Why Jesus said ‘Thy sins are forgiven’ before healing the Paralytic
What is the connection between the miracle, sin and punishment?
What is the connection between the miracle, sin and punishment?
Editor’s Notes
In this part, Fr Coleridge shows us…
How Christ rewarded the faith of friends with a miracle greater than they sought.
That bodily healing confirmed His greater work: the forgiveness of sin.
Why physical sickness is used to reveal the deeper wounds of the soul.
He shows us that faith for others draws down graces which surpass all earthly expectation.
For more context on this chapter, see Part I.
The Healing of the Paralytic
The Training of the Apostles, Part I
Chapter IV
St. Matt. ix. 1–9; St. Mark ii. 1–14; St. Luke v. 17–29
Story of the Gospels, § 139
Burns and Oates, London, 1884
Why Jesus’ timing in healing and forgiving the Paralytic was important
Who was in the crowd of religious leaders when Jesus healed and forgave the Paralytic?
Why Jesus said ‘Thy sins are forgiven’ before healing the Paralytic
The paralytic brought in
‘And behold men brought in a bed a man who had the palsy’—who was carried by four—‘and they sought means to bring him in and lay him before Him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles, with his bed, into the midst before Him.’
St. Mark says, ‘They uncovered the roof where our Lord was, and opening it, let down the bed’—and we must gather from the description, which is, of course, that of St. Peter, that they did something more than merely let the bed down into the open middle court which was so commonly to be found in the houses of that time and country. Eastern travellers tell us that at the present time it is not uncommon to open a part of the roof in the manner which is suggested by the words of St. Mark.
The resolute faith of the four bearers of this poor sufferer was too impatient for delay, and although there may have been many others waiting their turn for our Lord’s attention, they forced their way to the front in the manner related, and the palsied man lay in his bed before our Lord’s feet in the sight of all, and the eyes and thoughts of all the watchers and listeners were concentrated upon him.
The Gospels do not tell us anything of the interior dispositions of this poor man. He does not speak to make any prayer or request, nor do we know that when he allowed himself to be carried through the streets in his bed to the place where our Lord was teaching, he had any other thought than that of obtaining deliverance from his bodily malady. Nor is there anything to make us believe that the bearers themselves sought from our Lord for more than this. Their case is thus in some respects like that of the nobleman whose son seems to have been the first person whom our Lord healed in this same city of Capharnaum, for whom his father petitioned that He would come from Cana to heal him, when it was our Lord’s intention to raise his faith to a higher level, and lead him to believe that He could work miraculous cures at a distance as well as when present by the side of the sufferers.
Thus, on the present occasion, our Lord did not ask them what they desired, but turned at once to the palsied man. ‘And when Jesus had seen their faith’—when He had witnessed the toil to which they had put themselves, which was evidence enough to outward eye of the faith which He also discerned in their hearts—‘He saith to the sick of the palsy, Man, My son, be of good heart, thy sins are forgiven thee.’
Faith of the bearers
Thus, as holy writers tell us, the faith of the bearers—for it is their faith which is directly mentioned as the cause which moved our Lord—won for the sufferer under their charge not only the benefit which they directly sought, but also, a far greater benefit, the healing of his soul.
For it is the way of God to allow this power to faith, that it can obtain great boons for others as well as for itself. For an action of faith like that of which we are speaking was a silent but most forcible prayer to our Lord to exercise His merciful power in favour of the palsied man.
Again, it is the way of God to give more than He is asked, and in a higher order, sometimes instead of in the order in which He is asked,—as when He gives the grace of resignation and patience when He is asked to remove some calamity, or the grace of strength and victory when He is asked to take away some temptation, and the like,—sometimes as well as in the order in which He is asked, and when He grants some temporal boon and at the same time some great spiritual gift.
Nor is it beyond the power of faith to make Him combine these two favours, and grant to the prayers that are made for the temporal benefit of others, both that temporal benefit and also a spiritual boon of a higher grade. In this last case He does not, it is true, directly grant the spiritual gift to the prayer alone of others than the recipient, because another law of His dealings with moral agents, who are capable of cooperating with or resisting grace, requires that their own will should consent to the merciful design of God.
But He then grants, to the prayers which are made for them by others, that they may have the graces which lead to the dispositions in themselves which are necessary for the reception of the spiritual boon.1
Father Coleridge Reader is a labour of love. But curating, cleaning up and publishing these texts takes real work.
To keep this project going, and to make more of this treasury available, we rely on reader support. Some posts are reserved for members to sustain this mission.
We’re trying to keep something precious alive.
If you’ve benefited, consider joining us as a subscriber. It makes a real difference.