When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" – he said to the paralytic – “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"-St. Mark 2:1-12
Jesus was in a house teaching. Like all houses in that time and place, it was flat-roofed and composed of beams laid from wall to wall, quite a short distance apart. The space between the beams was filled with close packed twigs, then covered with a coating of a clay mixture. It was easy to take out the packing between two beams, so that’s how these men let their friend down through the roof on his pallet, so that he was right in front of our Lord.
This Gospel is about Christ healing, and it’s also about Christ forgiving sin. It teaches us that sin and suffering often are connected, and sometimes it’s our own personal sin which causes suffering. There are choices people make which might be dangerous, or have a bad effect on their health, and that choice can cause suffering to them and to others.
The Pharisees went further and believed that if a man was suffering it automatically meant that he had sinned. Although we know that’s not universally true, yet because it was the way of thinking at that time, so it’s why Jesus began by forgiving the sins of the sick man, and it was through that forgiveness that Christ restored him to health. Because of the connection they made between sin and sickness, so the Pharisees’ objections to Jesus fell apart. Logically, and according to what the Pharisees believed, the man’s sin caused his sickness; but Jesus declares the man to be forgiven of sin, and he is completely restored to health; therefore, his newfound health proved that Jesus was able to forgive sin – the very thing the Pharisees said He couldn’t do!
There’s one more thing here. Notice that the man who was forgiven and healed was brought to Jesus by his friends. It’s a pretty powerful reminder to each of us that we have a responsibility to help our friends, and all those around us, to come to know God – and we do it by our words and by our example. Whenever we speak, or when we do something, we should ask, “Is this helping others to know God better?”