Friday of 1st Week OT A 2026

Gospel

Mark 2:1-12

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,
it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way?  He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what 
they were thinking to themselves, 
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
He rose, picked up his mat at once, 
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

 

Jesus does the unimaginable. He heals and he delivers what everyone but those with faith thought impossible.

 

We only ask for what we think is possible with little effort. We fail to ask Hod for what we really want because we think it is impossible.

 

We have limited minds with expectations bounded by what we understand or believe and forget that God is not limited and his ways are beyond our understanding. Usually, we cannot even conceive of what God can do for us. What God wants for us.  So, we don’t ask.

 

If the man born paralyzed had heard of this Jesus and just said it is impossible for any man to heal him. It is impossible for this Jesus.

He would have had a different life limited by his own self-made limitations.

 

We are reminded today that we should pray for the best outcome no matter how impossible it seems to us. For God is the God of the impossible. For he is unlimited and all powerful. And his love for us eternal. He want the best for us.

 

Pray for more. Pray without ceasing. One day you too will be astonished at what Jesus can do for you.