Jesus went to his home town, and because the word had gotten out about his healing miracles, people flocked to see him. There were so many visitors at the place where Jesus was staying that four faithful friends of a paralyzed man made a hole in the roof of the house and lowered him down to Jesus using ropes tied to the paralytic’s mat. Jesus praised the men for their faith. But instead of healing the man right away, he simply told him that his sins were forgiven.

That upset many onlookers. Only God could forgive sins, they said. So Jesus told the man to get up and walk to make the point that he was the “Son of Man” (Messiah), the one who had been prophesied in the Bible.

Jesus was concerned with healing the whole person, not just people’s physical infirmities. Let us seek his spiritual healing as well as physical healing.

Mark 2:1-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

2 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man[a] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”