Wow, amazing how all the texts fit together. Whoever chose Psalm 12 had great wisdom. The faithful vanish as Adam and Eve fall. Everyone utters lies and speak from double hearts (Psalm 12:1-2) as they respond to God about their sin. But then God promises to cut off the tongue of the serpent that made great boasts (Psalm 12:3) when the seed of Eve crushes his head (Genesis 3:15).
So that man does not live by bread alone (after he tried finding life apart from the word that comes from the mouth of God - Lenten Antiphon 1), the Lord God exiles man from the garden.
Though man brought sin into the world, and death through sin, the LORD places man into safety (Psalm 12:5) in the Mark 2: 1-12 reading - first dealing with sin through forgiveness, then dealing with death through making the lame man to walk. Was the paralytic disappointed when Jesus "only" forgave him? I used to think so, but I'm not so sure anymore. He could have had friends like Job's telling him he was suffering terribly because he sinned terribly - or his parents did (see John 9). And even if his "friends" didn't, his mind could have been accusing him of past sins - or it could have been cursing God for treating him this way. At any rate, I now think the man was actually greatly relieved when the Lord told him to rejoice that his sins were forgiven.
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