Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song to sing as we climb.

I have great trouble

¹³ In the second month of the year, a very large crowd of people came together in Jerusalem. They came there for the Festival of Flat Bread.^{[a] 14} They removed the altars for false gods that were in Jerusalem. They also removed all the altars where people burned incense. They threw them into the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ On the 14th day of the second month, they killed the lamb for the Passover feast. The priests and the Levites who were not yet clean became ashamed. So they made themselves clean to serve the Lord. Then they could bring burnt offerings to the Lord's temple. ¹⁶ They stood in their proper places. God's servant Moses had written in God's law where they should stand. The Levites gave the blood from the sacrifices to the priests. The priests then splashed the blood on the altar. ¹⁷ Many of the people had not made themselves properly clean. So they could not kill their lambs for the Passover and offer them to the Lord. The Levites had to kill the lambs for those people instead. ¹⁸ Most of the people who came from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not made themselves properly clean. They should not have eaten the Passover meal, because God's law said that was wrong. But they still ate the meal. So Hezekiah prayed for them. He said, ‘Lord you are good. Please forgive everyone ¹⁹ who really wants to obey you, the God of their ancestors. If they have not made themselves properly clean to eat this meal, please forgive them.’ ²⁰ The Lord accepted Hezekiah's prayer. He did not punish those people.

²¹ The Israelites who were in Jerusalem enjoyed the Festival of Flat Bread for seven days. They were very happy. Every day, the Levites and the priests made loud music to praise the Lord.

²² All the Levites understood how they should serve the Lord. So King Hezekiah thanked them. The festival continued for seven days. They offered friendship offerings to the Lord. They thanked the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

²³ Then all the people who were there agreed to continue the feast for another seven days. So they did that happily for seven more days. ²⁴ King Hezekiah of Judah gave 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to the people. The leaders also gave them 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. Many more priests also made themselves clean to serve the Lord.

²⁵ Everyone at the festival was very happy. They included all Judah's people, the priests, the Levites and the whole group of people who had come from Israel. There were also foreign people who were living in Israel and in Judah. ²⁶ Everyone enjoyed the festival in Jerusalem. Nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the time when David's son Solomon was king of Israel. ²⁷ The priests and the Levites stood up and they asked God to bless the people. Their prayers reached the Lord's home in heaven, and he did what they asked for.

Jesus helps a man who cannot walk

2 Several days after that, Jesus returned to Capernaum. People heard the news that he had come back to his home. ² Many people came into the house. The house was so full that there was no room, even outside the door. Jesus was teaching people about the good news. ³ Four men came. They were carrying another man on a mat. That man could not move his legs. ⁴ They could not reach Jesus because of the crowd. So they made a hole in the roof above the place where Jesus was.^[a] They helped the man to go down through the hole. He was still lying on his mat. ⁵ Jesus saw the man and his friends. He knew that they believed in him. So he said to the man who could not walk, ‘My friend, I forgive you for your sins.’

⁶ But some teachers of God's Law were sitting there. They thought about the words that Jesus had spoken to the man. ⁷ They thought, ‘This man Jesus should not have said that. He is speaking as if he is God. Only God can forgive people for their sins.’

⁸ Immediately, Jesus knew in his spirit what the teachers were thinking. He said to them, ‘You should not think these things. ⁹ I said to this man who cannot walk, “I forgive you for your sins.” Instead, I could have said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Which of those is easier for me to say? ¹⁰ But I want you to know this. I, the Son of Man, have authority on earth to forgive people for their sins.’^[b] Then he said to the man who could not walk, ¹¹ ‘I am saying to you, stand up! Pick up your mat and go home.’ ¹² Immediately, the man stood up. He picked up his mat and he walked out of the house. Everyone watched him do this. The people were very surprised. They praised God and they said, ‘God is great. We have never seen anything like this before.’