Healing The Paralyzed Man
Preaching
Preaching The Miracles
Series II, Cycle B
1. Text
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.1 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.2 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.3 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.4 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."5 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,6 "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"7 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?8 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?9 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- 10 "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home."11 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"12
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
So many people gather around Jesus when they learn he has returned to Capernaum that there is no room even at the front door for another to enter.
Second Point Of Action
Four people carrying the paralyzed man cannot get into the house. They remove the mat from the roof. The friends dig through the roof, then lower the man down into the house.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus addresses the man, proclaiming that his sins are forgiven.
Fourth Point Of Action
The scribes question Jesus' actions.
Fifth Point Of Action
Jesus speaks to the scribes.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus talks to the man again.
Seventh Point Of Action
The man does as Jesus says.
Eighth Point Of Action
The crowd responds and credits God.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: What is this miracle trying to tell us about God?
Jesus: People were waiting for me when I returned home to Capernaum. They were ready and eager to hear the word. This word was different. "I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth" (Isaiah 43:19) as healing actions in "the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) where evil likes to roam. You will recognize my authority through the word as I heal by forgiving sin.
I am doing a new thing in a different way. We are moving beyond the priestly game of burnt offerings and other sacrifices. I shall give my life as a final sacrifice. You honor me now by bringing to me your suffering and your sins. "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25). (For the entire Cycle B Epiphany 7 reading, see Isaiah 43:18-25.)
Asker: Jesus, I have some confusion about healing and the forgiveness of sin. In the Psalm reading for today, the psalmist connects sin with healing: "The Lord sustains [the poor] on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities. As for me, I said, 'O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you' " (Psalm 41:3-4). These verses remind me of your actions in healing the man who was paralyzed. You took action for him when he could not move for himself.
On the one hand, I hear you saying we should not think our illnesses are a punishment from God. When you healed the man with the unclean spirit (Cycle B, Miracle 1), it became clear that while evil exists in this world, God is still superior. I must take responsibility for choosing to follow the positive side rather than succumbing to my dark aspects. In this way, I turn around from thinking I did something wrong to deserve this illness or trouble. God is not using it to punish me. God does not work that way. Instead, I can choose to take responsibility for doing the best I can under the circumstances.
Jesus: I follow you. You must be wondering how the concept of sin fits into this.
Asker: Exactly. It still sounds as if the trouble somehow were my fault.
Jesus: As you will see in other healing miracles, there are different causes for illness. Look, for example, at the person with the withered hand (Cycle B, Miracle 5) and the person with the hearing/speaking impairment (Cycle B, Miracle 8). Some problems are purely organic; others are psychogenic in origin.
When suffering people come to me, I pay attention to the whole person. Sometimes the condition of the soul presents a block to healing. Other paralysis is clearly physical in origin, as with severing of a spinal nerve. By the way, I consider the work being done now in your country to be just as much a miracle as my healing work.
Asker: Are you referring to the research in making a bridge at the genetic, DNA level of life between the severed pieces of a spinal cord?
Jesus: Yes, I believe God is still creating, as the spirit is present in the creative human mind. God is still involved in progress. Now, back to our conversation.
When the four men lowered the paralyzed man through the ceiling of the house, I saw that he needed forgiveness. The alienation he endured, that is, the break in his relationship with God had to be healed before the paralysis of his body would release him.
Asker: You responded to the faith of the four men who brought him to you, but you addressed him directly.
Jesus: These four men gave the greatest acknowledgment of my authority as a healer and offerer of forgiveness that one could give. Acting on their faith that I could help, they brought me a suffering friend. They showed the strength of their faith by risking the ridicule or scorn of others to dig a hole in the roof of another person's house. In your day, not many would do this for fear of instant litigation.
Asker: You called the suffering man "son." Is that because he was younger than you? Were you acknowledging that all are children of God and that you spoke in the name of God?
Jesus: I called him a son as I called the woman with the bleeding malady a daughter. (See Cycle B, Miracle 7.) I did this with the hope of communicating that they were already reconnected. As soon as I spoke to the man, God brought him back into relationship through forgiveness. This is also why I called myself the Son of Man. I am a bridge between God and humanity. I, too, am a child of God.
When we fall out of relationship with God, we feel so far away that our prayers seem to wander lost in some canyon as a distant whisper. Yet, it is we who are distant, not God. God stands waiting all along for us to approach. God is accessible. When we bring our suffering and our alienation that need forgiveness, God stands ready to receive and forgive. To call sufferers sons or daughters reminds them of the union we share with our Holy Parent.
Asker: Only later, after you responded to the questioning of the scribes, did you tell the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and go home. When you did so, your words to him, "I say to you," carried a silent "but" before them.
Jesus: An indirect purpose of this healing shows the scribes and all other witnesses that Jesus, the Son of Man, has the authority to forgive sins. The "but" indicates a change of the old rules that stood in the way of the law of love. Do you hear the subtle play on words with the double meaning of paralysis? With the paralysis of relationships, we become unable to say the words we need to say and to do those things we need to do.
I am doing a new thing by challenging the rules that interfere and by offering alternate ways out of paralysis of this nature. You and I will speak of this again when we visit about the healing of the man with the withered hand. (See Cycle B, Miracle 5.) We must constantly remind each other of each person's value.
Interviewing The Paralyzed Man
Asker: You never said a word in this miracle. You stood up, immediately picked up your mat, and walked out before everyone. Paralyzed Man: I did not approach Jesus with words. Silence was part of my paralysis. My friends recognized this. They realized they had to act for me. Not only did I need their help with mobility, I also needed to receive their neighborliness. They showed their ability to love a neighbor as themselves.
Asker: Will you tell me what it was like to be paralyzed?
Paralyzed Man: You were telling me yesterday about a woman you knew who had a frozen arthritic shoulder. Pain, not ice, froze her shoulder just as the pain of my soul froze me. You said the living tissue in her shoulder grew together like strips of Velcro. The tissue had to be pulled apart before she could move it again. Her physical therapy amounted to thawing the paralysis with the deep heat of moist, hot packs and the penetrating vibrations, what did you call them?
Asker: Ultrasound. It promotes movement and healing at the cellular level. Even as my friend's healing process began, her exercise and rehabilitation required the help of another person. She still could take no action herself. She said she would will her shoulder to move. It was as immobile as concrete.
Paralyzed Man: I also was a passive receiver of help. As the physical therapist manipulated your friend's shoulder, the woman slowly became able herself to move through a range of motion exercises. I was able to get up and walk home.
Asker: I wonder what state of alienation or sin froze you into physical and emotional inaction? What thawed your paralysis? Was it a kind word, a feeling of being understood?
Paralyzed Man: It was feeling that I was forgiven deep in the cellular level of my soul. Jesus understood completely. It was okay. It was the persistence of four friends in taking action when I could not move myself.
Asker: Jesus told you to get up and go to your home. Is that why you said nothing but headed, singlemindedly, out the door?
Paralyzed Man: Jesus freed me. What better gratitude could I show but to exercise my freedom to move? I returned to living my life.
Interviewing One Of The Four Who Carried The Paralyzed Man
Asker: You went to a great deal of trouble for your paralyzed friend. You must have cared about him. You were not to be deterred. Why did you not just wait to bring him to Jesus until another time when the crowds around Jesus were smaller?
Carrier: There was no time for waiting. Jesus was there. We could not miss him.
Asker: Did you ask permission to dig through the hard-packed clay into the roof of the house? What does this say about trespassing or breaking a law for the sake of a healing?
Carrier: We did trespass in our enthusiasm and urgency. Surely, we would repair the hole later. This was not necessarily the home of a stranger. What is more important, the possible healing of a suffering person or a repairable hole in a roof?
Asker: Then this is a lesson in friendship and the importance of one human being. It is also a matter of Jesus showing his authority to the scribes by bridging God and humanity with the healing of forgiveness.
Carrier: They are all tied together. It is a lesson in faith as well as friendship. We who carried our friend to Jesus had a clear faith in Jesus as a healer.
Interviewing A Scribe
Asker: You were not actually talking aloud, but Jesus could easily guess what the questioning was in your hearts.
Scribe: Jesus understands our purpose. The most important phrase in our questioning is that it is in our hearts. It is not just head talk. Our concern for preserving the law is real. Always, we think first of the laws. It is our life and our purpose as scribes to protect the law.
Asker: I read the psalmist's words for today and think of your response to Jesus: "My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish. And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad. All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me." (See Psalm 41:5-7 from Cycle B, Epiphany 7.)
Scribe: When the man stood up and went out before us, we were amazed. We did glorify God.
Asker: Nevertheless, in your hearts you continue to gather mischief.
Scribe: We continue to gather mischief.
4. Words
House
In Palestine, the earliest known houses were the mud houses of Jericho. Most houses were in cities, towns, or villages. The house was mainly a shelter from the dangers of night and from foul weather. Their thick walls also offered comfort. During the time of Israel and Judah, houses were smaller with thinner walls and were generally not as well built.
Houses were rectangular and most likely faced a street. They adjoined other houses. A house may have been part of the city wall with a window opening to the outside. The door was wood with one horizontal beam and two uprights. Of the three rooms, families used one for domestic animals, another for sleeping quarters, and a central room for cooking and heating. Smoke went out through the open, latticed window.
The ceiling was made of wooden beams plastered over with clay. Steps would lead to a guest room in the roof. The surface of the clay roof regularly needed rolling and renewing. When the carriers of the paralyzed man dug an entry through the roof and ceiling, they caused an inconvenience. However, they did not ruin the house. Still, their act was dramatic.
Son Of Man
"Son of Man" is a term for a human being. We are all children of man and woman. Son of Man was also a title for Jesus. "Son of" reveals a connection or affinity with someone. The title is always found in words attributed to Jesus himself. It draws one toward Jesus with a sense of kinship with ordinary humanity.
Matthew uses the phrase in 27 verses. Mark uses it thirteen times. Luke attributes the term to Jesus 25 times. The uppercase Son suggests the title means more than human. The Son of Man is also the Son of God. Might the uppercase Son emphasize the special relationship Jesus had with God? Expanding this further, we are all Children of God because of the special relationship we share with God and God holds with us through Jesus.
Writers of The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible, Volume 4,1 suggest that since the Gospel called Mark holds particular importance, students might pay close attention to Mark's highly developed concept of the Son of Man. First, it is Jesus' designation for himself. Second, the term contains predictions of the passion. That is, Jesus is a person who must suffer, know rejection, die and rise again.
Since Son of Man was Semitic, the term would be familiar to those who followed Jesus. Some historians suppose that Jesus may have left it to his hearers to puzzle out the meaning of this phrase. Others suggest the later church inserted the term. Given his humble nature, Jesus may not have used it to describe himself.
In the nine miracles of Cycle C, Jesus twice refers to himself as the Son of Man. In the present miracle, writers assign the term to Jesus. This reveals Jesus' authority on earth to forgive sins. In the opening of the fifth miracle of Cycle B, the man with the withered hand, Jesus also addresses the issue of his authority. Responding to scribes challenging him for plucking grain on the sabbath, Jesus says that "the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath" (Mark 2:28).
Demon
In biblical days, demon was the term given to the cause of whatever bad happened to a person's body or mind. A demon is an evil being, the devil, an inferior divinity. It is a persistently tormenting person, force, or passion. Torment suggests great physical pain or mental anguish. The devil, a subordinate evil spirit, is the major spirit of evil and is the foe of God.
In order to define and understand fully, a concept, students look at its antithesis. By looking at the opposite of God, does one give the devil, if not an identity, at least a presence that competes with God? We might throw out the idea of devil as anthropomorphism, that is, evil in the shape of a human. However, evil still exists as a force opposing good.
Do devil worship and satanic cults today symbolize supreme rebellion? Beyond fascination with the macabre, practicers of devil worship delve into the mystery of the dark side. Some individuals are drawn to what they fear. Devil worship also assumes less obvious forms. Some people seem to thrive on chaos. Chaos stimulates them. When things settle down, they are not happy until they have stirred up chaos again.
If a demon is a symbol of chaos, where is the chaos and disorder in our lives? Who and what are our specific demons? What are the struggles with the baffling, negative factors affecting our lives? What are the clear, understandable negative forces? What issues do you fight against that continually reappear in your community, work, or life?
Does a demon gain its power because we cannot touch, see, or hear it? Are how we allow evil to influence our attitudes and the way we behave the greater harms? What does forgiveness do to evil or to our capacity to coexist with the negative forces around and within us?
Consider that demons, objects of pagan worship, were said to inhabit waste places and ruins. Jesus went to the wastelands and into human deserts where people were isolated and left vulnerable to demonic influence. When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus met evil head on. He stood up to it. From the beginning, evil forces "knew" with whom they were dealing.
We have the present challenge of identifying and entering the erratic wastelands where our people are vulnerable. Among them are the stairways of trashy apartments hiding in small towns. Transient kids wander lost in new schools. Middle-aged parents lose their souls to a commuting race with only a radio talk show for community.
Now, as then, we can expel negative spirits by meeting them with the stronger force of God. People in pagan times wore amulets and charms to ward off evil spirits. Good luck charms or painting the door blue to send demons away is a carryover from earlier times. More than announcing we are Christian, does the wearing of a cross necklace offer a similar, positive symbol? Where is the line between superstition and faith? Is the basis of superstition negative and the formation of faith positive?
Demonism
Demonism externalizes human experience by projecting it. Persons with a troubled spirit sometimes assign their troubles to spirits outside themselves. Persons see disease as the result of an external, demonic hand rather than an organic disorder.
If we curse the devil when something bad happens and thank God when something good happens, are both projections? This is a puzzle. It is also a choice. Giving God priority, Christians choose hope even in the midst of despair. We do not give equal rank to two gods, a good god and a bad god. Sickness or trouble just happens. Some trouble we can prevent, some we cannot. No matter what the terminology, Jesus comes with the message that the light wins out over the darkness. God is a God of love and compassion.
Spirit
In the early mind, demons and spirit existed side by side. People believed Yahweh sent an evil spirit of the demon to produce sickness. In pagan times, no clear distinction existed between the demonic and the disease. They saw noxious, unclean spirits as spirits of delirium and melancholy producing physical or psychic disorders. They saw Jesus as a gifted person. He proved himself more powerful than the unholy spirits that people believed poisoned their lives. Establishing his authority as a bringer of healing and of the good spirit was important to his ministry.
"Spirit" carries two meanings. It is an impersonal influence, as intangible as breath or the blowing wind. Yet, like the wind, we see its effects. Some winds bring good, some carry harm. We wonder which is by whim and which by design. Wind bears the germs of some diseases. It also brings nourishing seasonal rains.
The second meaning sees spirit as a physical manifestation of unembodied personalities taking up temporary lodging in a person. Perhaps negative spirits only take up temporary lodging. As part of God's caring design at creation, God's spirit is permanently within each of us and goes with us as Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23). Each time worshippers sing "The Doxology," we hear the invitation to ponder the meaning of Holy Spirit. In recent years, some worship traditions have emphasized God's triune nature as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. This further unveils the meaning of Holy Spirit.
To sanctify is to set apart for holy use, to make holy, and to purify. A sanctuary is a holy, sacred place. We respect the human body as a sanctuary for our soul. God is the Spirit more powerful than the unholy demons. As Sanctifier, Jesus carries and leaves with us the Spirit that makes things holy. When Jesus dies, God does not desert us but provides a sustaining presence.
Forgiveness
Jesus deliberately forgave sins. He taught that obedience to God must always take precedence over mere political expedience. He claimed that all authority was his and gave his followers the right to become children of God.
Forgiveness is an act of God by which God graciously takes away the obstacles that separate us. Complete forgiveness grants pardon without harboring resentment. It opens the way for the free "try again" of grace. It makes way for fellowship and neighborliness because it focuses on hope and on the possibilities we carry as human beings.
Sin destroys relationships of community with God and humankind. This all broadens the meaning of repentance for sin. When we feel forgiven, we are able to forgive others. Blocked relationships reopen. Wholeness becomes the healing of the soul and the consequent recovery of power in life.
Healing frees us from whatever catches us in the paralysis of inaction. Forgiveness restores our strength because once-paralyzed energy is available again for productive use. Healing frees us for living.
A symbol of this freedom is the implicit message, "You are free to go now and be about living." This message is a common form of forgiveness in the New Testament. In the present miracle, Jesus tells the man to head for home. When he healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law, he took her hand, lifting her up off the bed so she could continue her work. (See Cycle B, Miracle 2.)
In the third miracle of this cycle, Jesus sent the healed leper on to the priest to take the next step. He stilled the storm so they could continue their journey across the lake (Cycle B, Miracle 6). He told the woman with the bleeding disorder to go in peace. He told Jairus' daughter to get up so she could walk around. Then he reminded her parents to get on with caring for her by getting her something to eat (Cycle B, Miracle 7). Jesus told Bartimaeus, "Go" (Cycle B, Miracle 9).
5. Gospel Parallels
Setting The Stage
The Gospel called Matthew mentions only that some people were carrying the man on a bed (Matthew 9:2). Mark and Luke go into great detail setting the stage for the healing. Both emphasize the crowd that prevented entry through the door, the alternate route through the roof, and letting down the mat (Mark 2:4) or the bed (Luke 5:19).
Mark draws attention to the crowd first, suggesting Jesus' popularity. Then Mark, the most specific writer, refers to four of the men who carry the paralyzed man. Mark suggests the effort necessary to "remove the roof" and "having dug through it." Luke refers to the men coming with the paralyzed man and only mentions the crowd in passing (Luke 5:19). Luke suggests slightly less expenditure of effort in saying that they go up on the roof and let him down "through the tiles." Luke (5:19) says they let down his bed "into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus" -- no back-in-a-corner for these people but right where Jesus could not miss the man.
Role Of Faith
In all three versions, Jesus responds to "their" faith (Mark 2:5, Matthew 9:2 and Luke 5:20), that is, the faith of the people who bring the man to him. Perhaps "their" faith includes the paralytic. It was he whom Jesus addresses. In Mark and Luke, Jesus calls the man "son." In Luke, he addresses him as "friend." In all three versions, he says the man's sins are forgiven. Mark prefaces the words with these: "Take heart." Luke adds "you" to the words.
Response Of Scribes (And Pharisees)
In none of the versions do the scribes refer to Jesus by name. Mark says "this fellow" (Mark 2:6). Matthew says "this man" (Matthew 9:3). Luke, placing an even greater emotional distance, reports a common response by both "the scribes and the Pharisees." Luke says, "Who is this who É?" (Luke 5:21).
Matthew briefly summarizes the scribes' response (Matthew 9:3). Again, speaking from greater distance, Luke says the scribes and the Pharisees "began to question" (Luke 5:21). Mark pays more attention to the seriousness of the questioning. They question not as mental sport but "in their hearts" (Mark 2:6-7).
All three writers refer to blasphemy; however, Matthew 9:3 and Mark 2:7 declare the healing as blasphemy. Luke, less emphatic on blasphemy, focuses on the "who" (Luke 5:21). Mark 2:7 and Luke 5:21 add "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" These words add another aspect, connecting the man's paralysis with sin.
Jesus' Response To The Scribes And Pharisees
Mark details taking note of the scribes first in verse 6 and again in verse 8. First, Mark comments that they were questioning "in their hearts" (Mark 2:7). After they asked their questions, Jesus "at once . . . perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves" (Mark 2:8). In Luke, Jesus again "perceived their questionings" (Luke 5:22), and in Matthew, he perceived "their thoughts" (Matthew 9:4).
Jesus addresses the scribes directly. In Mark, he asks, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?" (Mark 2:8). In Matthew, he asks, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4) In Luke, he asks, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?" (Luke 5:22)
The next lines are similar in all three Gospels. Jesus asks them further, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sinsÉ" (Mark 2:9,10) Matthew's and Luke's words are the same except they omit Mark's "to the paralytic" and "take your mat and."
Jesus' Next Words To The Paralyzed Man
Mark relates: " -- he said to the paralytic -- 'I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home' " (Mark 2:10,11). Matthew says, "he then said" and instead of "mat" he says, "bed" (Matthew 9:6). Luke says, " -- he said to the one who was paralyzed" (Luke 5:24).
Response Of The Healed Man
In all three narratives, the man stands up. In Mark and Luke, he stands up immediately. (See Mark 2:12 and Luke 5:25.) Matthew condenses the action, saying simply that he went to his home. Mark says he "took the mat and went out before all of them "(Mark 2:12). Luke gives the greatest detail: "Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God" (Luke 5:25).
Response Of The Crowd
In Mark, the crowd is "amazed and glorified God" (Mark 2:12). Luke says, "Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe" (Luke 5:26).
Matthew does not quote the crowd but directly connects the response of the crowd with the issue of authority: "When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings" (Matthew 9:8).
Mark and Luke quote the crowd: "'We have never seen anything like this" (Mark 2:12) and "We have seen strange things today" (Luke 5:26).
____________
1. See George A. Buttrick, Ed., The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible, Volume 4 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962).
When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.1 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.2 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.3 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.4 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."5 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,6 "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"7 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?8 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?9 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- 10 "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home."11 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"12
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
So many people gather around Jesus when they learn he has returned to Capernaum that there is no room even at the front door for another to enter.
Second Point Of Action
Four people carrying the paralyzed man cannot get into the house. They remove the mat from the roof. The friends dig through the roof, then lower the man down into the house.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus addresses the man, proclaiming that his sins are forgiven.
Fourth Point Of Action
The scribes question Jesus' actions.
Fifth Point Of Action
Jesus speaks to the scribes.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus talks to the man again.
Seventh Point Of Action
The man does as Jesus says.
Eighth Point Of Action
The crowd responds and credits God.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: What is this miracle trying to tell us about God?
Jesus: People were waiting for me when I returned home to Capernaum. They were ready and eager to hear the word. This word was different. "I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth" (Isaiah 43:19) as healing actions in "the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) where evil likes to roam. You will recognize my authority through the word as I heal by forgiving sin.
I am doing a new thing in a different way. We are moving beyond the priestly game of burnt offerings and other sacrifices. I shall give my life as a final sacrifice. You honor me now by bringing to me your suffering and your sins. "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25). (For the entire Cycle B Epiphany 7 reading, see Isaiah 43:18-25.)
Asker: Jesus, I have some confusion about healing and the forgiveness of sin. In the Psalm reading for today, the psalmist connects sin with healing: "The Lord sustains [the poor] on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities. As for me, I said, 'O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you' " (Psalm 41:3-4). These verses remind me of your actions in healing the man who was paralyzed. You took action for him when he could not move for himself.
On the one hand, I hear you saying we should not think our illnesses are a punishment from God. When you healed the man with the unclean spirit (Cycle B, Miracle 1), it became clear that while evil exists in this world, God is still superior. I must take responsibility for choosing to follow the positive side rather than succumbing to my dark aspects. In this way, I turn around from thinking I did something wrong to deserve this illness or trouble. God is not using it to punish me. God does not work that way. Instead, I can choose to take responsibility for doing the best I can under the circumstances.
Jesus: I follow you. You must be wondering how the concept of sin fits into this.
Asker: Exactly. It still sounds as if the trouble somehow were my fault.
Jesus: As you will see in other healing miracles, there are different causes for illness. Look, for example, at the person with the withered hand (Cycle B, Miracle 5) and the person with the hearing/speaking impairment (Cycle B, Miracle 8). Some problems are purely organic; others are psychogenic in origin.
When suffering people come to me, I pay attention to the whole person. Sometimes the condition of the soul presents a block to healing. Other paralysis is clearly physical in origin, as with severing of a spinal nerve. By the way, I consider the work being done now in your country to be just as much a miracle as my healing work.
Asker: Are you referring to the research in making a bridge at the genetic, DNA level of life between the severed pieces of a spinal cord?
Jesus: Yes, I believe God is still creating, as the spirit is present in the creative human mind. God is still involved in progress. Now, back to our conversation.
When the four men lowered the paralyzed man through the ceiling of the house, I saw that he needed forgiveness. The alienation he endured, that is, the break in his relationship with God had to be healed before the paralysis of his body would release him.
Asker: You responded to the faith of the four men who brought him to you, but you addressed him directly.
Jesus: These four men gave the greatest acknowledgment of my authority as a healer and offerer of forgiveness that one could give. Acting on their faith that I could help, they brought me a suffering friend. They showed the strength of their faith by risking the ridicule or scorn of others to dig a hole in the roof of another person's house. In your day, not many would do this for fear of instant litigation.
Asker: You called the suffering man "son." Is that because he was younger than you? Were you acknowledging that all are children of God and that you spoke in the name of God?
Jesus: I called him a son as I called the woman with the bleeding malady a daughter. (See Cycle B, Miracle 7.) I did this with the hope of communicating that they were already reconnected. As soon as I spoke to the man, God brought him back into relationship through forgiveness. This is also why I called myself the Son of Man. I am a bridge between God and humanity. I, too, am a child of God.
When we fall out of relationship with God, we feel so far away that our prayers seem to wander lost in some canyon as a distant whisper. Yet, it is we who are distant, not God. God stands waiting all along for us to approach. God is accessible. When we bring our suffering and our alienation that need forgiveness, God stands ready to receive and forgive. To call sufferers sons or daughters reminds them of the union we share with our Holy Parent.
Asker: Only later, after you responded to the questioning of the scribes, did you tell the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and go home. When you did so, your words to him, "I say to you," carried a silent "but" before them.
Jesus: An indirect purpose of this healing shows the scribes and all other witnesses that Jesus, the Son of Man, has the authority to forgive sins. The "but" indicates a change of the old rules that stood in the way of the law of love. Do you hear the subtle play on words with the double meaning of paralysis? With the paralysis of relationships, we become unable to say the words we need to say and to do those things we need to do.
I am doing a new thing by challenging the rules that interfere and by offering alternate ways out of paralysis of this nature. You and I will speak of this again when we visit about the healing of the man with the withered hand. (See Cycle B, Miracle 5.) We must constantly remind each other of each person's value.
Interviewing The Paralyzed Man
Asker: You never said a word in this miracle. You stood up, immediately picked up your mat, and walked out before everyone. Paralyzed Man: I did not approach Jesus with words. Silence was part of my paralysis. My friends recognized this. They realized they had to act for me. Not only did I need their help with mobility, I also needed to receive their neighborliness. They showed their ability to love a neighbor as themselves.
Asker: Will you tell me what it was like to be paralyzed?
Paralyzed Man: You were telling me yesterday about a woman you knew who had a frozen arthritic shoulder. Pain, not ice, froze her shoulder just as the pain of my soul froze me. You said the living tissue in her shoulder grew together like strips of Velcro. The tissue had to be pulled apart before she could move it again. Her physical therapy amounted to thawing the paralysis with the deep heat of moist, hot packs and the penetrating vibrations, what did you call them?
Asker: Ultrasound. It promotes movement and healing at the cellular level. Even as my friend's healing process began, her exercise and rehabilitation required the help of another person. She still could take no action herself. She said she would will her shoulder to move. It was as immobile as concrete.
Paralyzed Man: I also was a passive receiver of help. As the physical therapist manipulated your friend's shoulder, the woman slowly became able herself to move through a range of motion exercises. I was able to get up and walk home.
Asker: I wonder what state of alienation or sin froze you into physical and emotional inaction? What thawed your paralysis? Was it a kind word, a feeling of being understood?
Paralyzed Man: It was feeling that I was forgiven deep in the cellular level of my soul. Jesus understood completely. It was okay. It was the persistence of four friends in taking action when I could not move myself.
Asker: Jesus told you to get up and go to your home. Is that why you said nothing but headed, singlemindedly, out the door?
Paralyzed Man: Jesus freed me. What better gratitude could I show but to exercise my freedom to move? I returned to living my life.
Interviewing One Of The Four Who Carried The Paralyzed Man
Asker: You went to a great deal of trouble for your paralyzed friend. You must have cared about him. You were not to be deterred. Why did you not just wait to bring him to Jesus until another time when the crowds around Jesus were smaller?
Carrier: There was no time for waiting. Jesus was there. We could not miss him.
Asker: Did you ask permission to dig through the hard-packed clay into the roof of the house? What does this say about trespassing or breaking a law for the sake of a healing?
Carrier: We did trespass in our enthusiasm and urgency. Surely, we would repair the hole later. This was not necessarily the home of a stranger. What is more important, the possible healing of a suffering person or a repairable hole in a roof?
Asker: Then this is a lesson in friendship and the importance of one human being. It is also a matter of Jesus showing his authority to the scribes by bridging God and humanity with the healing of forgiveness.
Carrier: They are all tied together. It is a lesson in faith as well as friendship. We who carried our friend to Jesus had a clear faith in Jesus as a healer.
Interviewing A Scribe
Asker: You were not actually talking aloud, but Jesus could easily guess what the questioning was in your hearts.
Scribe: Jesus understands our purpose. The most important phrase in our questioning is that it is in our hearts. It is not just head talk. Our concern for preserving the law is real. Always, we think first of the laws. It is our life and our purpose as scribes to protect the law.
Asker: I read the psalmist's words for today and think of your response to Jesus: "My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish. And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad. All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me." (See Psalm 41:5-7 from Cycle B, Epiphany 7.)
Scribe: When the man stood up and went out before us, we were amazed. We did glorify God.
Asker: Nevertheless, in your hearts you continue to gather mischief.
Scribe: We continue to gather mischief.
4. Words
House
In Palestine, the earliest known houses were the mud houses of Jericho. Most houses were in cities, towns, or villages. The house was mainly a shelter from the dangers of night and from foul weather. Their thick walls also offered comfort. During the time of Israel and Judah, houses were smaller with thinner walls and were generally not as well built.
Houses were rectangular and most likely faced a street. They adjoined other houses. A house may have been part of the city wall with a window opening to the outside. The door was wood with one horizontal beam and two uprights. Of the three rooms, families used one for domestic animals, another for sleeping quarters, and a central room for cooking and heating. Smoke went out through the open, latticed window.
The ceiling was made of wooden beams plastered over with clay. Steps would lead to a guest room in the roof. The surface of the clay roof regularly needed rolling and renewing. When the carriers of the paralyzed man dug an entry through the roof and ceiling, they caused an inconvenience. However, they did not ruin the house. Still, their act was dramatic.
Son Of Man
"Son of Man" is a term for a human being. We are all children of man and woman. Son of Man was also a title for Jesus. "Son of" reveals a connection or affinity with someone. The title is always found in words attributed to Jesus himself. It draws one toward Jesus with a sense of kinship with ordinary humanity.
Matthew uses the phrase in 27 verses. Mark uses it thirteen times. Luke attributes the term to Jesus 25 times. The uppercase Son suggests the title means more than human. The Son of Man is also the Son of God. Might the uppercase Son emphasize the special relationship Jesus had with God? Expanding this further, we are all Children of God because of the special relationship we share with God and God holds with us through Jesus.
Writers of The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible, Volume 4,1 suggest that since the Gospel called Mark holds particular importance, students might pay close attention to Mark's highly developed concept of the Son of Man. First, it is Jesus' designation for himself. Second, the term contains predictions of the passion. That is, Jesus is a person who must suffer, know rejection, die and rise again.
Since Son of Man was Semitic, the term would be familiar to those who followed Jesus. Some historians suppose that Jesus may have left it to his hearers to puzzle out the meaning of this phrase. Others suggest the later church inserted the term. Given his humble nature, Jesus may not have used it to describe himself.
In the nine miracles of Cycle C, Jesus twice refers to himself as the Son of Man. In the present miracle, writers assign the term to Jesus. This reveals Jesus' authority on earth to forgive sins. In the opening of the fifth miracle of Cycle B, the man with the withered hand, Jesus also addresses the issue of his authority. Responding to scribes challenging him for plucking grain on the sabbath, Jesus says that "the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath" (Mark 2:28).
Demon
In biblical days, demon was the term given to the cause of whatever bad happened to a person's body or mind. A demon is an evil being, the devil, an inferior divinity. It is a persistently tormenting person, force, or passion. Torment suggests great physical pain or mental anguish. The devil, a subordinate evil spirit, is the major spirit of evil and is the foe of God.
In order to define and understand fully, a concept, students look at its antithesis. By looking at the opposite of God, does one give the devil, if not an identity, at least a presence that competes with God? We might throw out the idea of devil as anthropomorphism, that is, evil in the shape of a human. However, evil still exists as a force opposing good.
Do devil worship and satanic cults today symbolize supreme rebellion? Beyond fascination with the macabre, practicers of devil worship delve into the mystery of the dark side. Some individuals are drawn to what they fear. Devil worship also assumes less obvious forms. Some people seem to thrive on chaos. Chaos stimulates them. When things settle down, they are not happy until they have stirred up chaos again.
If a demon is a symbol of chaos, where is the chaos and disorder in our lives? Who and what are our specific demons? What are the struggles with the baffling, negative factors affecting our lives? What are the clear, understandable negative forces? What issues do you fight against that continually reappear in your community, work, or life?
Does a demon gain its power because we cannot touch, see, or hear it? Are how we allow evil to influence our attitudes and the way we behave the greater harms? What does forgiveness do to evil or to our capacity to coexist with the negative forces around and within us?
Consider that demons, objects of pagan worship, were said to inhabit waste places and ruins. Jesus went to the wastelands and into human deserts where people were isolated and left vulnerable to demonic influence. When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus met evil head on. He stood up to it. From the beginning, evil forces "knew" with whom they were dealing.
We have the present challenge of identifying and entering the erratic wastelands where our people are vulnerable. Among them are the stairways of trashy apartments hiding in small towns. Transient kids wander lost in new schools. Middle-aged parents lose their souls to a commuting race with only a radio talk show for community.
Now, as then, we can expel negative spirits by meeting them with the stronger force of God. People in pagan times wore amulets and charms to ward off evil spirits. Good luck charms or painting the door blue to send demons away is a carryover from earlier times. More than announcing we are Christian, does the wearing of a cross necklace offer a similar, positive symbol? Where is the line between superstition and faith? Is the basis of superstition negative and the formation of faith positive?
Demonism
Demonism externalizes human experience by projecting it. Persons with a troubled spirit sometimes assign their troubles to spirits outside themselves. Persons see disease as the result of an external, demonic hand rather than an organic disorder.
If we curse the devil when something bad happens and thank God when something good happens, are both projections? This is a puzzle. It is also a choice. Giving God priority, Christians choose hope even in the midst of despair. We do not give equal rank to two gods, a good god and a bad god. Sickness or trouble just happens. Some trouble we can prevent, some we cannot. No matter what the terminology, Jesus comes with the message that the light wins out over the darkness. God is a God of love and compassion.
Spirit
In the early mind, demons and spirit existed side by side. People believed Yahweh sent an evil spirit of the demon to produce sickness. In pagan times, no clear distinction existed between the demonic and the disease. They saw noxious, unclean spirits as spirits of delirium and melancholy producing physical or psychic disorders. They saw Jesus as a gifted person. He proved himself more powerful than the unholy spirits that people believed poisoned their lives. Establishing his authority as a bringer of healing and of the good spirit was important to his ministry.
"Spirit" carries two meanings. It is an impersonal influence, as intangible as breath or the blowing wind. Yet, like the wind, we see its effects. Some winds bring good, some carry harm. We wonder which is by whim and which by design. Wind bears the germs of some diseases. It also brings nourishing seasonal rains.
The second meaning sees spirit as a physical manifestation of unembodied personalities taking up temporary lodging in a person. Perhaps negative spirits only take up temporary lodging. As part of God's caring design at creation, God's spirit is permanently within each of us and goes with us as Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23). Each time worshippers sing "The Doxology," we hear the invitation to ponder the meaning of Holy Spirit. In recent years, some worship traditions have emphasized God's triune nature as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. This further unveils the meaning of Holy Spirit.
To sanctify is to set apart for holy use, to make holy, and to purify. A sanctuary is a holy, sacred place. We respect the human body as a sanctuary for our soul. God is the Spirit more powerful than the unholy demons. As Sanctifier, Jesus carries and leaves with us the Spirit that makes things holy. When Jesus dies, God does not desert us but provides a sustaining presence.
Forgiveness
Jesus deliberately forgave sins. He taught that obedience to God must always take precedence over mere political expedience. He claimed that all authority was his and gave his followers the right to become children of God.
Forgiveness is an act of God by which God graciously takes away the obstacles that separate us. Complete forgiveness grants pardon without harboring resentment. It opens the way for the free "try again" of grace. It makes way for fellowship and neighborliness because it focuses on hope and on the possibilities we carry as human beings.
Sin destroys relationships of community with God and humankind. This all broadens the meaning of repentance for sin. When we feel forgiven, we are able to forgive others. Blocked relationships reopen. Wholeness becomes the healing of the soul and the consequent recovery of power in life.
Healing frees us from whatever catches us in the paralysis of inaction. Forgiveness restores our strength because once-paralyzed energy is available again for productive use. Healing frees us for living.
A symbol of this freedom is the implicit message, "You are free to go now and be about living." This message is a common form of forgiveness in the New Testament. In the present miracle, Jesus tells the man to head for home. When he healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law, he took her hand, lifting her up off the bed so she could continue her work. (See Cycle B, Miracle 2.)
In the third miracle of this cycle, Jesus sent the healed leper on to the priest to take the next step. He stilled the storm so they could continue their journey across the lake (Cycle B, Miracle 6). He told the woman with the bleeding disorder to go in peace. He told Jairus' daughter to get up so she could walk around. Then he reminded her parents to get on with caring for her by getting her something to eat (Cycle B, Miracle 7). Jesus told Bartimaeus, "Go" (Cycle B, Miracle 9).
5. Gospel Parallels
Setting The Stage
The Gospel called Matthew mentions only that some people were carrying the man on a bed (Matthew 9:2). Mark and Luke go into great detail setting the stage for the healing. Both emphasize the crowd that prevented entry through the door, the alternate route through the roof, and letting down the mat (Mark 2:4) or the bed (Luke 5:19).
Mark draws attention to the crowd first, suggesting Jesus' popularity. Then Mark, the most specific writer, refers to four of the men who carry the paralyzed man. Mark suggests the effort necessary to "remove the roof" and "having dug through it." Luke refers to the men coming with the paralyzed man and only mentions the crowd in passing (Luke 5:19). Luke suggests slightly less expenditure of effort in saying that they go up on the roof and let him down "through the tiles." Luke (5:19) says they let down his bed "into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus" -- no back-in-a-corner for these people but right where Jesus could not miss the man.
Role Of Faith
In all three versions, Jesus responds to "their" faith (Mark 2:5, Matthew 9:2 and Luke 5:20), that is, the faith of the people who bring the man to him. Perhaps "their" faith includes the paralytic. It was he whom Jesus addresses. In Mark and Luke, Jesus calls the man "son." In Luke, he addresses him as "friend." In all three versions, he says the man's sins are forgiven. Mark prefaces the words with these: "Take heart." Luke adds "you" to the words.
Response Of Scribes (And Pharisees)
In none of the versions do the scribes refer to Jesus by name. Mark says "this fellow" (Mark 2:6). Matthew says "this man" (Matthew 9:3). Luke, placing an even greater emotional distance, reports a common response by both "the scribes and the Pharisees." Luke says, "Who is this who É?" (Luke 5:21).
Matthew briefly summarizes the scribes' response (Matthew 9:3). Again, speaking from greater distance, Luke says the scribes and the Pharisees "began to question" (Luke 5:21). Mark pays more attention to the seriousness of the questioning. They question not as mental sport but "in their hearts" (Mark 2:6-7).
All three writers refer to blasphemy; however, Matthew 9:3 and Mark 2:7 declare the healing as blasphemy. Luke, less emphatic on blasphemy, focuses on the "who" (Luke 5:21). Mark 2:7 and Luke 5:21 add "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" These words add another aspect, connecting the man's paralysis with sin.
Jesus' Response To The Scribes And Pharisees
Mark details taking note of the scribes first in verse 6 and again in verse 8. First, Mark comments that they were questioning "in their hearts" (Mark 2:7). After they asked their questions, Jesus "at once . . . perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves" (Mark 2:8). In Luke, Jesus again "perceived their questionings" (Luke 5:22), and in Matthew, he perceived "their thoughts" (Matthew 9:4).
Jesus addresses the scribes directly. In Mark, he asks, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?" (Mark 2:8). In Matthew, he asks, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4) In Luke, he asks, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?" (Luke 5:22)
The next lines are similar in all three Gospels. Jesus asks them further, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sinsÉ" (Mark 2:9,10) Matthew's and Luke's words are the same except they omit Mark's "to the paralytic" and "take your mat and."
Jesus' Next Words To The Paralyzed Man
Mark relates: " -- he said to the paralytic -- 'I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home' " (Mark 2:10,11). Matthew says, "he then said" and instead of "mat" he says, "bed" (Matthew 9:6). Luke says, " -- he said to the one who was paralyzed" (Luke 5:24).
Response Of The Healed Man
In all three narratives, the man stands up. In Mark and Luke, he stands up immediately. (See Mark 2:12 and Luke 5:25.) Matthew condenses the action, saying simply that he went to his home. Mark says he "took the mat and went out before all of them "(Mark 2:12). Luke gives the greatest detail: "Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God" (Luke 5:25).
Response Of The Crowd
In Mark, the crowd is "amazed and glorified God" (Mark 2:12). Luke says, "Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe" (Luke 5:26).
Matthew does not quote the crowd but directly connects the response of the crowd with the issue of authority: "When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings" (Matthew 9:8).
Mark and Luke quote the crowd: "'We have never seen anything like this" (Mark 2:12) and "We have seen strange things today" (Luke 5:26).
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1. See George A. Buttrick, Ed., The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible, Volume 4 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962).
