Verse 2: “Take courage, my son”

This paralytic person was in fear for his disease and the fact that he got this by his sins. But our Lord greets him with love, comfort, and hope. He knew that this was a punishment for his sins of the past. He just needed two things:

1. Forgiveness of sins
2. Healing of his sickness.

Of this, the Lord forgives of his sins first. According the Jewish Rabbis, “There is no death without sin and no sickness without unrighteousness. Unless one’s sins are not forgiven, no one will be healed of his sickness.”

Verse 2: “Your sins are forgiven”

· Forgiveness of sins are by God alone (Daniel 9:9; Mark 2:7)
· Forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ (Mark 2:5; Luke 7:48) 
· The power to forgiveness of sins was given to apostles by Christ (John 20:21-23) 
· Forgiveness of sins shows God’s compassion (Micah 7:18, 19), grace (Romans 5:16), blessing (Romans 5:15; Psalms 51:1), and faithfulness (1 John 1:9). 

Till the incarnation of Son of God, it was believed that only God can forgive sins. Our Lord made it clear with the following verse that such a belief was correct and that He is Son of God with such powers “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mat 28:18). “And Jesus said to them; ‘Peace be with you. As my Father has sent me, I also send you’ (with all powers). And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’" (Matthew 28:18; John 20:21-22).

Our Lord’s words “Your sins are forgiven” were more than what the Scribes could tolerate. They said in their mind “This man blasphemes”. Lord knew their thoughts but did not engage into an argument. Instead, He kept them quiet by showing convincing proof. Which is easier to say: 1) 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 2) 'Get up and walk'.

Obviously the first one is easy to say. For you can’t physically see someone’s sin being forgiven; it is an invisible act. To say the second thing, that is “to get up and walk”, you need to be bold and able to do it because you have to show that he could get up and walk. Healing is a visible act. Scribes saw something with their own eyes which they thought was impossible, that a paralytic was healed and walked by himself. So, Lord proved here that since Scribes saw the healing, the sins were also forgiven. 

“Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins” 

As God, our Lord has the power to forgive sins. But here He is seen as a man and so people doubted His ability to forgive sins. Our Lord proves here that even in his incarnation, He still has the power to forgive sins. We learn from this occasion that our Lord makes clear that even as “Son of Man”, He is also God.