Mark 2:12, commentary and pictures

At the word to rise, the helpless paralytic at Capernaum immediately stood, lifted the bed that had carried him, and walked out in full sight of all. His cure was instant and complete, with strength and health returning to wasted limbs and dying flesh in a moment. The work proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins as well as to heal the body. Pardon came first to lift guilt and bring peace to his troubled mind, and then healing reached his body. All who saw it except the hardened faultfinders were amazed and gave glory to God, declaring they had never seen anything like it.

Setting and Arrival

The healing took place at Capernaum when Jesus had come again as a guest at Peter's house, and men, women and children flocked from every direction to hear Him teach.

Inside sat close about Him disciples who would proclaim His words by word and pen over all lands and through all ages, together with haughty Pharisees, doctors and scribes concealing jealous hatred and wicked purpose. They had gathered to confuse Him and to catch some contradiction or forbidden heresy, that they might accuse Him as an impostor and condemn Him to death. Outside them thronged a promiscuous multitude of all grades of society and many nationalities, some drawn by an irresistible impulse to hear with seeds of life lodging in their hearts, others by wonder and curiosity and love of excitement.

The paralytic's friends and relatives had heard the gracious instruction of Jesus and had witnessed His wonderful miracles. They had seen that He turned none away and that even loathsome lepers found access to His presence and were healed. From this they began to hope the paralytic might be relieved if he could be brought under the notice of Jesus, and they carried him on an improvised litter or bed.

They could not push through because the dense crowd blocked passage in and about the house, while the invalid's suffering grew with anxiety and dissolution was already working on his body. In anguish and with no time to lose the bearers carried him to the rear of the house, broke through and tore open the roof, and let him down on his bed into the immediate presence of Jesus at His feet. That desperate effort was a silent plea, and Jesus understood his condition perfectly.

Sufferer's Past and Longing

The man was a local sufferer at Capernaum, reduced to utter helplessness by incurable palsy and given up by others as without hope of recovery and left to die. His wasted flesh was already beginning to decay, and dissolution was working upon his body. His affliction was the penalty of his own course, for dissipation had been its main cause, and a life spent loving the pleasures of sin had been a transgression of God's law.

Priests and rulers, Pharisees and doctors, had looked coldly upon him, pronounced him incurable, and held aloof from him as sick and needy. They denounced him as a sinner who would die under the wrath of God, telling him he was suffering the righteous retribution of God. They taught that sickness and distress were always evidence of God's anger toward the transgressor, though they themselves were more corrupt in heart and life. Left with help from no quarter, he had sunk into despair, and his suffering was embittered by remorse. His sickness of soul, from months of burden over sin, was far worse than his bodily suffering.

News of the miracles of mercy performed by Jesus aroused hope again, for he heard that Jesus cured every malady, spoke mercy to the despairing, and set people free from the power of Satan by a word of sublime authority. His friends assured him that Jesus had healed others who were in every respect as sinful and helpless as himself, and this encouraged him to believe that his own petition would be granted if he could be carried to the Saviour. He feared he would not be tolerated in the presence of the pure Physician and felt unworthy to approach because he remembered the cause of his malady. Yet he longed above all to see Jesus and place himself in His hands, with the great desire for relief of mind by pardon, assurance of forgiveness, and peace with heaven. If Jesus would only see him and give that relief, he would be content to live or to die according to God's righteous will.

Immediate Complete Restoration

At the command to rise, take up the bed and go home, the man at once obeyed, rose, lifted the very bed on which he had been carried in, and walked out in full sight before them all. His obedience was immediate and required no further word, for he took the command as new life imparted to him. The healing thus confirmed in public action that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins as well as to heal the sick.

The restoration was complete and outwardly manifest, with renewed strength and the elasticity and vigor of youth returning at once. Life-giving blood bounded through its natural channels, a healthful current moved through the veins, every organ of the body sprang into sudden activity, lifeless and bloodless arms were quickened, and limbs long refusing to obey the will were given life. The pallor and leaden color of approaching death gave way to the glow of ruddy health and fresh vigor.

He made no further request and put on no noisy display, but received the cure with silent joy while the light of heaven rested upon his face. He passed through the crowd blessing God at every bounding step, bearing his bed as if it were a feather's weight. The people fell back to give him room and gazed with awe-struck faces at what stood before them.

He carried the couch home with ease, walking with a firm, free step and with hope written in his face. All gloom was gone, and peace and purity had taken the place of sin and suffering, while shrunken flesh became fresh and lifeless arms became quick to obey his will. His family gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes, and the house was filled with rejoicing, thanksgiving, hope and light. God was glorified through His Son who restores hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken, and the man with his household became fully loyal to Christ with unshakable faith.

Authority Proved and Witnessed

The rising, carrying of the bed, and going forth before them all was immediate, complete, and public, and it proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins as well as to heal the sick. That power to forgive had been thought to belong to God alone, yet the healing confirmed it as Christ's own prerogative and confirmed Him as the promised Savior. The same compassionate power was shown over dreaded, incurable disease, as over leprosy and palsy alike. The people responded with amazement and glorified God, confessing they had never seen anything on this fashion.

When Jesus said Son thy sins be forgiven thee, the scribes reasoned in their hearts that this was blasphemy because only God can forgive sins. Jesus perceived their reasoning and asked whether it is easier to say Thy sins be forgiven thee or Arise take up thy bed and walk. He then commanded the man to arise, take up his bed, and go home, in order to prove that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins.

The miracle was an act of mercy toward suffering humanity, displaying compassionate, life-giving power to the guilty and afflicted. It was compelling, unquestioned evidence that could not be denied, proving beyond doubt that Jesus could both heal the sick and forgive sins. By that evidence it confirmed the message of salvation and gave reason to trust the Redeemer's mercy rather than slight it.

All the witnesses except the faultfinders were amazed and glorified God with praise. They said they had never seen anything like it, that they had seen strange things that day, recognizing an unprecedented work. It was as if heaven had opened to reveal the glories of the better world. Those willing to receive the truth were thus led to praise, while the same evidence did not convert those hardened in unbelief.

The rabbis who had refused the man hope and sympathy and declared him suffering under God's curse watched with terrible fear of losing their influence over the people. The Pharisees were left dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat, with no opportunity for prejudice and jealousy to inflame the multitude, so that their influence was for the time forgotten. They stood disconcerted and abashed before a superior being, for the gentle dignity of His manner and miraculous works stood in marked contrast with their proud, self-righteous bearing.

Soul Body Healing Applied

Mark 2:12 shows Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, the great Physician and Restorer who heals soul and body together. In His work forgiveness of sin and physical healing belong together, and to do His work is to seek to save both the souls and the bodies of the afflicted. The record of this healing ministry, meeting both spiritual and physical need, holds lessons for medical missionary work.

Forgiveness came first to cleanse the soul before the body was reached. When the burden of guilt was lifted, pallid despair changed to hope, and peace and joy replaced doubt, gloom and distress. With the troubled mind thus restored to peace, the suffering body could then be reached and healed.

Relief from sin's burden and the peace of God restore vigor to the mind and health to the body. Peace of God in the heart makes sickness of much less consequence, and peace of mind prepares the way for faith that Christ will do as He promised. Sin is hindering recovery for hundreds today, and the sick must put trust in Christ.

The healing visibly joined the preaching of truth with care for the sick. The paralytic's recovery made that connection plain and confirmed Christ as the great Restorer whose method offers lessons for those who serve others.

Physicians are to make God their trust for powerful influence for good and to minister to the diseased mind in order to succeed in treating disease. When needed they are to relieve bodily pain first, so that conscience and heart become susceptible to truth. They are to point the sick in mind and body to Christ for twofold healing, instruct in true temperance, warn the careless, cheer the disconsolate and hopeless, and wisely prescribe for health, with medical missionary work as the right arm of the body. Doing this work includes erecting hospitals and giving patients exercise in cultivating the soil, and faith in God's healing power in connection with outdoor life, exercise, good food and the best treatments does wonders in restoration of health.

The case gives hope to the helpless and guilty, for Christ does not refuse to heal even those who brought disease upon themselves. When virtue from Him entered them they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of spiritual disease as well as physical malady. Seeing paralytics thus restored strengthens faith in hopeless sufferers that Jesus can heal them too and draws them nearer to Him. The healing displays wondrous love, with divinity sorrowing over suffering humanity and soothing its ills, proving the message of salvation beyond doubt and revealing the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer that must not be slighted. It warns against self-righteous condemnation and counters the claim that sickness always proves God's anger toward the sufferer.