jesus because the house was so full of people. So they went to the roof above Jesus and made a hole in it. Then they lowered the mat with the paralyzed man on it. ⁵ When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the paralyzed man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Some of the teachers of the law were sitting there. They saw what Jesus did, and they said to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this man say things like that? What an insult to God! No one but God can forgive sins.”

⁸ Jesus knew immediately what these teachers of the law were thinking. So he said to them, “Why do you have these questions in your minds? ^9-10 The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. But how can I prove this to you? Maybe you are thinking it was easy for me to say to the crippled man, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ There’s no proof it really happened. But what if I say to the man, ‘Stand up. Take your mat and walk’? Then you will be able to see if I really have this power or not.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I tell you, stand up. Take your mat and go home.”

¹² Immediately the paralyzed man stood up. He picked up his mat and walked out of the room. Everyone could see him. They were amazed and praised God. They said, “This is the most amazing thing we have ever seen!”