If you’ve been following along with the reflections on Proverbs, this passage is going to seem familiar. It cautions against sins such as deceit, pretense and even pride.

In fact, proverb after proverb sounds so similar. Solomon is saying repeatedly, using strong language and various examples, that there are only two choices in life: good and evil, God’s way or Satan’s way. If something is not good, it is evil.

Jesus returns to Galilee after John’s arrest, an arrest that ends in death – perhaps a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own death? John’s ministry is over but Jesus’ has just started.

Evil Spirit Declares Jesus God’s Holy One in Capernaum Synagogue!

If there had been a local Galilee newspaper at the time perhaps this would have been the sensational headline.

Jesus’ day started with confronting an evil spirit in the synagogue (Mark 1:21-28) and ended, long after sunset, with him healing “all kinds of terrible diseases” and silencing and forcing out a lot of demons who knew who he was (Mark1: 34).

Leprosy, the law, and loquaciousness—these are just three of the things Jesus was dealing with in this short six-verse story.

The law strictly prohibited anyone with leprosy approaching anyone else.

This passage gives us a strange and even intriguing picture of forgiveness. Most often forgiveness is portrayed as God’s response to our confession of sins. In this passage we see something very different. Here it is not because of the crippled man’s faith that Jesus pronounces him forgiven but rather the faith of the man’s friends: “When Jesus saw how much faith they had…”

Something wonderful has happened and the news is spreading around the world! The nations are invited to a great celebration. No one is to attend as spectator. Oh no! Everyone is summoned to clap and shout joyfully!

This Psalm carries the reverberating sounds of celebration signaling the end of a long battle.