And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd
The combination of paralysis and a crowd can often make it hard to approach Jesus. Yet those who need Jesus always need him because they are in some sense spiritually paralyzed. When we are in this condition we are unable or unwilling to move or to change, constrained by our addictions and compulsive behaviors. From this place we often only hear of Jesus through the filter of the crowds. We lack the freedom to go and see for ourselves if there is any hope for us to be found in him. This is why the ministry of this man's friends was so necessary.
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
These men were able to found a route to Jesus that was direct. They did not need to pass through controversy, nor even through the excitement of others with which this crippled man could not yet identify. The crippled man himself was open to the possibility of hope at least enough that he was willing to trust his friends who in turn brought him into the direct contact with Jesus that was needed. He needed more than what the crowds knew or could see about Jesus, just as Peter needed a revelation to know that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God (see Matthew 16:16). He needed the unmediated presence of real and living Jesus himself which only can be the basis of coming to faith.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
It cannot be that the faith of the paralytic himself was not involved at all. He was open enough not to fight or reject the process of being brought to Jesus, a process that must have ultimately been humiliating to the extreme in his case. Yet the faith that brought him to salvation was not merely his own. Without the faith of his friends, faith which knew what lay on the far side of the crowd and how to get there, this paralytic would not have been brought to Jesus. Those who are able and motivated to climb the trees and buildings to get a vantage point above that of the crowd must be willing to be good friends like these, doing the work to lift up others who are as yet less free to move themselves.
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
It is easier to say that one's sins are forgiven, but it is a harder thing to accomplish. It seemed much too easy to say, circumventing, as it seemed, the entire sacrificial system of the Temple. Forgiveness was the proper prerogative of God himself, and it was from him alone the it could issue. If we were spiritually more astute we would recognize that true freedom already came to paralytic by the forgiveness of his sins themselves. It was those sins that truly paralyzed his will, keeping him constrained to continue sinning, and unable to do the good he knew he ought to do. The paralytic himself would likely have been more than content with this newfound invisible freedom from Jesus. But Jesus was not using this healing merely for the sake of the paralytic and his friends but rather as a witness to the truth of who he was.
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He confirmed the inner miracle with an outer sign. It is always the case that our renewal begins with an inner transformation, purchased for us by Jesus during his Passion. Eventually that transformation will work its way from inside to out. On the last day at the latest our bodies will come to reflect our inner freedom. But often Jesus delights to make us signs of his power, signs of the impending renewal of all creation, even before that day, just as he did for the paralytic.
He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
What happened for the paralytic from here? He appears to have "immediately" made a break with his past and cleaned up the little prison where he had been captive and embraced his new identity as a creature made for worship. Seeing this, the crowd itself realized that there was perhaps more to Jesus than they had yet realized.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
“We have seen incredible things today.”
What of us? What parts of our hearts remain too paralyzed to bring them to Jesus? In what ways do we prefer to remain on the stretcher of sinful habits rather than have ourselves and our weakness seen by Jesus. It is to us as well that this exhortation of Isaiah is given.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
No one comes to God unassisted. Everyone relies on the work of those who have gone before, on the prayers of friends, and even those of strangers, of masses offered continually for the peace and the salvation of the world. We are meant to bear one another's burdens (see Galatians 6:2), and we do this especially by helping one another to draw near to Jesus. We must learn that trust that if we help others come to Jesus, if we let ourselves be brought more and more into his presence, he will do the rest.
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
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