Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 9:2

"And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven." — Matthew 9:2 (ASV)

They brought to him — From the other Gospels we learn the following:

1. He was teaching in a house (Luke 5:17), apparently in an upper room, while the people stood listening in the courtyard.
2. The courtyard was so crowded that even the gateway leading into the street was filled (Mark 2:2).
3. Among the hearers were Pharisees and Doctors of the Law who had come not only from “every village of Galilee and Judea,” but also “from Jerusalem.”
4. The power of the Lord was present to heal them (Luke 5:17); that is, as He taught, the sick were brought to Him and were cured by either a word or a touch.

This last fact is important as one of the few traces in the first three Gospels of an unrecorded ministry in Jerusalem, and it throws light on much that follows. They had apparently come to see how the new Teacher, who had so startled them in Jerusalem, was carrying on His work in Galilee and, as far as they could, to hinder it.

A man sick of the palsy — St. Matthew and St. Mark use the popular term “paralytic;” St. Luke, with perhaps more technical precision, uses the participle of the verb, “who was paralysed.” The man was carried on a couch (St. Mark uses the Greek form of the Latin grabatum, the bed or mattress of the poor) by four bearers (Mark 2:3).

They tried to bring him through the door but were hindered by the crowd. So, they went outside, got on the roof, and removed part of it—a task made comparatively easy by the light structure of Eastern houses. They then let him down with ropes through the opening into the middle of the crowd, right in front of the Teacher (Mark 2:4; Luke 5:19). This persistence implied faith in His power to heal on the part of both the sick man and his bearers.

Son, be of good cheer — Better, child. The word implies, perhaps , comparative youth, or perhaps a fatherly tone of love and pity on the part of the speaker. Here, as elsewhere, pity is the starting point of our Lord’s work of healing, and He looked with infinite tenderness on the dejected expression of the sufferer, who had lost heart and hope.

Thy sins be forgiven thee — To modern ears, the English is ambiguous and suggests a prayer or a wish. The Greek, however, is either the present or the perfect passive of the indicative: “Thy sins are” or “have been forgiven thee.” The words were addressed, we must believe, to the secret yearnings of the sufferer. Sickness had made him conscious of the burden of his sins, perhaps having come (as such forms of nervous exhaustion often do) as the direct consequence of his sin. The Healer saw that the disease of the soul must first be removed, and then the time would come for restoring strength to the body.