1. Jesus makes Capernaum his own city because it serves at the centre of his ministry at Galilee.
2. Jesus is impressed by the friends of the paralytic who took so much of trouble to get him closer to Jesus. The friends manifested greater faith than the man himself.
3. The man knew he was a sinner, and his sin made him the enemy of God. Since he felt God was his enemy he was paralysed and ill. Once Jesus brought to him the forgiveness of God, he becomes the friend of God and he is cured from his sickness.
4. Jesus did not say ‘yours sins will be forgiven’ or ‘your sins have been forgiven’, he uses present tense “your sins are forgiven”. Jesus is present to us always.
5. Jesus had the power to read the hearts and minds of the scribes which is again an attribute of God. He does what only God can do and thus the others consider it as blasphemy. The crowd only saw him as God- ordained prophet not as God Himself.
All the human beings are disabled and sick spiritually, we must be obsessed with mission of getting the disabled and sick closer to Christ. This demands a lot of perseverance and patience. We should learn to forgive the people who have hurt us a lot. The hurt feelings will eventually paralyse our minds and hearts. If we find difficult to get out of our wretched situations we should be humble enough to seek the help of the others. Let us ask Jesus to make our place of living as His own and let us receive him not merely as someone extraordinary but as someone who is the source and meaning of our lives.
Courtesy
New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary
Sacra Pagina Series
William Barclay’s Commentary
The Preacher’s outline and Sermon Bible
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