He entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town. 2 And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” 3 At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? 5 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 7 He rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.
Jesus got into the boat again and went back across the lake to Capernaum where he lived (Mt. 4:13). Jesus had gained a reputation for healing, so a large crowd of people gathered outside of the house to see him. Some men bringing a paralytic to Jesus to be healed had to carry him up the outside staircase to the flat roof. They removed parts of the roof and let him down to Jesus (Mk. 2:2-4). Jesus was moved by their faith. The ancient Jewish belief was that illness was the result of sin (Jn. 9:2). Therefore, the man might have been concerned that Jesus would not heal him because of his sinfulness. Jesus said to him, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven (v. 2).” If sin was the cause of the disease, the forgiveness of sins must precede the cure.
The Scribes, teachers of the Mosaic Law, understood that only God had the power to forgive sins because sins are committed against God and God alone; “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses (Is. 43:25).” A ‘righteous anger’ arose in the Scribes because Jesus had committed blasphemy. They knew his parents and that he grew up in Galilee. He was from a low and humble beginning so he could not be God. Jesus knew what they were thinking. Since no one could prove that sins were forgiven by words alone, Jesus demonstrated that he had the divine power to cure the effects of sin (illness) and therefore the divine power to forgive sin. Jesus cured the body of disease and the soul of sin. The man picked up his stretcher and went home. Jesus saw the active faith of the men that brought the paralytic to Jesus and cured him. The crowd was filled with reverential awe at Jesus’ miracle and praised God for giving such divine power of healing to a man like themselves.
Almighty God, through the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you freed mankind from the paralysis of sin and put before him the feast of this worldly life that leads to spiritual death and the austerity of spiritual life that leads to eternal life. Send down the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our moments of weakness so that the teachings of Jesus may always be reflected in our words and deeds. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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