A few days later Jesus went again to Capernaum, and one day as Jesus was
teaching, in the audience were scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the law
sitting there who had come from all the towns around Galilee, and from Judea and
Jerusalem. Word had gotten around that Jesus had come home. So many came that
there was no longer any room, not even around the door. Jesus was preaching the
Word, and God’s power was present for Jesus to heal.
There came four men carrying another who was paralyzed and lying on a pallet;
and they attempted to bring him in to lay him before Jesus. When they realized
they could not get near Jesus due to the crowd, they climbed to the housetop and
tore open the roof above where Jesus was; and after they made an opening, they
lowered him with the pallet down through the tiles, right in front of Jesus.
Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, my child. Your
sins are forgiven.”
But the scribes and the Pharisees began to think about what Jesus said and
asked, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemy? Why does the Man speak this way?
Only God can forgive sins.” But Jesus, realizing immediately in His Spirit what
they were thinking, replied and said to them, “Why are you asking yourselves
these things? Why do you think evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to
the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say ‘Arise and take up your
pallet and walk?’ But so you will know that the Son of humanity has authority on
earth to forgive sins,” He turned to the paralytic with the words,” I say to
you, arise, and take up your pallet and go home.”
The paralytic immediately got up in front of the entire crowd, and picking up
the cot on which he had lain, he left for his home, praising God; so that
everyone who had seen it were all shocked and amazed and glorified God, Who had
given such power. The people were filled with awe, saying, “We have never seen
anything like this! We have seen strange things today.”
(Mt. 9:2-8; Mk. 2:1-12; Lk. 5:17-26)
Jesus had returned to His base of operations from traveling to other towns and villages in the Galilee–most likely to the home of Peter and Andrew. Word had gotten around that He was back, and soon the house became crowded with people wanting to listen to what Jesus had to say, and perhaps hopefully witness a miracle. The little house was packed to overflowing. But it wasn’t only the common people who had shown up–the religious authorities were there–some coming from as far away as Judea and Jerusalem. Obviously, they were by now well aware of Jesus’ reputation, and one wonders if perhaps they had shown up in the hope of catching Jesus in some theological misstep.
Before long, four people arrived bearing a fifth soul on a litter. They were intending to bring him to see if Jesus could help him, but the house was so packed with people they couldn’t even get anywhere near the front door. Then someone got an idea. There was an outside stairway leading to the flat roof of the home, where people could go up to rest, meditate, sun themselves or even sleep on very hot nights. The friends climbed up to the roof. These Palestinian roofs were usually made up of wooden beams with earth packed in to keep out the rain. A bit of digging in the dirt and they were able to make a hole large enough to gently pass the poor soul’s body through where it would come to rest in front of Jesus.
Can you just picture Jesus sitting there surrounded by the crowd and preaching, when suddenly it starts raining dirt inside the room! He looks up to see a growing hole and anxious faces looking back down at Him. Then a rope is wrapped around the paralytic, cot and all, and the poor soul is slowly let down through the hole by the rope until he lies at Jesus’ feet. I can just imagine Jesus chuckling to Himself and shaking His head at the ingenuity and persistence of the friends. “Take courage, my child,” Jesus tells him. “Your sins are forgiven.”
Now, it might seem at first glance that this is a pretty peculiar way to heal someone, by telling them their sins are forgiven. The thing is, in many cultures, especially two thousand years and more ago, it was a common, accepted belief that illnesses were punishment from God. The book of Job is considered one of the oldest books of the Bible. In it, we find Job’s friends who had supposedly come to comfort him in his time of pain and anguish, pointing out to Job that he must acknowledge his sins and appeal to God for forgiveness and healing. (Job 4 ff.).
One would expect that in this scientific day and age one would look at illness differently, yet in some quarters in even supposedly civilized societies, there are those who today still equate sin with illness. Nowhere has this been more evident in recent years than in the face of AIDS, where many who supposedly are knowledgeable, educated people–teach that AIDS is punishment from God for being homosexual. I have even heard some, when questioned why even innocent babies are sometimes born with AIDS, state that it is God’s punishment on nations for allowing homosexuals to exist. They completely ignore the fact that AIDS is most prevalent in Africa, and in the heterosexual community there.
On the other hand, in some ways some illnesses are indeed caused by sin. We use and abuse our bodies. We overeat, drink to excess, smoke, do drugs, engage in promiscuous sex, fail to exercise, and when we get ill we wonder what happened. We must remember that gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. We forget that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and it is our spiritual duty to take care of that Temple.
It is also true that guilt and shame, regardless of whether it is deserved or not, can be so strong in people to actually make them sick. The subconscious mind has a very powerful influence on the human body. It has been scientifically demonstrated time and again that what a person believes about him or herself can prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tell someone often enough that they are evil, an abomination, or disgusting, and you can wreck not only their self-worth, you can do physical damage as well. Force someone to live in a closet–to lie about who they really are–and you’ll damage them physically as well as psychologically. Teach people to hate themselves, and you will shorten their lives as well.
Note that Jesus’ declaration that the paralytic’s sin was forgiven isn’t meant to imply that sin caused his paralysis. Jesus obviously was addressing the paralytic’s own belief about his situation. Jesus always communicates with us at the level of our belief and understanding. And how did Jesus treat this sinner? As a loving, comforting, gentle parent: It’s OK. You are God’s precious child. Don’t be afraid. Your sins, regardless of what they are, are forgiven.
Jesus also made note of the intercession of the four friends. We would say that they put legs on their prayers when they took the paralytic to and through the roof. The gospels don’t tell us whether or not the paralytic was a believer when he was delivered to Jesus–just that his friends were. However, he was willing to take a chance on Jesus. He was willing to follow instructions. When Jesus told him rise and walk, he immediately jumped up. It is important for us to recognize that often faith and action go hand-in-hand. We mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that we must act in accordance with the faith that we have. That can be putting the cart before the horse. Rather, when faced with something we must or should do, we act as if we had the faith we wish we did. More often than not, we discover our faith through our actions. We step out in spite of our lack of faith, and in the doing, God gives us the faith to continue.
In Romans 4:3 Paul wrote, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” In other words, Paul lauded Abraham (and Sarah) for having faith. Yet, Genesis 17:17 tells us that when God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, Abraham fell on his face laughing at the absurdity that a one-hundred-year-old man and a ninety-year-old woman would have a child. Doesn’t sound like much faith, does it. Even so, Abraham and Sarah did what God called them to do, and they had that child.
I can imagine that when the paralytic heard those blessed words of Jesus, he must have felt power surge through his body, which enabled him to jump up, grab his cot and go.
Needless to say, Jesus ruffled more than a few feathers by what He said. Wasn’t He breaking the Commandment by taking God’s Name in vain? Notice that they were less impressed that the paralytic was healed, as they were offended at the words Jesus used. They were so consumed with righteous indignation that they didn’t listen to their own words. They believed that illness and paralysis were caused by sin and that only God can forgive sins. Then they saw this paralytic healed of his body (therefore forgiven of his sins), and they became indignant. It never occurred to them that according to their own religious beliefs God surely must have come among them to bless and heal the sinner. Jesus had just outed Himself to them–had just told them that He was the Son of Humanity–that He had the power on earth to forgive sins–that He had the power to heal–and they missed it. They never saw it. Jesus had just offered them the revelation of all time, and they were off jousting at windmills. On the other hand, unlike the religious leaders who were too busy being offended to notice, both the paralytic and the rest of the onlookers recognized what God had just accomplished in their sight, and all praised and glorified God. They were shocked. They were bewildered. They were amazed. They were astonished. But they didn't fail to recognize that Someone with the power of God had come among them. And they were glad.
Points to Ponder