This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Isaiah 35:1-10

Desert flower

1 Let the desert and the dry lands be glad, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom; like the asphodel, 2 let it burst into flower, let it rejoice and sing for joy. The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; then they will see the glory of Yahweh, the splendour of our God.

3 Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees4 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.’

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed,6 then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy; for water will gush in the desert and streams in the wastelands.

7 The parched ground will become a marsh and the thirsty land springs of water; the lairs where the jackals used to live will become plots of reed and papyrus.

8 And through it will run a road for them and a highway which will be called the Sacred Way; the unclean will not be allowed to use it; He will be the one to use this road, the fool will not stray along it.

9 No lion will be there, no ferocious beast set foot on it, nothing of the sort be found; it will be used by the redeemed.10 For those whom Yahweh has ransomed will return, they will come to Zion shouting for joy, their heads crowned with joy unending; rejoicing and gladness will escort them and sorrow and sighing will take flight.

Unless we are to see this as a very general prophecy of peace and redemption, we must judge it to have escaped from Isaiah 40-55, spoken around the time of the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon. Here is the way through the desert along which God himself will return to Zion leading the exiled people back home; here is the imagery of desert fruitfulness and beauty which expresses the marvel of God’s goodness to a defeated people.

It has also been used of course by Christian believers as pointing to the ministry of Jesus-“He will be the one to use this road”. The note of reawakening and joy is entirely appropriate to the surprising graciousness of Jesus’ dealings with people. (see below).

We are accustomed to a certain atmosphere of exaggerated gloom about our situation in the world; and to faithless lack of hope in the generosity of God in Christ. Perhaps I could begin by applying the imagery to myself-“let the desert and wasteland be glad….let it burst into flower and sing for joy…..then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall sing….” Yes, yes, may it be so, for me, and even more, for those who cry out for the “goodness of God in the land of the living.”

Gospel, Luke 5:17-26

17 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 so that he should heal. 18 And now some men appeared, bringing on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay down in front of him. 19 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 of the gathering, in front of Jesus.

20 Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’

21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over. ‘Who is this man, talking blasphemy? Who but God alone can forgive sins?’

22 But Jesus, aware of their thoughts, made them this reply, ‘What are these thoughts you have in your hearts? 23 Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? 24 But to prove to you 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.’

25 And immediately before their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home praising God.26 They were all astounded and praised God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’

house of God in Peru

I’ve referred before in my blog to my notion of “oikos theology” (Greek oikos=house) which can be detected in passages such as this. Luke is not as clear as Mark about the house; Mark (chapter 2) suggests that Jesus was “at home”- he may have had a house in Capernaum. In these passages we should expect that new meanings of the old language about “God’s house” will be revealed. Here the man and his friends are so eager to find Jesus that they break into the holy place where God’s goodness is to be found. Jesus responds in liberating word and action. He asserts God liberating goodness in the forgiveness of sins and demonstrates it in his creative command, “Pick up your stretcher and go home.” (What a bad translation this is!!). Jesus is the house of God which will be broken (more catastrophically) on the cross to let loose the liberating love of God. A good way of accustoming your self to this theology is to take your favourite texts about God’s house and apply them to Jesus. E.g. “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!”