The Lord declares His sovereignty. When the poor and needy search for water and
find none, He will provide and not just a little water but abundance, rivers on
the bare heights, fountains in the midst of the valleys, the wilderness a pool
of water, and the dry land springs of water.
So abundant will this water be that the wilderness and desert will be no
more, they will become forests and this will testify to the hand of God
creating it. Next He challenges the gods
to speak and foretell the past, present and future, knowing that they are
unable to do so. All things are
mysterious to us because we see only a small slice of time. We can dissect a moment but we cannot know
its true meaning without knowing the entire sweep of history and one alone
knows such things. Israel, and all who
believe in the Lord, can rest in the security that He knows all things and He
knows the end of all things.
As you know, I believe that the paralytic had done something
that "caused" the paralysis in one way or another. I believe that because Jesus proclaims the
man to be forgiven prior to commanding him to arise. The man's need for forgiveness was paramount,
Jesus didn't speak this simply to be provocative. If forgiveness is nothing more than words,
then healing doesn't happen, but if Jesus' absolution was more than words,
healing was made possible by the proclamation.
Jesus knew something about this man, we don't know if His knowledge was
unique, perhaps everyone knew the man's sin, but we do know that when He
communicated the absolution of God, the man was healed. In our worship, do we expect healing when the
priest pronounces absolution or is that just a piece of the liturgy without
meaning? If we come with contrition for
sin then we should come seeking healing through forgiveness. We are not dualists, we are both body and
spirit as one.
Paul uses so many metaphors here it is amazing. He is trying in every way possible to
communicate the truth of reconciliation with God through Christ alone. We Gentiles were once aliens and strangers to
the community of God and the covenants of God, we had no hope in the world. We weren't just aliens and strangers though,
we were enemies who also had no peace. Not
only did we have no peace with God, we had no peace at all, and no hope of
peace. Life was, in the words of Thomas
Hobbes, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Now that He has sent His Son, the dividing
wall of hostility has been broken down and we are reconciled to God and one
another. Jesus promised rivers of living
water and then fulfilled that promise in turning wastelands and deserts into
oases. We are able to be restored to
hope and to have peace. He has healed us
by forgiving us.
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