Chapter 23—The Paralytic
Again the mission of Christ brought him to Capernaum. When the
news spread abroad that Jesus was a guest at the house of Peter, men,
women, and children flocked from every direction to hear the wonder-
ful Teacher. There was a man in the vicinity who was reduced to utter
helplessness by the incurable disease of palsy. He had given up all
hope of recovery. But his friends and relatives had heard the gracious
instruction of Jesus; they had witnessed his wonderful miracles; they
saw that he turned none away, that even the loathsome lepers found
access to his presence, and were healed, and they began to hope that
the paralytic might be relieved if he could be brought under the notice
of Jesus.
They tried to encourage the sufferer, telling him of the miraculous
power of Jesus to cure every malady, of the words of mercy he had
spoken to the despairing, and of those who are set free from the power
of Satan by a word of his sublime authority. As the palsied man
listened to the good tidings, hope revived in his heart that he might
be relieved of his terrible infirmity. He longed to see Jesus and place
himself in his hands. But when he reflected that dissipation had been
the main cause of his affliction, hope sank for he feared that he would
not be tolerated in the presence of the pure Physician. He had loved
the pleasures of sin, his life had been a transgression of the law of
God, and his bodily affliction was the penalty of his crime.
[293]
He had long before placed his case in the hands of the Pharisees and
doctors, entreating their interest and sympathy, hoping that they would
do something to relieve his tortured mind and physical sufferings. But
they had looked coldly upon him and pronounced him incurable. They
had added to his woe by telling him that he was only suffering the
righteous retribution of God for his misdemeanors. It was the custom
of the Pharisees to hold themselves aloof from the sick and needy.
They held that sickness and distress were always an evidence of God’s
anger toward the transgressor. Yet frequently these very men, who
exalted themselves as holy and enjoying the peculiar favor of God,
203