VII. "SON, THY SINS BE FORGIVEN THEE." MARK ii. 5. ESUS has returned to Capernaum from a ministering journey through the towns and villages of Galilee, and He has taken up His abode, as it is written, in the house, that is, as we should say, at home. Jesus at home! But He had no house of His own at whose home is He then? Let us consider a moment. The Gospel of S. Mark was written almost immediately after S. Peter's martyrdom at Rome, in the year 63. S. Mark was in constant attendance on S. Peter (S. Peter you know, Epistles, calls him his son), and after his death was enabled, by the Holy Spirit, to commit to writing S. Peter's in one of his account of passages in the life of our Lord, often in His own words. This he seems to have done in the present instance. You will remember that one of the incidents in that day of marvellous action, described in the first chapter of this Gospel, was the healing of Peter's wife's mother. What could be more natural then, but that as a slight return for that loving-kindness, S. Peter should give our Lord a welcome to his house, and in that house Jesus is at home. Is He at home in yours? Shall you find Him at home when you go back from church? Shall you all talk with Him together? Will there be family prayer-real prayer in your house to-night? Well, the people have heard of His return, and they straightway gather together to see and hear Him-gather together in such numbers that they throng the little dwelling within and without, insomuch "that there was no room to receive them, no not so much as about the door, and He preached the word unto them." Here is a scene that no mortal artist could ever hope to paint. The low square house builded about a small court the court, part covered by a tiled verandah-under the verandah, Jesus sitting with His back to the house-wall, |