But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
Certain scribes were sitting close to Jesus in the crowded house at Capernaum where friends lowered a helpless paralytic through the broken roof because they could not reach Him through the crowd. They were not there to learn their own need but as hostile watchers, silently reasoning together without a spoken word while waiting to seize His pardon of the man as blasphemy worthy of death, since only God can forgive sins. Jesus immediately perceived their hidden evil thoughts in His spirit and rebuked them with His reproving glance before answering them. He first lifted the heavier sickness of soul by declaring forgiveness, bringing peace and joy to a mind tortured by sin and by the rulers' curse, and then commanded the man to arise and walk to prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. The man rose at once in complete health before them all, and while the people were amazed and glorified God, the faultfinders were left defeated yet hardened in hatred, showing that trust in the sin-pardoning Saviour gives the peace of mind that prepares the way for healing of soul and body.
Setting and Silent Accusation
The scene is Capernaum, in a crowded house where Jesus was guest at Peter's house and men, women and children flocked from every direction to hear Him teach. His disciples were seated near Him to hear and learn the truths they would later proclaim, while friends carrying a helpless paralytic on a litter sought relief and forgiveness for him but could not come directly into His presence because of the crowd and let him down through the broken roof. This stands within His wider ministry of teaching beside the lake and healing the sick, when the lame, the blind, the paralytic and those dying of various maladies, and even loathsome lepers who believed He could make them clean, were made clean and rose up in health praising God.
Certain scribes were sitting there close to Jesus inside the house, together with the Pharisees and doctors and near His disciples, among the religious leaders listening in the crowded house. They were not there to learn or to feel their own need of healing, but were present as spies with wicked purposes in their hearts. They concealed jealousy of His power and wisdom, intense hatred and self-exaltation, and did not recognize the divine power and presence of the Spirit to heal. They closely watched His words to confuse and confound Him, trying to draw Him out on various subjects in hope of surprising Him into some contradiction or forbidden heresy that would arrest the tide of popular sympathy, let them accuse Him of being an impostor, and condemn Him to death. These were the same men who had been present when He healed the withered hand on the Sabbath day and, though claiming the special favor of God, were filled with madness because He had done that good work on the Lord's day.
Without exchanging words aloud they reasoned in their hearts, reading the same thought in one another's faces while sitting present at the healing. They watched with anxious interest what He would do, waiting to seize His declaration of divine pardon as an assumption of infinite power. Their inward reasoning fastened on His first words to the man, that his sins were forgiven, as blasphemy worthy of death, because they held that only God can forgive sins and questioned His authority to do so. Their thoughts were evil, and they were moved in part by terrible fear of losing their influence over the people after having themselves refused the man encouragement, help and sympathy.
Their accusation grew out of their custom of holding sickness and distress to be always evidence of God's anger toward the transgressor and righteous retribution for wrongdoing. The paralytic's affliction had followed a life of sinful excess in which dissipation was the main cause, he had loved the pleasures of sin, and his life had been a transgression of God's law, so that his bodily affliction was the penalty of his crime. He had long before placed his case in their hands, entreating their interest and sympathy for his tortured mind and physical suffering, but priests and rulers had looked coldly upon him, told him his sins had brought his affliction, pronounced him incurable and suffering the curse of God, added to his woe, treated his condition with disgust, and left him to die. It was their custom to hold themselves aloof from the sick and needy, yet these very men who exalted themselves as holy were frequently more corrupt and guilty in heart and life than the poor sufferers whom they condemned.
Christ Exposes and Proves
He at once perceived in His spirit their inward reasoning and knew their unspoken thoughts, reading their hidden thinking without a word being spoken aloud. He fixed His reproving glance upon them until they cowered and drew back, and He exposed and rebuked that inward thinking as evil before He answered it. To prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He answered the unspoken objection by commanding the paralytic to arise, take up his bed and go home. The man immediately arose and went forth before them all, and all except the faultfinders were amazed and glorified God for works they had never seen before. That healing displayed compassionate love and gave evidence for the message of salvation and forgiveness, binding together the right to pardon and the power to heal.
He saw and understood perfectly that the man had a sickness of soul far more aggravating than bodily suffering. Sins had lain heavily upon him for months with no relief, and the suggestion that God had cast him off had brought torture, doubt and gloom while dissolution was doing its work upon his body. He therefore spoke pardon first as the most precious words for the sufferer, lifting the burden of sin and bringing hope instead of despair and peace and joy instead of doubt and gloom. The mind being restored to peace, the suffering body could then be reached and healed so that he could arise and walk, for relief from sin and unrest prepares the way for healing of mind and body.
The restoration was complete, for the man regained strength and health and rose and walked with a firm, free step. Arms that had been lifeless were now quick to obey his will, and flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was now fresh and ruddy with health. Hope was written in every line of his face, all gloom was gone, and peace and purity stood in place of sin and suffering. He carried his couch with ease from where he had been slowly borne from his home back into the midst of his family. They gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes, and glad thanksgivings went up from that house, and God was glorified through the Son who had restored hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken and brought light into their darkened home. Their hope was revived and their faith in Jesus was strengthened, with no doubt dimming their faith and no unbelief marring their perfect fealty, and with readiness to lay down life for Him.
Though they saw Him possess and claim as His own prerogative the power to forgive sins, which they held belonged to God alone, they would not accept the compelling evidence of the miracle. The gentle dignity of His manner united with His miraculous work stood in marked contrast to their own proud and self-righteous bearing, leaving them dumb with amazement, overwhelmed with defeat, disconcerted and abashed, recognizing but not confessing the presence of a superior being. Their prejudice and jealousy found no opportunity to inflame the multitude, because the work wrought upon the man had so impressed the people that the influence of these leading men was for the time forgotten. Their response was growing hatred and unbelief until their hearts became so hardened that they were left to the darkness they were choosing. They did not discern the healing power present, so the hungry received good things while the self-satisfied were left empty.
Healing Soul and Body
The sitting and silent inward reasoning took place in the house where He was speaking when the paralytic was let down through the broken roof because the crowd blocked the way, against His first words to the man that his sins were forgiven. The sufferers had been told by priests and rulers that his sins had brought his affliction and he could never be healed, and had been left to die, yet he had heard of Jesus and was carried on a litter and laid before Him. Those reasoning held that He thus spoke blasphemies because only God can forgive sins, and He immediately perceived in His spirit their inward reasoning and answered it. To prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He commanded the paralytic to arise, take up his bed and go home, and the man immediately arose and went forth before them all, so that all except the faultfinders were amazed and glorified God for works they had never seen before. The meaning is that a sin-pardoning Saviour meets inward faultfinding with proof of His power to pardon, and trust in Him gives peace of mind that prepares the way for faith in His promise to heal spiritual and physical disease. Relief from sin and unrest is necessary to the healing of both mind and body.
He gave that assurance of pardon first to give peace of mind and free the man from the torture of the priests' suggestion that God had cast him off because of his sins, and it filled him with peace and joy. The inward reasoning challenged His right to forgive sins as belonging to God alone, and He answered that unspoken objection by commanding the sick man to arise and go home, proving that the Son of man has power to forgive sins. In that healing of the guilty and afflicted He addressed both bodily need and the trouble weighing on minds, and pointed them toward the home above. He shows Himself there as healer of both soul and body, not only the sin-pardoning Saviour but the Restorer, saving souls and bodies of the afflicted together. With wondrous love stooping to heal, Divinity sorrowing over and soothing the ills of suffering humanity, marvelous power was displayed to the children of men, leaving the message of salvation beyond doubt and the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer not to be slighted. By that answer He bound together preaching the truth and healing the sick as one united work.
That united work of healing sin and sickness is the work His followers are to continue. In the related Sabbath account, scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, of breaking the Sabbath.
Applied to care for the sick, bodily healing matters, but helping patients find salvation and forgiveness matters more. Physicians who teach true temperance and care for those sick in mind and body are to point their patients to Him for healing of soul and body. In warning the careless, cheering the disconsolate and hopeless, and wisely prescribing for the suffering, medical missionary work does its work as the right arm of the body.
Certain scribes were sitting close to Jesus in the crowded house at Capernaum where friends lowered a helpless paralytic through the broken roof because they could not reach Him through the crowd. They were not there to learn their own need but as hostile watchers, silently reasoning together without a spoken word while waiting to seize His pardon of the man as blasphemy worthy of death, since only God can forgive sins. Jesus immediately perceived their hidden evil thoughts in His spirit and rebuked them with His reproving glance before answering them. He first lifted the heavier sickness of soul by declaring forgiveness, bringing peace and joy to a mind tortured by sin and by the rulers' curse, and then commanded the man to arise and walk to prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. The man rose at once in complete health before them all, and while the people were amazed and glorified God, the faultfinders were left defeated yet hardened in hatred, showing that trust in the sin-pardoning Saviour gives the peace of mind that prepares the way for healing of soul and body.
Setting and Silent Accusation
The scene is Capernaum, in a crowded house where Jesus was guest at Peter's house and men, women and children flocked from every direction to hear Him teach. His disciples were seated near Him to hear and learn the truths they would later proclaim, while friends carrying a helpless paralytic on a litter sought relief and forgiveness for him but could not come directly into His presence because of the crowd and let him down through the broken roof. This stands within His wider ministry of teaching beside the lake and healing the sick, when the lame, the blind, the paralytic and those dying of various maladies, and even loathsome lepers who believed He could make them clean, were made clean and rose up in health praising God.
Certain scribes were sitting there close to Jesus inside the house, together with the Pharisees and doctors and near His disciples, among the religious leaders listening in the crowded house. They were not there to learn or to feel their own need of healing, but were present as spies with wicked purposes in their hearts. They concealed jealousy of His power and wisdom, intense hatred and self-exaltation, and did not recognize the divine power and presence of the Spirit to heal. They closely watched His words to confuse and confound Him, trying to draw Him out on various subjects in hope of surprising Him into some contradiction or forbidden heresy that would arrest the tide of popular sympathy, let them accuse Him of being an impostor, and condemn Him to death. These were the same men who had been present when He healed the withered hand on the Sabbath day and, though claiming the special favor of God, were filled with madness because He had done that good work on the Lord's day.
Without exchanging words aloud they reasoned in their hearts, reading the same thought in one another's faces while sitting present at the healing. They watched with anxious interest what He would do, waiting to seize His declaration of divine pardon as an assumption of infinite power. Their inward reasoning fastened on His first words to the man, that his sins were forgiven, as blasphemy worthy of death, because they held that only God can forgive sins and questioned His authority to do so. Their thoughts were evil, and they were moved in part by terrible fear of losing their influence over the people after having themselves refused the man encouragement, help and sympathy.
Their accusation grew out of their custom of holding sickness and distress to be always evidence of God's anger toward the transgressor and righteous retribution for wrongdoing. The paralytic's affliction had followed a life of sinful excess in which dissipation was the main cause, he had loved the pleasures of sin, and his life had been a transgression of God's law, so that his bodily affliction was the penalty of his crime. He had long before placed his case in their hands, entreating their interest and sympathy for his tortured mind and physical suffering, but priests and rulers had looked coldly upon him, told him his sins had brought his affliction, pronounced him incurable and suffering the curse of God, added to his woe, treated his condition with disgust, and left him to die. It was their custom to hold themselves aloof from the sick and needy, yet these very men who exalted themselves as holy were frequently more corrupt and guilty in heart and life than the poor sufferers whom they condemned.
Christ Exposes and Proves
He at once perceived in His spirit their inward reasoning and knew their unspoken thoughts, reading their hidden thinking without a word being spoken aloud. He fixed His reproving glance upon them until they cowered and drew back, and He exposed and rebuked that inward thinking as evil before He answered it. To prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He answered the unspoken objection by commanding the paralytic to arise, take up his bed and go home. The man immediately arose and went forth before them all, and all except the faultfinders were amazed and glorified God for works they had never seen before. That healing displayed compassionate love and gave evidence for the message of salvation and forgiveness, binding together the right to pardon and the power to heal.
He saw and understood perfectly that the man had a sickness of soul far more aggravating than bodily suffering. Sins had lain heavily upon him for months with no relief, and the suggestion that God had cast him off had brought torture, doubt and gloom while dissolution was doing its work upon his body. He therefore spoke pardon first as the most precious words for the sufferer, lifting the burden of sin and bringing hope instead of despair and peace and joy instead of doubt and gloom. The mind being restored to peace, the suffering body could then be reached and healed so that he could arise and walk, for relief from sin and unrest prepares the way for healing of mind and body.
The restoration was complete, for the man regained strength and health and rose and walked with a firm, free step. Arms that had been lifeless were now quick to obey his will, and flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was now fresh and ruddy with health. Hope was written in every line of his face, all gloom was gone, and peace and purity stood in place of sin and suffering. He carried his couch with ease from where he had been slowly borne from his home back into the midst of his family. They gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes, and glad thanksgivings went up from that house, and God was glorified through the Son who had restored hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken and brought light into their darkened home. Their hope was revived and their faith in Jesus was strengthened, with no doubt dimming their faith and no unbelief marring their perfect fealty, and with readiness to lay down life for Him.
Though they saw Him possess and claim as His own prerogative the power to forgive sins, which they held belonged to God alone, they would not accept the compelling evidence of the miracle. The gentle dignity of His manner united with His miraculous work stood in marked contrast to their own proud and self-righteous bearing, leaving them dumb with amazement, overwhelmed with defeat, disconcerted and abashed, recognizing but not confessing the presence of a superior being. Their prejudice and jealousy found no opportunity to inflame the multitude, because the work wrought upon the man had so impressed the people that the influence of these leading men was for the time forgotten. Their response was growing hatred and unbelief until their hearts became so hardened that they were left to the darkness they were choosing. They did not discern the healing power present, so the hungry received good things while the self-satisfied were left empty.
Healing Soul and Body
The sitting and silent inward reasoning took place in the house where He was speaking when the paralytic was let down through the broken roof because the crowd blocked the way, against His first words to the man that his sins were forgiven. The sufferers had been told by priests and rulers that his sins had brought his affliction and he could never be healed, and had been left to die, yet he had heard of Jesus and was carried on a litter and laid before Him. Those reasoning held that He thus spoke blasphemies because only God can forgive sins, and He immediately perceived in His spirit their inward reasoning and answered it. To prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins He commanded the paralytic to arise, take up his bed and go home, and the man immediately arose and went forth before them all, so that all except the faultfinders were amazed and glorified God for works they had never seen before. The meaning is that a sin-pardoning Saviour meets inward faultfinding with proof of His power to pardon, and trust in Him gives peace of mind that prepares the way for faith in His promise to heal spiritual and physical disease. Relief from sin and unrest is necessary to the healing of both mind and body.
He gave that assurance of pardon first to give peace of mind and free the man from the torture of the priests' suggestion that God had cast him off because of his sins, and it filled him with peace and joy. The inward reasoning challenged His right to forgive sins as belonging to God alone, and He answered that unspoken objection by commanding the sick man to arise and go home, proving that the Son of man has power to forgive sins. In that healing of the guilty and afflicted He addressed both bodily need and the trouble weighing on minds, and pointed them toward the home above. He shows Himself there as healer of both soul and body, not only the sin-pardoning Saviour but the Restorer, saving souls and bodies of the afflicted together. With wondrous love stooping to heal, Divinity sorrowing over and soothing the ills of suffering humanity, marvelous power was displayed to the children of men, leaving the message of salvation beyond doubt and the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer not to be slighted. By that answer He bound together preaching the truth and healing the sick as one united work.
That united work of healing sin and sickness is the work His followers are to continue. In the related Sabbath account, scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, of breaking the Sabbath.
Applied to care for the sick, bodily healing matters, but helping patients find salvation and forgiveness matters more. Physicians who teach true temperance and care for those sick in mind and body are to point their patients to Him for healing of soul and body. In warning the careless, cheering the disconsolate and hopeless, and wisely prescribing for the suffering, medical missionary work does its work as the right arm of the body.