Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer for Help

130 O Lord, I have cried to You out of the deep places. ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears hear the voice of my prayers. ³ If you, Lord, should write down our sins, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But You are the One Who forgives, so You are honored with fear.

⁵ I wait for the Lord. My soul waits and I hope in His Word. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than one who watches for the morning; yes, more than one who watches for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord! For there is loving-kindness with the Lord. With Him we are saved for sure. ⁸ And He will save Israel from all their sins.

The People Keep the Passover

¹³ Many people gathered together at Jerusalem to keep the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast in the second month. There were very many people. ¹⁴ They took away the altars which were in Jerusalem. And they also took away all the special perfume altars and threw them into the river of Kidron. ¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The religious leaders and Levites were ashamed and made themselves holy, and brought burnt gifts to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ They stood in their places as they should, as given by the Law of Moses the man of God. The religious leaders placed the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many of the people who had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for every one who was unclean, to make them holy to the Lord. ¹⁸ For many of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not made themselves clean. Yet they ate the Passover in a different way than had been written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord forgive everyone ¹⁹ who makes his heart ready to look for God, the Lord God of his fathers, even if he does not follow the rules of the holy place for making himself clean.” ²⁰ And the Lord heard Hezekiah, and healed the people. ²¹ The people of Israel who were there in Jerusalem kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days with great joy. The Levites and the religious leaders praised the Lord day after day, singing with loud music to the Lord. ²² Then Hezekiah spoke comforting words to all the Levites who had good understanding in the Lord’s work. So the people ate the food of the Special Supper for seven days, giving peace gifts and thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then all the people decided to keep the Special Supper for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with joy. ²⁴ For King Hezekiah of Judah had given the people 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep. And the rulers had given the people 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And a large number of religious leaders made themselves holy. ²⁵ All the people of Judah were filled with joy, with the religious leaders and the Levites, and all the people who came from Israel. Both the people who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah were filled with joy. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. ²⁷ Then the religious leaders and Levites stood and prayed that good would come to the people. And their voice was heard. Their prayer came to the Lord’s holy place in heaven.

Jesus Heals a Man Who Was Let Down through the Roof of a House ^(A)

2 After some days Jesus went back to the city of Capernaum. Then news got around that He was home. ² Soon many people gathered there. There was no more room, not even at the door. He spoke the Word of God to them. ³ Four men came to Jesus carrying a man who could not move his body. ⁴ These men could not get near Jesus because of so many people. They made a hole in the roof of the house over where Jesus stood. Then they let down the bed with the sick man on it.

⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the sick man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁶ Some teachers of the Law were sitting there. They thought to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this Man talk like this? He is speaking as if He is God! Who can forgive sins? Only One can forgive sins and that is God!”

⁸ At once Jesus knew the teachers of the Law were thinking this. He said to them, “Why do you think this in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier to say to the sick man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your bed, and start to walk?’ ¹⁰ I am doing this so you may know the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” He said to the sick man who could not move his body, ¹¹ “I say to you, ‘Get up. Take your bed and go to your home.’” ¹² At once the sick man got up and took his bed and went away. Everybody saw him. They were all surprised and wondered about it. They thanked God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”