A reading from the prophet Isaiah (35:1-10)
Let the desert and the arid lands be glad,
let the wasteland rejoice and bloom;
let it burst into flower like the crocus,
let it rejoice and sing for joy.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they shall see the glory of the Lord,
the splendour of our God.
Strengthen all weary hands,
steady all trembling knees
and say to the faint-hearted,
‘Be strong! Do not be afraid.
Here is your God,
vengeance is coming, divine retribution;
he is coming to save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lame will leap like a deer
and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy;
for water will burst forth in the desert
and streams in arid lands,
parched ground will become a marsh
and thirsty land springs of water;
lairs where the jackals used to live
will become plots of reed and rushes.
And through it will run a highway
which will be called the Sacred Way.
The unclean will not be allowed to use it:
it shall be for God’s people
and the fool will not stray along it.
No lion will be there,
no predator set foot on it,
none shall be found there;
the redeemed shall walk there.
Those ransomed by the Lord shall return
and come to Zion shouting for joy,
crowned with joy unending;
rejoicing and gladness will escort them
and sorrow and sighing will take flight.
The healing of the natural world and the healing of human beings are intertwined in this poem. As so often in the second part of Isaiah, for example in chapter 41, so also here the desert becomes fertile. The tone is especially exuberant, for the ‘glory’ (kabod) of the Lord, the ‘splendour’ (hadar) of our God, glimpsed in Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon, is now revealed. The faint-hearted are consoled, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dumb speak. Once the land becomes fertile, a ‘Sacred Way’ (derek haqqodesh) is made for God’s people, where there is complete safety to return to Sion, ‘shouting for joy’. The passage anticipates the poems of the second Isaiah. As in Isaiah 49, Sion’s children will return from the nations. ‘Sorrow and sighing’ are at an end.
Psalm 85 (84) God comes to save. ‘Justice marches before him’, and ‘peace follows his steps’.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (5:17-26)
Now it happened that he was teaching one day, and Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was there that he should heal. And now some men came, bringing on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. But as they could find no way of getting the man through the crowd, they went up onto the top of the house and lowered him and his stretcher down through the tiles into the middle, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ The scribes and the Pharisees began to discuss this: ‘Who is this man, talking blasphemy? Who but God alone can forgive sins?’ But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply, ‘What are you discussing in your hearts? Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralysed man – ‘I order you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ And immediately before their eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home glorifying God. They were all astounded and glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’
While the Isaiah reading described the healing of the earth and of human lives, the gospel focusses on one man. The paralysed man takes no part in the healing. It is the faith of his friends which Jesus ‘sees’, lavishly giving healing to the sick man. He is the recipient of the power of God through Jesus, firstly as his sins are forgiven and his heart healed. His getting up and going home confirms that Jesus does indeed have power to heal the whole person. The religious leaders seem unwilling to acknowledge that God’s healing can be bestowed in this way, but the people are ecstatic. They are more open to the surprises God can work.
How might religious faith close our minds to the surprises of God?
God works for our good even when we are unaware of God’s power.