The Palsied Man Let Down Through the Roof by James Jacques Tissot, c.1886-94
Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-20
Back in Capernaum
And after some days he entered into a ship, and passed over and came into his own city again. He entered Capernaum and it came to pass on a certain dayit was noised that he was in the house.
Jesus made his initial tour about Galilee and gained a good bit of fame as a result, enough so it has become difficult to move about freely. He couldn’t even find solitude in the wilderness; the people followed him there. After several days of this, he returned to his base city, Capernaum. He crossed the sea in a ship, possibly escaping notice briefly. Eventually word on the street grew that he “was in the house”. This is probably the house where Jesus was living, which many scholars believe was the home of Peter and Andrew. It had to be a house the people associated with Jesus being in town, since it was rumored he “was in the house”.
This is an artist’s rendering of what Peter’s mother-in-law’s house in Capernaum might have looked like. It was probably sketched from the archeological foundation claimed to be her house. Whether Peter and his mother-in-law lived in the same house it is difficult to say, but if not, their home would have probably been similar.
Although the sketch gives the appearance of a large compound, the actual dwelling would most likely be only one of these structures, not the whole complex. Homes tended to be simple affairs with only one or two rooms. The roof was flat and often people sat or slept on the roof to keep cool. Homes were clustered, like this sketch, around common courtyards. The courtyards would contain cisterns where water was carried in daily and stored. The neighbors would all use a common courtyard for such tasks as laundry and cooking.
And straightway many were gathered together, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them and they come unto him. Insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
We have seen such scenes today, large crowds surrounding a place because some celebrity is there. Back in 1968 during the Presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy came to Philadelphia. He was to speak at the Democratic Headquarters on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Chestnut Avenue at noon. Before he arrived, people had crowded into that intersection and all along the adjoining streets. The police could barely keep the streets clear for traffic and people were being pressed into the sides of buildings. It was so crowded that when Kennedy arrived, he couldn’t even get out of the car, but had to stand up in the seat to address the people. There must have been a similar scene at the house. Every part of the grounds around it occupied. Perhaps some early arrivals actually gained entry, but now one couldn’t get close. Jesus probably stood in the doorway to address the mob.
As he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by and, behold, men brought to him a man, one sick of the palsy, lying on a bedwhich was borne of four,and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him.
And when they could not come nigh to him for the press and could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop. They uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy layand let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
At the end of the last passage and the beginning of this it was stated that people came “from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.” This was the result of the cured Leper telling people about Jesus and how he cured him. The leper had also went to the temple and told the Priest there. Word spread. The Priest probably sent messages to the religious leaders in Jerusalem.
Remember, Jesus had begun his mission in a dramatic way, driving Moneychangers out of the Temple in Jerusalem during the Passover week. This got the religious and secular leaders attention. Jesus did not hang around in Jerusalem, but basically fled into the wilderness, then through Samaria and settled in Galilee. The leaders in Jerusalem probably dismissed this rebel rouser as just another lone fanatic. He disappeared north, out of sight and out of mind, until rumors and stories about the preacher and his healing began floating south to the capital. Now along those flocking to hear Jesus were the Scribes (doctors of the law) and Pharisees, examining Jesus and his purpose as they had John the Baptist. They may have been dispatched to follow Jesus and report on his activities by their superiors in Jerusalem. Notice these men were “sitting by”, implying they were not active participants, but were observers.
In these early days of his ministry, Jesus was obviously being seen as a healer more than a teacher, many, if not most, of this multitude were looking for a cure. One such person was a man suffering from palsy.
We can’t know the exact nature of the man’s illness. Palsy is a somewhat general term meaning the lost use of some body part. It is usually accompanied by a loss of felling as well. The causes can be various. It could be something from birth, such as cerebral palsy or it could be the result of some trauma or other illness. It can afflict the whole person or be confined to one area.
From the description given, this man was affected at least in his legs and/or feet since he couldn’t walk. He has to be carried by four friends and they came too late to be near Jesus. With a burden of a man and his pallet, they found it difficult to even make a path through the crowd.
Now, some might question if they could not get through the crowd, how could they get to the roof. If we look at the earlier sketch we can certainly picture the scene. The particular house in question is blocked all along the front by this multitude. Jesus is most likely in the doorway. There may be some people inside the house listening from behind him.
But the houses are somewhat adjoined around the courtyards. The men took their friend to the side or rear of this block, hoisted him up and carried him over the flat roofs to the house of Jesus. Here they tore up the tiles and lowered the man through the hole they made.
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, the sick of the palsy, “Son, be of good cheer; man your sins be forgiven you.”
Let’s look closely at this statement. This is the first time we know of that Jesus has said such a thing. He spoke to Nicodemus about salvation, about being “born again”, and he spoke to the Samarian Woman at the well about the need for “living water”, but he has not until now said to anyone, as far as is recorded, “Your sins are forgiven”. Why here, why now and what does he mean?
We must be careful we don’t take this statement out of the context of the situation. There is a danger of pulling individual parts out of Scripture and misapplying them. The danger here is one that many have fallen into, even in Jesus’ day, of associating a serious sickness with a serious sin. Because someone falls sick, we should not assume they committed some sin. Job was the most righteous man around and he fell sick. Some may get a disease as a result of their sins, such as sexually transmitted diseases, but innocent people can get these diseases passed to them by an unfaithful spouse. Some people may sin greatly and remain very healthy in body, while other people may sin little and suffer terrible sicknesses throughout their life. We must show compassion and care for the ill, not condemn them or accuse them of anything.
Jesus is not saying here that the Palsy was the result of sin. (That is not to say it couldn’t have been, only that this is not the point of what Jesus says or does here.) We know we are all sinners, whether we show it in any outward way or not. Certainly, then, this man was a sinner, whether palsied or not.
So why did Jesus say this? It certainly must have surprised the man. It wasn’t what the guy expected to hear; not what his friends had went to such effort to hear. Jesus said this here and now because the Pharisees and Scribes were there and he was about to prove a point and begin an adversarial dialogue that would follow his ministry from this point to the Cross. Whenever Jesus did something, it was to the purpose of furthering God’s plan.
And, behold,but there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, said within themselves, “This man blasphemes. Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?”
Who were these certain scribes? The scribes were the trusted and venerated experts on Scripture. They wore three hats. One, they were the transcribers, the people who copied and preserved the Holy texts. They were very familiar with the writings. Two, they were the Teachers of the Scripture to the populace. It was their duty to interpret the text’s meaning and teach the people what Moses and the Prophets had set down for them to follow. They were responsible for giving the people the moral principles of their religion. Three, they were also the Lawyers who were looked to for settling all disputes, questions or controversies concerning Scripture.
In other words, they were men who knew Scripture inside and out. These were the men in the profession that advised Herod when and where the Messiah was to be born back when the Magi appeared. If anyone in the crowd listening to Jesus should have understood his preaching, it was these certain scribes. But they didn’t.
And immediately, when Jesus knowing their thoughts, perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, “Wherefore think you evil? Why reason you these things in your hearts, for whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, your sins be forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?
“But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,” …
Jesus knew what these men thought. It must have been stunning to these men when he addressed them this way as if he could read their minds.
Jesus says something it is hard to believe these men missed. That is when he said, “but that you may know that the Son of man…” These experts in Scripture must have understood that term immediately. Although the term “son of man” was used to mean human being, it had a precise meaning these men would have been familiar with. It came from Daniel 7.
Daniel was given a vision of history. In this vision he saw the rise and fall of the great empires. He was also shown the rise of the Antichrist and the fate of this final dictator. Daniel saw Christ given dominion over all by God.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14
They must have caught the assertion by Jesus that he was this person predicted by Daniel.
…(then he said to the sick of the palsy) “I say to you, arise, and take up your bed, and go your way into your house.”
And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelledinsomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, which had given such power to men saying, “We never saw it on this fashion.”
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