Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.

A Song of Ascents.

Passover Reinstituted

¹³ Now many people were gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^(A)in the second month, a very large assembly. ¹⁴ They got up and removed the altars which were in Jerusalem; they also ^(B)removed all the incense altars and ^(C)threw them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵ Then ^(D)they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth of the second month. And ^(E)the priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. ^16 (F)They stood at their stations following their custom, according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, ^(G)the Levites were in charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord. ¹⁸ For a multitude of the people, ^(H)many from Ephraim and Manasseh, and Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, ^(I)yet they ate the Passover ^(J)contrary to what was written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon ^19 (K)everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ So the Lord heard Hezekiah and ^(L)healed the people. ²¹ The sons of Israel present in Jerusalem ^(M)celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests were praising the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord. ²² Then Hezekiah ^(N)spoke ^[a]encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and ^(O)giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then the whole assembly ^(P)decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy. ²⁴ For ^(Q)Hezekiah king of Judah had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep, and the princes had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and ^(R)a large number of priests consecrated themselves. ²⁵ All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, with the priests and the Levites and ^(S)all the assembly that came from Israel, both the strangers who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem ^(T)since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. ²⁷ Then ^(U)the Levitical priests stood and ^(V)blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to ^(W)His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

The Paralyzed Man Healed

2 When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. ² And ^(A)many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. ^3 (B)And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was ^(C)paralyzed, carried by four men. ⁴ And when they were unable to ^[a]get to Him because of the crowd, they ^(D)removed the roof ^[b]above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the ^(E)paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, ^(F)your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! ^(G)Who can forgive sins except God alone?” ⁸ Immediately Jesus, aware ^[c]in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the ^(H)paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? ¹⁰ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and ^(I)were glorifying God, saying, “^(J)We have never seen anything like this!”