Whenever He was in Capernaum, Jesus probably routinely resided at Peter’s house.

Having completed His preaching tour of the Galilean Synagogues Jesus now returns to Capernaum and probably to the house of Peter.  The news of His return spread quickly so that in practically no time at all a crowd had filled the house to capacity and spilled out into the street.

To the western mindset this thing about digging through the roof sounds like major vandalism to the house but in all actuality it wasn’t.  The house had a flat roof and there was a stairway leading up to the roof.  A family could relax up there in the cool of the evening.  After the four had let their friend down through the hole they had made and Jesus had done His thing the five probably repaired the roof, perhaps leaving it in better shape than before their arrival.  The four friends had encountered a major obstacle and could have given up and said, “Well we’ll try again another day,” but they didn’t let the problems overwhelm them, they looked for and found a solution.

Injil Markus 2:2  And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

2:3  And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

2:4  And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, 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 lay.

2:5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

2:6  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

2:7  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God only?

In Jewish theology even the Messiah could not forgive sins and therefore they were sure that Jesus was committing shirk.  However if He really is who He claimed to be then disbelieving in Messiah Jesus is the worst type of shirk of all.  Al-Masihu-Isa (Jesus) is kalimat Allah and wadjih (worthy of esteem in this world and the next) according to the Quran.

2:8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

2:9  Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

Since they believed and were quite certain that a person’s sins had to be forgiven before they could be healed Jesus has chosen to force them to engage their brains.  One of the purposes of the miracles Jesus did was to prove to the people precisely who this holy one of God, Jesus, truly is.  He is the promised Messiah.  There is no other like Him.

2:10  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)

2:11  “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”

2:12  And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

Jesus saw their faith, He may have smiled as he looked at a faith strong enough to overcome the obstacles and then He looked at the Scribes – the ones who should have had faith and He couldn’t help but be annoyed by those Scribes.  Now, in part, these fellows were doing their job; they were scrutinizing this itinerant Rabbi to make sure his teaching was okay.  But these were sitting there watching for what they considered to be the slightest mistake so they could blow it all out of proportion rather than allowing themselves to be moved by the working of God which they were privileged to see happening right before their very eyes.

The religious leadership made a connection between sin and disease, not entirely unfounded, but they were a bit misguided.  To them a sick man was a man who had sinned.  They had already heard Jesus preach; they had already seen Jesus heal.  Still they seemed quite unmoved by all that they had seen and heard.  Now, understand this, Jesus won’t allow anyone to remain neutral towards Him.  You will be either for Him or against Him, your choice.  If you choose wrongly, you will ultimately pay dearly for your choice.  Know Jesus, Know Heaven.

He has decided to up the ante, therefore he said, “Child your sins are forgiven.”  He has just challenged them head on with that phrase.  They were of the belief that the sin had to be forgiven before one could be healed.  But anyone is capable of saying “your sins are forgiven” and how can it be proven whether the statement was effective or not?  Now on the other hand, to tell the man to get up and walk would demonstrate then and there the authority, effectiveness, and reliability of His word.  Therefore in the tenth verse Jesus lets them know they have to make a choice to either believe in Him or disbelieve.  He has hoisted these experts in the law on their own petard.  It is on their own traditions and stated beliefs this man could not be cured unless he was forgiven.

In effect Jesus has said, “you say I have no right to forgive sins?  You believe that if this man is sick, he is a sinner and cannot be cured until he is forgiven?  Okay, then, watch this!”  Jesus spoke the word and the man was cured, therefore he must be forgiven and Jesus’ claim to be able to forgive sin must be true.  And a lot of eyewitnesses were there who couldn’t help but to laugh at their dilemma and to praise the God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He loves you and wants you to know who He is, and He asks you to live for Him.

–Pastor Ward Clinton