Mark 1:1-12 Jesus Heals a Paraplegic Man

Mark 12:1-12

Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man

The paraplegic could not walk; he could use neither his arms nor his legs. He had never run and played with the other children, nor climbed a hill. He could not dress or feed himself. Others must toilet and clean him, cut his nails and beard, and brush his hair. He was wholly dependent upon the charitable efforts of others, their availability and willingness to help him, for even the most basic and personal of tasks.

Those four friends worked hard to get their friend to Jesus to be healed. The house was so full that no room remained by the door; there was no way for them to bring him in to see Jesus. No regular way.

Mark says that they “… uncovered the roof where He was, and when they had broken up, they let down the bed in which the paraplegic lay.” As if “uncovering” a roof was a simple and expedient act that one could expect under such circumstances. Luke’s record is a little more specific: “… they went up onto the housetop and let him down through the tiling on his mat into the midst in front of Jesus.” (Luke 5:19)

They went up onto the housetop. Some or all of the men, after carrying their friend to this house from wherever he lived, obviously set his mat down and climbed up to the roof of the house. Some houses in that country at that time, had access to the roof; some would sleep on the roof at night during the hot season.

We know neither the type or location of the house, nor its size. We don’t know if it had a staircase or ladder to the roof, or if the men had to devise another way to climb to the top.

They “broke up” the roof, according to Mark; Luke refers to tiles, that would have had to be lifted off; were they sealed or cemented in place? How large were they? How many had to be moved? Who was going to return to repair that roof later?

How did they carry a grown man plus his “bed” to the rooftop? How large a man was he? If his stature was genetically large, he could have been heavy due to inactivity. Perhaps he was slight of build, but either way, four men managed to get another adult man to the rooftop, without harming him, who could do nothing to help (or hinder) them.

They then lowered that man on his mat through the hole they’d made in the roof, right down where Jesus was. How exactly did they manage this? Did they tie ropes around the mat? Was there a large sheet, the corners of which were the hold-points for the lowering? How did they manage to avoid falling through the hole or breaking up more of the roof in their effort? How did they lower him slowly and carefully enough to avoid dropping his mat?

How did this poor man remain calm during this process? If his friends lost their grip on his mat – if even one of them dropped his “corner”, the paraplegic could fall to his injury or death on the floor beneath. He could not grab that mat to avoid the fall, nor arrange his frame to land in a less threatening manner. He was completely dependant upon the care of his four friends, and the grace of God to prevent a dreadful accident.

“When Jesus saw their faith…”

Many assume that Jesus healed the paraplegic because of the faith of his four friends. But nothing indicates that he was deaf, blind, dumb, or intellectually deficient. As far as decision-making was concerned, it is evident that the crippled man was fully involved in the effort to meet Jesus and be healed. His faith along with that of his four friends, brought him to the feet of Jesus, through a dangerous, physically and socially-risky choice of action, in order to be healed. Jesus saw the faith of five men, not four.

“…He said to the paraplegic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you.’”

This was not what he and his friends thought they were coming to receive. They wanted Jesus to do a miracle and give that man power in his arms and legs; he wanted to be physically whole. And yet…

“… certain of the scribes …. [reasoned] …’Why does this one speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God only?!”

“And immediately, Jesus knew in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, ‘Why do you reason these things in your hearts?’”

If Jesus could know what they were thinking, what else could He do?

“Which is easier? To say to the paraplegic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, “Get up, pick up your bed, and walk?’”

The scribes were there for the same show as the other visitors; they wanted to see Jesus perform His tricks for the crowd. Were they truly so callous that His miracles were only side-show stunts to them, performed to gain a following that, in their eyes, was stolen from themselves? Was He only allowed to “perform”, as long as He stuck to the prescribed script?

They were willing to see Him heal the diverse afflictions of those who came, including driving out demons. How did they think He was able to restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame, or ability of any sort to anyone who had never had that ability from their birth? What power might He have that would obligate every demon – not just one or two “easy” ones, but every single demon He ever addressed, some of which are recorded as asking His permission where to go – to immediately depart, having neither power nor authority to contest or refuse? How could these men be so hard-hearted and so blind?

What is easier? To tell someone that they are forgiven, or to tell a life-long paralytic to stand up, pick up his bed, and walk? For his whole life, the man had never had the use of either arms or legs. He could no more stand up than pick up his bed, and certainly could not walk. If the reader, or this writer, were to approach such a man and tell him firmly to get up, grab his mat, and walk out, would our words have the power to enable him to fulfill the instruction?

Absent the divine power of the living God, it would be foolish noise that would leave that man as he was and us looking the fools that we had been. With men, this is as impossible as the first: that his sins would be forgiven.

‘But that you may know that the Son of man has jurisdiction on earth to forgive sins, (He said to the paralytic) I say to you, take up your bed and go your way to your house.’

And immediately he arose, took up the bed and went out in front of them all, such that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’”

Mark 1:1-12

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