'Jesus Heals A Paralytic'

The passage “Jesus Heals a Paralytic” is the last of four consecutive healing stories in this gospel. The healing stories prior to it are entitled “The Man With an Unclean Spirit,” “Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House,” and “Jesus Cleanses a Leper.” Following the four healing stories are another set of four passages, these however are classified as controversy stories. They are named “Jesus Calls Levi,” The Question About Fasting,” “Pronouncement about the sabbath,” and “The Man With a Withered Hand.”

One passage from the Old Testament that I thought had a connection to Jesus Healing a Paralytic is “Jonathan’s Covenant with David.” In 1 Samuel 18: 1-4 the deep friendship is described between the two men. “Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” (1 Samuel 18: 1) This deep friendship can also be see in Mark 2: 1-12. The four men carrying the paralytic care about him so much that they make sure he is
brought to Jesus. They use the gift of being able to walk, something their friend clearly does not have, in order to help him.

This pericope of Jesus healing a paralytic is also found in Matthew 9: 1-8 and Luke 5: 17-26.
In Matthew’s version of the healing, Jesus is not preaching to a crowd of people like in Mark. He is just walking along one day and sees a paralytic being carried by other men and notices that they have faith. So, instead of the four men placing the paralytic in front of him, Jesus seeks out the man who is paralyzed and heals him much like in Mark’s account of the event. The significance of Jesus going to the paralytic instead of vis versa could be that God finds us when we need him, even if we do not seek him out ourselves. Luke’s telling of the story is almost identical to that of Mark. The only differences being Jesus did not arrive home from travelling anywhere, as in the other two accounts, and the roof that the paralytic was lowered down through was made of tiles instead of wooden beams and mud. Since there was no significant change in the stories, I think the slight differences are due to the different authors personal
experiences.

In Mark 2: 1-12, Jesus proves that he truly is God the Son because he is able to forgive the sins of his people on earth. The post-biblical scholars questioning of Jesus’ ability to forgive sins on earth helps explain to me how he is not just the Son, but one of the three persons of God, while the demonstrative actions help to prove his status to the other people in the passage.