The Paralytic Lowered Through the Roof

Jesus returns to Capernaum. Word gets out that he is at home, and the crowd is so large that there is no longer room even around the door. A paralyzed man arrives, carried by four men. Unable to get close, they uncover the roof and, through the opening, lower the bed on which the sick man lies. Seeing their faith, Jesus says to him, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Some scribes reason in their hearts, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” Jesus knows their thoughts: “Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?” To show them that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he commands the paralytic to get up. At once the man takes up his bed and walks out in front of everyone, and they all glorify God: “We never saw it on this fashion.”