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Healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof

Matt 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26 · Early ministry in Galilee

Scripture

Matthew 9:1–8

nd he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. 2And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 3And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. 4And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 5For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7And he arose, and departed to his house. 8But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 9:1–8

dhe ay si hyri ndë lundrët uhoth përtej, e erdhi ndë qytett të ti. 2Edhe ja tek i prunë një ulok të-dergjurë mbi shtrat; edhe Jisuj si pa besën’ e atyre, i tha ulogut, Merr zëmërë, o bir; të janë falurë fajet’ e tu. 3Edhe ja ca nga shkronjësitë tek thanë me vetëhen’ e tyre, se Ky po vllasfimis. 4Edhe Jisuj si pa mendimet’ e atyre, tha, Përse mendoni ju punëra të-liga ndë zëmërat t’uaj? 5Sepse ç’është më lehtë, të them, T’u-falnë fajet’ e tu, apo të them, Ngreu e ecë? 6Po që t’a dini se i bir’ i nje-riut ka pushtet mbi dhet të falnjë faje, (atëhere i thot’ ulogut), Ngreu, e merr mbë krahë shtratinë t’ënt, edhe ecë ndë shtëpit t’ënde. 7Edhe ay ungrit edhe vate ndë shtëpit të ti. 8Edhe gjindja, kur panë, uçuditnë, edhe lavdëruanë Perëndinë, që u dha njerëzet një të-këtillë pushtet.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

The hinge of every patristic reading is Christ's question, "Which is easier, to say 'your sins are forgiven' or 'rise and walk'?" The Fathers note that to speak forgiveness is in fact the harder thing, yet the easier-seeming word can be checked by no one, since no eye sees whether sins are loosed. So Christ does the visible deed precisely to certify the invisible one, proving His power over the hidden disease of the soul by His power over the open disease of the body. The scribes are right that God alone forgives sins; their error is to refuse to see that the One before them is God. Christ answers their unspoken thought, and the Fathers mark this too: He reads the heart, which is proper to God alone, so that the accusation becomes a second witness against them.

Chrysostom dwells on the faith of the four who carried him and tore open the roof, and on Christ's mercy in healing the sick man through the faith of others; He does not despise it but heals on its account, that we might learn the worth of bearing one another. The Fathers commonly read the paralysis as the soul bound and immobilized by sin, set on its feet by the word of Christ. The order of the cure is deliberate: first "your sins are forgiven," then "rise and walk," for the root sickness is healed before the branch.

Cyril, commenting on Luke, presses the divine authority Christ claims as the Word made flesh, while Theophylact draws the moral lesson that bodily afflictions often follow from sin and are loosed when its cause is taken away. The crowd departs glorifying God "who had given such authority to men," and the Fathers hear in this a quiet promise of the power Christ will entrust to His Church.

In their own words

He healed first that which is invisible, the soul, by forgiving his sins

St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Homily XXIX (on Matt. ix. 1-8) (NPNF1 Vol. 10)

The Healing of the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof (Matthew 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

Unable to reach Christ through the crowded door, the bearers open the roof and let the paralytic down before Him; He forgives the man's sins, the scribes murmur, and He heals the body to prove His power to forgive. (The detail of the roof is given by Mark and Luke; Matthew abbreviates the account.) The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations: the first two Fathers from their own works, and the remaining Fathers as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Nothing is paraphrased.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon XII (on Luke 5:17–26) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_02_sermons_12_25.htm

On the bearers, the opened roof, and the faith that heals (Luke 5:18–20):

When, then, no small number, as it says, of scribes and pharisees, were assembled together, behold certain bringing upon a bed a man who was paralytic; and not being able to come in by the door, they carried him up to the roof, to attempt a strange and novel deed. For having pulled up the tiling, they removed the wood laid there ... Having uncovered, therefore, the roof, they let down the bed, and lay the paralytic in the midst. What then does the Lord do? Having seen their faith, not that of the paralytic, but of the bearers; for it is possible for one to be healed by the faith of others; or, perceiving that the paralytic also believed, He healed him.

On healing the soul before the body, and sin as the root of the disease:

But when the Saviour says to him, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee," He addresses this generally to mankind: for those who believe in Him, being healed of the diseases of the soul, will receive forgiveness of the sins which formerly they had committed. Or He may mean this; I must heal thy soul before I heal thy body ... Well, therefore, does Christ announce that He will cut away the cause of the disease, and the very root, as it were, of the malady, even sin: for if this be removed, necessarily must the disease which sprung from it be also at the same time taken away.

On the charge of blasphemy, and how Christ proves He is God (Luke 5:21):

But the declaration disturbs again the ignorant and envious gang of the Pharisees: for they said one to another, "Who is This That speaketh blasphemies?" ... But no sooner have they arrived at this height of daring, than He shews forthwith that He is God, to convict them once more of intolerable impiety. "For what, saith He, reason ye in your hearts?" If thou, therefore, O Pharisee, sayest, who can forgive sins but One, God; I will also say to thee, Who can know hearts, and see the thoughts hidden in the depth of the understanding, but God only? ... He therefore Who as God knows both the hearts and reins, as God also forgives sins.

On the visible proof, and the honour given to mankind (Luke 5:24):

For man sees not the forgiven sins with the eyes of the body, whereas the putting off of the disease, and the paralytic's rising up and walking carries with it a clear demonstration of a godlike power: He adds, "Rise up and carry thy bed, and go to thine house:" and this was done ... It is proved therefore by the very fact, that "the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins." But of whom says He this? Is it of Himself, or also of us? Both the one and the other are true. For He forgives sins as being the Incarnate God, the Lord of the law: and we too have received from Him this splendid and most admirable grace. For He hath crowned man's nature with this great honour also, having even said to the holy apostles, "Verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever things ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 9. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1911.htm

On the faith of the bearers, measured against others:

Now they were inferior to the centurion in respect of their faith, but superior to the impotent man by the pool. For the former neither invited the physician nor brought the sick man to the physician; but approached Him as God ... Now these men did not invite the physician to the house, and so far they are on an equality with the centurion: but they brought the sick man to the physician and so far they are inferior, because they did not say "speak the word only." Yet they are far better than the man lying by the pool.

On the paralytic's own faith, shown by his willingness to be let down through the roof:

For "when He saw their faith" refers not merely to those who brought the man but also to the man who was brought ... For do not attend simply to the statement that they let the man down through the roof: but consider how great a matter it is for a sick man to have the fortitude to undergo this ... When he saw that the place of assembly was filled, the approaches blocked, the haven of refuge obstructed, he submitted to be let down through the roof. So ready in contrivance is desire, so rich in resource is love. "For he also that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened."

On the man's patience when offered forgiveness instead of healing:

For after he had been let down and presented Christ said to him, "Son! Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." And when he heard these words he was not indignant, he did not complain, he did not say to the physician "What mean you by this? I came to be healed of one thing and you heal another." ... He neither spoke nor thought any of these things, but waited, allowing the physician to adopt the method of healing which He desired.

On why Christ forgave the sins first:

But why did He not first address Himself to the cure of the paralytic, but said, "Son! Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you?" He did this very wisely. For it is a habit with physicians to destroy the originating cause of the malady before they remove the malady itself ... Even so did Christ act: He represses first of all the source of the evil. For the source and root and mother of all evil is the nature of sin. This it is which enervates our bodies: this it is which brings on disease ... For nothing creates pleasure and affords confidence so much as freedom from self-reproach. For where remission of sins is there is sonship.

Blessed Augustine (i Hiponit) (354–430)

From On the Harmony of the Evangelists, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On how Matthew's "his own city" agrees with Mark's Capharnaum:

But as it is, all Galilee might be called Christ's city, because Nazareth was in Galilee; just as all the Roman empire, divided into many states, was still called the Roman city. Who can doubt then that the Lord in coming to Galilee is rightly said to come into "his own city," whatever was the town in which He abode, especially since Capharnaum was exalted into the metropolis of Galilee?

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On Christ calling the paralytic "son," and disease as a punishment of sin:

O wonderful humility! This man feeble and despised, crippled in every limb, He addresses as "son." The Jewish Priests did not deign to touch him. Even therefore His "son," because his sins were forgiven him. Hence we may learn that diseases are often the punishment of sin; and therefore perhaps his sins are forgiven him, that when the cause of his disease has been first removed, health may be restored.

On the scribes' charge of blasphemy, and how Christ shews Himself God:

so the Scribes regarding Him as a man, and not understanding the words of God, charged Him with blasphemy. But He seeing their thoughts thus shewed Himself to be God, Who alone knoweth the heart; and thus, as it were, said, By the same power and prerogative by which I see your thoughts, I can forgive men their sins.

On the spiritual sense: the sick soul brought by others to be healed:

Figuratively, the soul sick in the body, its powers palsied, is brought by the perfect doctor to the Lord to be healed. For every one when sick, ought to engage some to pray for his recovery, through whom the halting footsteps of our acts may be reformed by the healing power of the heavenly word. These are mental monitors, who raise the soul of the hearer to higher things, although sick and weak in the outward body.

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315–367)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the city of God and the boat that is the Church:

When driven out of Judaea, He returns into His own city; the city of God is the people of the faithful; into this He entered by a boat, that is, the Church.

On the paralytic as the whole Gentile world, healed by faith:

In this paralytic the whole Gentile world is offered for healing, he is therefore brought by the ministration of Angels; he is called Son, because he is God's work; the sins of his soul which the Law could not remit are remitted him; for faith only justifies. Lastly, he shews the power of the resurrection, by taking up his bed, teaching that all sickness shall then be no more found in the body.

On the fear of dying unforgiven, and the gifts given to men:

It is a very fearful thing to be seized by death while the sins are yet unforgiven by Christ; for there is no way to the heavenly house for him whose sins have not been forgiven. But when this fear is removed, honour is rendered to God, who by His word has in this way given power to men, of forgiveness of sins, of resurrection of the body, and of return to Heaven.

St. Peter Chrysologus (c. 380–450)

From Sermon 50, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the Creator who became a citizen for our sakes:

The Creator of all things, the Lord of the world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of Judaea, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that affection might attach those whom fear had separated.

On the power of another's faith to heal:

Of how great power with God must a man's own faith be, when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without.

On Christ and the vessel of the Church:

Christ has no need of the vessel, but the vessel of Christ; for without heavenly pilotage the bark of the Church cannot pass over the sea of the world to the heavenly harbour.

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

From the Morals on the Book of Job, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the bed as the pleasure of the body, now borne by the man made whole:

Or by the bed is denoted the pleasure of the body. He is commanded now he is made whole to bear that on which he had lain when sick, because every man who still takes pleasure in vice is laid as sick in carnal delights; but when made whole he bears this because he now endures the wantonness of that flesh in whose desires he had before reposed.

Note on other Fathers

Chrysostom's homily is concerned to show that this paralytic, healed at Capernaum and let down through the roof, is not the same man as the paralytic healed at the pool of Bethesda in John 5; he distinguishes them by place, time, day, and manner of the cure. The Catena Aurea on Matthew gathers the further witnesses quoted above — Blessed Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Peter Chrysologus, and St. Gregory the Great — together with others not excerpted here (the Gloss and Rabanus Maurus among them) who chiefly repeat or systematize the same teaching. St. Ambrose of Milan and the Venerable Bede also expound this healing, but their commentaries survive in English only in modern copyrighted editions; their Latin is public domain. For verbatim public-domain English, the works above are the principal sources.

Patristic sources

Read the sources: Chrysostom on Matthew (CCEL)