Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 2:5

"And Jesus seeing their faith saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven." — Mark 2:5 (ASV)

Jesus recognized this ingenuity and persistence of the paralytic and his bearers as faith. But instead of healing the man of his lameness, Jesus forgave his sins. On the surface, this hardly seemed to be what the man needed. But Jesus was illustrating an OT claim that human suffering rests in separation from God. Thus forgivness is our deepest need.