Healing of the Paralytic

Healing of the paralytic 
(Mark 2:1; Luke 5:17) 

Introduction: This chapter describes many miracles of Lord. It is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:5-6). This shows that Jesus was sent by God and was the expected Messiah.

This happened in Capernaum, which is “His own town”, and is the home of St. Peter. The houses in Palestine had a wide-open area in the front and a stair in the back, a balcony at the top, which was not covered. Many people were attracted to the Lord because of His unique, powerful, authoritative, and grandiose teachings. 

Some of the people who was there were Scribes who came from Jerusalem. They came not to learn from the Lord, but to find fault. St. Mark writes that some Pharisees were also there. We have discussed about both groups before. In short, the scribes were the copyists of Scripture and teachers of the Law. Their functions were to copy, read, amend, explain, and protect the Law. The Scribes (heb: Hakamin = learned) were not a sect but a profession; they were scholars learned in the Law, who lectured on it in synagogues, taught it in schools, debated it in public and private, and applied it in judgment on specific cases. A few of them were priests, some were Sadducees, most were Pharisees. A Pharisee scribe was a man especially trained as an expert in the Torah. To the Laws of Moses they adhered strictly to the letter, without making allowances for the spiritual intent