A BIG DAY FOR CAPERNAUM

they uncovered the roof where He was …and they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee  —St. Mark 2:4-5


This must have been a big day for the little town of Capernaum. The bible sets the scene fully like this:

And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
And straightaway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door,and He preached the word unto them.And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press [of the
crowd], they uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had
broken it up they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee —St. Mark 2:1-5

The best part was yet to come. Some scoffers on hand doubted Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. Reading their minds, Jesus answered thusThat ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins, (He saith unto the sick of the palsy)
I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed
and Glorified God… —St. Mark 2:10-12
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　 
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

The Truth Shall Make You Free

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free
                                             —St. John 8:32
　
A lot of people misquote this phrase. They say, instead, that "The truth shall set you free."
They might also say that I’m merely quibbling over words. Well, these are the words of Jesus Christ, so it’s important that we get them right. As He put it, If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed. —St. John 8:31
Set you free…make you free…what’s the difference anyway? It seems to me that there is a significant difference.
Unlatch a lion’s cage and run...the lion is set free. Drag a whale off the beach…it’s set free.
Being set free, the lion and the whale had not changed.  They simply saw a chance to escape and took the chance. They didn’t really know the truth; they didn’t know what lay outside the cage or off the beach.
Being made free, on the other hand, means that we have been changed.  Once we know the truth, we are fully informed. This is what I think Jesus meant by "free indeed." [If the Son…shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.—St. John 8:36] We are free to choose the truth…or not.
Truth is the knowledge of good and evil, truth versus lies. Knowing the truth entails responsibility. Adam and Eve learned this lesson the hard way. They disobeyed God, knew the truth, but chose to follow Satan’s lies instead.
Let us try not make the same mistake.

More examples from the Gospels:
for he [Satan] is a liar, and the father of it. —St. John 8:44

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
—St. Luke 23:34 　

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
                  — St Matthew 6:10                                                                                              

For me, this part of the Lord’s Prayer serves as a cautionary reminder that God’s will is not being done on earth. His will is truly done only in Heaven. It will remain thus until God’s Kingdom is established on earth when Jesus returns.
This is not to say that God is not in control of things on earth. "He removeth kings and setteth up kings," says Daniel 2:21. True, but kings on earth do not necessarily do God’s will. The kings He sets up on earth are perhaps just the kings —good or bad— whom their subjects need at a given time.
"All things work together for good,’ wrote St. Paul in Romans 8:28, "to them that love God." Those who don’t love God, the vast majority of people, certainly are not doing his will on earth.
When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), it was not his will to do so.  His will, surely, was for the residents of those cities to have behaved themselves properly. 
Second Peter 3.9 puts it like this: "The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  However, not all come to repentance.
"The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not," St. Paul wrote in Corinthians II 4:4. Minds blinded by Satan must have very little chance of intentionally doing God’s will.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the
vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

                                                                                        -St. Matthew 6:9

On that day, His kingdom will have come on earth and His will done.　

Our Father

Our Father which art in Heaven…
                                                 -St Matthew 6.9
The smartest man in history, was not Albert Einstein or King Solomon.
"All things were made by him," says St. John 1:3 concerning Jesus Christ. "Without him was not any thing made." When he walked the earth, therefore, He knew everything that there was and is to know.
The words of Jesus that have come down to us, so few in number, are worth studying in great detail. He chose his words carefully.
"Our Father…" begins the Lord’s Prayer. We skim quickly, perhaps, without questioning what these words mean.
His Father is in Heaven. That much we understand. How, though, can His Father be ours too?
Abide in me and I in you, he tells us in St. John 15:4.
To abide means to live. The place where we live is called our abode.  If we abide in Christ,  we live in him, we are part of him.   His Father, therefore, is our Father too. .

More examples from the Gospels:

I am the vine, ye are the branches.  He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit:  for without me ye can do nothing.
                                                      -St. John 15:5
                                                   
If God were your Father, ye would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God… Why do you not understand my  speech? Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
                                                                —St. John 8:42-44


as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
those that believe on his name.
                                                         -St. John 1:12










　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead

And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him,
Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
                              -St. Matthew 8:21-22


This remark of Jesus, spoken to a grieving son or daughter, is quite puzzling. How is it possible that the Son of God—a loving God—could be so insensitive? Answer: it’s not possible. There must have been a loving reason for his words.
This is what I think he meant to teach us… The disciple’s father was literally dead; those who buried him [perhaps non-believers in Christ] may have been spiritually dead.
I am come that they might have life, and…have it more abundantly, Jesus told us in the famous verse St. John 10:10. To be without Him, therefore, is be without life.
Those who don’t follow him are the dead.

Another example from the gospels:
 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living:　　 ye therefore do greatly err.
                                       -St. Mark 12:27