Matthew 9:2, commentary and pictures

On His return to Capernaum Jesus was teaching in a crowded house when friends carried a helpless man sick of the palsy on a bed and, unable to reach Him, let him down through the roof into His presence. Seeing their determined faith and the faith of the man himself, who had already repented and believed Jesus could make him whole and longed above all for pardon and peace with God, He met his deepest need first. He tenderly called the sufferer son, bade him take courage, and forgave his sins before healing his body, lifting his burden of guilt and despair and bringing comfort, peace, hope and inward transformation. In so doing He exercised His own divine right to forgive sins on earth, flashing forth His divinity as one with the Father, and the immediate restoration of the man to rise, take up his bed and walk home confirmed that authority. Those same words still speak personally in every age to afflicted, sin-burdened people who come to Him with like need and faith, for through His death on Calvary and His living advocacy the past record can be blotted out and soul and body made whole.

Setting and Background

Jesus had returned to Capernaum and was teaching inside a crowded house, with His disciples seated near Him to learn truths they would proclaim in every land and age and through all ages, while crowds of men, women and children gathered to hear His gracious instruction. It was the house of Peter, filled beyond access as He taught within.

There they brought to Him a man utterly helpless from palsy, lying on a bed, carried by his friends and relatives who pressed through the crowd until they could go no farther and, unable to reach Jesus, let him down through the roof into the midst before Him. Near death and fearing there was no time to lose, he longed to come into Jesus' presence. Their bringing grew from faith and hope, for they had heard His teaching and seen His miracles and knew He turned no one away, that even loathsome lepers who came to Him found access and were healed, so they began to hope the paralytic might be relieved if he could be brought under His notice.

His bodily affliction had followed a life of dissipation and transgression of God's law, and his wealth could neither remove his guilt nor cure his disease. He was reduced to utter helplessness by an incurable disease, near death, with all hope of recovery given up. Priests and rulers and rabbis and Pharisees had left him hopeless by treating his sickness as proof of God's anger and curse for wickedness and condemning his suffering as punishment for sin, and their cold judgment only increased his misery.

Faith Repentance and Longing

Jesus saw the faith both of the man himself and of those who carried him, shown in their determined, struggling efforts to press through and let him down before Him. That faith answered His own prior work, for He had awakened the sufferer's conscience and drawn him to seek help. Already at home the man had repented and believed that Jesus could make him whole, and in that repentance and belief he had received the first blessing of life-giving mercy and inward renewal before the public words gave him assurance of pardon.

Above bodily recovery, his supreme longing was for Jesus to look upon him, pardon his sins, and grant forgiveness and peace with God and relief of troubled mind. Remorse for a life of dissipation and transgression of God's law had deepened his despair, yet he trusted that pardon would bring him peace whether he lived or died and was willing to live or die according to Jesus' will. Though fearing his sin made him unwelcome and that Jesus might reject him, his hope and faith revived as he heard from friends of Jesus' mercy and healing toward others just as sinful and helpless.

When the words of cheer and forgiveness came, lifting guilt and despair, he accepted them in simple faith as the gift of new life without asking for anything more. He responded in joyful silence while the people looked on with awe. His example teaches that the helpless must trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour and act on Christ's word without waiting for further evidence. Faith means calmly trusting God's word and relying on His promise rather than working oneself into excitement.

Forgiveness Before Healing

Jesus tenderly called the sufferer Son and told him to be of good cheer and take courage, meeting his deepest need first by forgiving his sins before healing his body. As the sin-pardoning Saviour He gave him reason for hope, for the man had been tormented by the thought that God had rejected him for his sins. Religious leaders had left him hopeless by telling him his affliction came from his wickedness, so these words of pardon came as comfort and encouragement like music to his soul. Before healing the body Christ removed the burden of sin from his heart and gave him the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven that he desired most.

That declaration lifted the burden of guilt and despair and replaced it with comfort, peace, hope, joy, light and inward transformation. Forgiveness itself transformed his spirit, freed him, and brought peace to people in like need. His bodily pain also left him at the same time his whole being was changed. The man’s companions had brought him in faith, and Jesus recognized their faith while also knowing his inward longing, repentance and belief that Jesus could make him whole.

Soul health had to come first before body health could be appreciated. To heal the body He first brought relief to the mind and cleansed the soul from sin, seeing both bodily disease and a sin-sick soul. The burden of sin had weighed on him for months more heavily than bodily illness, bringing despair and distress, and forgiveness brought hope, peace and joy in its place. With his mind restored, his suffering body could then be reached, so relief of spiritual and mental suffering preceded and aided bodily healing.

The forgiveness removed the burden of sin from his heart, took away his sins, changed his relation to God, and presented him to God as pardoned. God had given His Son power to forgive sins, and Christ’s divinity flashed forth in the act. He knew the man was repentant and knew his experience under the priests’ and rulers’ condemnation, and gave him hope by declaring him pardoned and at peace with Heaven. His diseased soul was thus cured before his bodily infirmities were healed.

Those same words of comfort and forgiveness speak personally in every age to afflicted, sin-burdened people who come to Him with like need and faith. Christ’s promise is a personal word of grace and power, received as a source of healing, courage and faith.

Divine Authority to Forgive

In forgiving the palsied man, divinity flashed forth, for He stood at the head of the human race with divinity clothed with humanity, and the act showed Him to be the Son of the living God, one with the Father. He took away the man's sins and presented him to God as pardoned, knowing the man was repentant, and gave him hope by the declaration of pardon. His heart of love and pity was moved as He saw bodily disease and a sin-sick soul, and the words Son, thy sins are forgiven thee are the message given to longing, starving people and an invitation to all who are soul-sick with sin to get rid of the burden.

He exercised God's gift and His own divine right to forgive sins, with the same divine power on earth to forgive sins that He had in heaven, showing that forgiveness is a divine power. Before healing the body He removed the burden of sin from the heart and gave the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven that the man desired most. The physical healing that followed confirmed that authority and gave evidence of His Messiahship.

That confirmation came when He commanded the man to arise, take up the couch and go home, and the command was immediately obeyed, proving that power and giving convincing evidence that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. The healing demonstrated His power to forgive, and gave His enemies a sign they could not set aside that He had power on earth to forgive sins. This miracle was especially convincing evidence that He was the promised Saviour. Restoring the decaying body required the same creative, life-giving power by which God gave life to humanity.

The scribes, Pharisees and rabbis regarded the claim as blasphemy because they held that God alone can forgive sins. Though the sign could not be set aside and they recognized superior power, hatred, prejudice, unbelief and fear of losing influence hardened them to reject the evidence, seek grounds to condemn Him, and strengthen their resistance. Their cold judgment had refused the man hope and claimed his suffering was God's curse and punishment for sin, which only increased his misery. The account therefore offers hope to the helpless and warns against treating affliction as proof of God's displeasure or condemning sufferers as more sinful than oneself, for illness may follow one's own conduct, as dissipation and transgression had brought this man's affliction, without proving that every sick person is under special displeasure, and the judges themselves may be more corrupt than those they judge.

Healing Soul and Body

The man was made whole in the full vigor of manhood, his useless limbs restored with the strength and health of youth. Lifeless arms were quickened to obey his will, shrunken leaden-hued flesh was made fresh and ruddy with health, gloom was removed and hope was written on his face. He rose and walked with a firm, free step, took up with ease the couch on which he had been slowly borne, and went home. The guilty sinner was pardoned and the helpless man was healed, sin and suffering replaced by purity and peace. He was healed every whit of the leprosy of sin and of bodily maladies, with spiritual renewal of heart and physical recovery together, his whole being transformed and his physical pain gone.

His return glorified God through the Son who brought light into the darkened home. It brought great rejoicing and tears of joy and glad thanksgiving, and restored hope to him and his family. It produced in him and his family an unwavering faith and perfect loyalty that no doubt could dim, making them ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. Compassionate love reaches both the guilty and the afflicted, joining spiritual restoration to physical healing. That joining brings relief to suffering humanity and displays life-giving power that supports the message of salvation, calling people to trust and not slight the mercy of their Redeemer.

The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, is the foundation of many physical maladies. Those who are soul-sick with sin can find relief by coming to Christ, the Healer of the soul. The peace Christ gives restores vigor to the mind and health to the body, strengthening mind and body together. Relief of spiritual and mental suffering can precede and aid bodily healing, for with the mind restored the suffering body can then be reached. Relief from bodily pain can in turn make a person more receptive to conscience and to religious truth.

Present Call and Ministry

The forgiveness spoken to the paralytic is worth everything, for on Calvary's cross sins were borne in His own body, sorrows are seen, a hand is laid on the head of every contrite soul, and He stands as Advocate before the Father and Saviour, so that the past record can be blotted out by His blood and the page made clean and white, and the lowly, contrite heart that makes much of pardon is called by such love to consecrate the whole life to Him, which alone satisfies Him. His death makes that assurance available to every sinner, to be offered tenderly and plainly to the sick even when near death, for the voice from Calvary makes pardon effective through the one Mediator and ever-open channel of mercy, so that even the greatest criminal may receive pardon and gratitude be awakened.

A sin-stricken person fearing condemnation may come to Jesus directly as they are, without pilgrimages to holy shrines, for the promise applies even to the sinful and unholy, and one who is tempted and in weakness overcome and erred and betrayed into sin is still loved and not thrust away but pardoned abundantly with peace and grace and blessing. Those who recognize their sin and need receive such words of grace, while those who count themselves sinless feel no need for wisdom, light, strength, forgiveness, or growth in grace. As a risen, living Saviour who conquered death and the grave He still saves all who come confessing, saying to them that their sins are forgiven, sending them away in peace with the charge to go and sin no more and to leave sin behind. Those who are sick are to be shown the way of salvation, led to repentance, and offered forgiveness and peace, since healing of the soul matters more than healing of the body.

His words to be of good cheer join forgiveness with healing as assurance of God's power to restore health and make whole through faith, for Christ heals sickness of soul as well as diseases of body for those who look to Him in faith. Bodily infirmity, weakness, depression, and personal weakness are no evidence that He is absent, has stopped loving and helping, or is not working daily on behalf of such a one, since He pardons abundantly and calls the forgiven to trust in His care and peace and to lie trustingly in faith gathering the sweet promises of God. Physicians and medical missionaries are therefore to point patients, after relieving bodily pain, to Jesus the Soul-healer and the complete provision of the sin-pardoning Redeemer, leading those who come for healing to salvation and repentance to hear His assurance of forgiveness and peace, which brings light and peace to the soul as health and peace. His first giving assurance that sins were forgiven met torment over supposed rejection by God with peace and joy, and showed power to forgive sins in a work joining preaching of truth with healing of the sick.

The glowing light put in the heart by pardon is kept alive by helping souls who need help, and by the same assurance sustaining the faith of disciples as they help people in need, bringing light and hope as it did to the man with palsy and to those who heard. That light dies when the pardoned become cold, hard, self-righteous and idle and leave first love, keeping a name to live while dead, and it must not be lost by holding apart from the neglected whose lives are darkened by hardship, leaving them in discouragement, darkness, and despair. The personal word comes to everyone who receives Him by faith through the leading of the Holy Spirit after hungering and thirsting for knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, searching the Scriptures, prayer, and soul agony, and everyone who hears it in the heart will long to proclaim the gospel to others, relating step by step how the Spirit led to forgiveness and sharing the assurance as part of the experience of grace. Those seeking forgiveness may earnestly plead with God and trust in Christ's mercy.

Forgiveness belongs with conversion whose fruit is a changed life, for sincere repentance produces good works, and profession alone does not prove saving connection with Christ, which is shown by conforming words, conduct, and character to God's will, each doing duty and obeying God's commandments while relying on Jesus Christ for support and strength. At His return the faithful will recognize that same voice as the voice of the compassionate Saviour, and its words to them will mean rest, peace, and everlasting life. Because He suffered for sin and died as sacrifice on Calvary's cross and ascended as Advocate to the throne of God, that same voice of forgiveness is now heard through His ambassadors proclaiming a crucified and risen Saviour with additional power and efficiency as the great Teacher still going about doing good, healing diseases of body and speaking to the sin-sick soul.