Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 / Mark 2:1-12
There is this quote from the series "Band of Brothers", a series about the lives of soldiers in WW II and a soldier said this after parachuting into Normandy in France, which was occupied by the Germans.
He said - "if some way I could get home again, I would find a nice peaceful town and spend the rest of my life in peace"
Certainly it was also the wish of every soldier who is fighting in a war; war is hell, even for the soldier.
But it is not just a soldier's wish to find a quiet place and to spend the rest of his life in peace, especially having gone through the horror of war.
It is also our desire to live a nice and quiet life and spend the rest of our days in peace.
The 1st reading would term this as a place of rest, and it is a place God has promised and prepared for us, a place that is beyond this world.
But the 1st reading also warns us to be careful not to forfeit and lose this place by being disobedient to God.
To be disobedient to God is to sin and turn away from Him. So what does it mean to be obedient to God?
Among other things, to be obedient to God is to forgive others just as God has for given us.
In the gospel, the scribes questioned Jesus as He declared the forgiveness of the sins of the paralytic.
When we do not doubt that God has forgiven us in Jesus, we would also likewise forgive those who sin against us. And then we will be able to spend the rest of our days in peace.