As a children’s worker, I Iove telling this story. Jesus’ compassion for the paralysed man shines through in their encounter: ‘Take heart, son.’ It is such a clear illustration of the way Jesus treats us, even though we don’t deserve it. I often say to children that everyone in that crowded room (v 8) would have thought they knew what the man needed. It was obvious, wasn’t it? He needed to be healed on the outside, so that he could walk. But then I explain that Jesus knew he also needed to be healed on the inside (v 2). Because he is so gracious, Jesus did both for the man lying on a mat at his feet, healing him inside and outside. 

These verses remind us that ‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7). As for the friends – what a great bunch! They were determined that he should meet Jesus (v 2). An example to follow, and a challenge too. How determined are you to bring people you know to Jesus? As you pray for them, perhaps imagine them lying on a mat at the feet of Jesus, the loving forgiver of sins. 

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound / that saved a wretch like me!’¹

Whatever the friends of the paralysed man hoped for in bringing him to Jesus, it presumably wasn’t for him to remain on his mat. Matthew says that Jesus saw their faith (v 2) and he responded in love and grace towards the paralysed man, just as he did to the faith of the centurion.² Yet neither the friends nor the centurion could dictate to Jesus how he should touch the life of the one they brought to him in faith. Neither can we. Many of us have prayed for people to be made well and felt our prayers were unanswered. 

It may help to consider that the breadth of God’s grace surpasses physical healing. Here, the grace that Jesus extends to the paralysed man is forgiveness of sins (v 2). Does this seem to you like a second-best gift? In many Western secular societies today, the concept of ‘sin’ has lost its meaning outside religious contexts. Likewise, we don’t always realise the full power of the words ‘your sins are forgiven’, unless we have experienced a radical conversion to Christ that transforms the way we live. This is a problem of our perception. Jesus graciously healed the paralysed man anyway, explicitly so that his observers would know that he had ‘authority on earth to forgive sins’ (v 6) – not that he had authority to heal physically. 

Do we need to grasp again the incredible truth that our sinfulness, which pervades our human existence, is completely forgiven in Christ? It is only when we fall to our knees in worship that we can truly perceive the greatness of God, our hopelessness in comparison and the wonder of his love, releasing us from all that binds. Take heart, child, he says. Your sins are forgiven.

Pray: ‘Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’³

¹ John Newton, 1725–1807  ² Matt 8:10  ³ Rom 7:24,25, TNIV