NOTES for Mar 2:1-12

In telling about the healing of the paralytic, the evangelists emphasize that four friends carried him. Their faith in the possibility of their friend's healing was so great that even the roof over the Teacher's head could not stand against it. "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven you.'" It turns out that faith is not only our own possession, the prerogative of our inner world; it can also open the way for God's action in others. By the faith of some, another person's sins are forgiven. It was precisely "faith working through love" that caused the paralytic to find himself before the face of the living God.

Far from always, when the Lord Jesus heals the sick, does He point to sin as the immediate cause of illness. Moreover, sometimes Jesus even refuses to recognize sin as the cause of illness, as in the case of the healing of the man born blind, making it clear that every case is unique. But here we see that sin, as a violation of the norm and a distortion of nature, brought about paralysis, helplessness.

From this moment begins Jesus' conflict with the scribes, the spiritual leaders of the people. To their question, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus answers with a question of His own: if you are right that only God can grant forgiveness of sins, then is the miracle that has taken place not proof that Jesus is truly the Son of God?