Mystically; When driven out of Judæa, He returns into His own city; the city of God is the people of the faithful; into this He entered by a boat, that is, the Church.
In this paralytic the whole Gentile world is offered for healing, he is therefore brought by the ministration of Angels; he is called Son, because he is God's work; the sins of his soul which the Law could not remit are remitted him; for faith only justifies. Lastly, he shows the power of the resurrection, by taking up his bed, teaching that all sickness shall then be no more found in the body.
It is a very fearful thing to be seized by death while the sins are yet unforgiven by Christ; for there is no way to the heavenly house for him whose sins have not been forgiven. But when this fear is removed, honour is rendered to God, who by His word has in this way given power to men, of forgiveness of sins, of resurrection of the body, and of return to Heaven.
(Hom. xxix.) Christ had above shown His excellent power by teaching, when he taught them as one having authority; in the leper, when He said, I will, be thou clean; by the centurion, who said to Him, Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed; by the sea which He calmed by a word; by the dæmons who confessed Him; now again, in another and greater way, He compels His enemies to confess the equality of His honour with the Father; to this end it proceeds, And Jesus entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. He entered a boat to cross over, who could have crossed the sea on foot; for He would not be always working miracles, that He might not take away the reality of His incarnation.
By his own city is here meant Capharnaum. For one town, to wit, Bethlehem, had received Him to be born there; another had brought Him up, to wit, Nazareth; and a third received Him to dwell there continually, namely, Capharnaum.
This paralytic is not the same as he in John. For he lay by the pool, this in Capharnaum; he had none to assist him, this was borne on a bed.
He does not universally demand faith of the sick, as, for example, when they are mad, or from any other sore sickness are not in possession of their minds; as it is here, seeing their faith;
Seeing then that they showed so great faith, He also shows His excellent power; with full power forgiving sin, as it follows, He said to the paralytic, Be of good courage, son, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Or, we may suppose even the sick man to have had faith; otherwise he would not have suffered himself to be let down through the roof as the other Evangelist relates.
The Scribes in their desire to spread an ill report of Him, against their will made that which was done be more widely known; Christ using their envy to make known the miracle. For this is of His surpassing wisdom to manifest His deeds through His enemies; whence it follows, Behold, some of the Scribes said among themselves, This man blasphemeth.
He did not indeed contradict their suspicions so far as they had supposed Him to have spoken as God. For had He not been equal to God the Father, it would have behoved Him to say, I am far from this power, that of forgiving sin. But He confirms the contrary of this, by His words and His miracle; Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and walk? By how much the soul is better than the body, by so much is it a greater thing to forgive sin than to heal the body. But forasmuch as the one may be seen with the eyes, but the other is not sensibly perceived, He does the lesser miracle which is the more evident, to be a proof of the greater miracle which is imperceptible.
Above, He said to the paralytic, Thy sins are forgiven thee, not, I forgive thee thy sins; but now when the Scribes made resistance, He shows the greatness of His power by saying, The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. And to show that He was equal to the Father, He said not that the Son of Man needed any to forgive sins, but that He hath power.
This command He added, that it might be seen there was no delusion in the miracle; so it follows to establish the reality of the cure, And he arose, and went away to his own house. But they that stood by yet grovel on the earth, whence it follows, But the multitude seeing it were afraid, and glorified God, who had bestowed such power among men. For had they rightly considered among themselves, they would have acknowledged Him to be the Son of God. Meanwhile it was no little matter to esteem Him as one greater than men, and to have come from God.
Or; This city may be no other than Nazareth, whence He was called a Nazarene.
On a bed, because he could not walk.
not the sick man's, but theirs that bare him.
O wonderful humility! This man feeble and despised, crippled in every limb, He addresses as son. The Jewish Priests did not deign to touch him. Even therefore His son, because his sins were forgiven him. Hence we may learn that diseases are often the punishment of sin; and therefore perhaps his sins are forgiven him, that when the cause of his disease has been first removed, health may be restored.
We read in prophecy, I am he that blolleth out thy transgressions; (Is. 43:25.) so the Scribes regarding Him as a man, and not understanding the words of God, charged Him with blasphemy. But He seeing their thoughts thus showed Himself to be God, Who alone knoweth the heart; and thus, as it were, said, By the same power and prerogative by which I see your thoughts, I can forgive men their sins. Learn from your own experience what the paralytic has obtained. When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he said, Why think ye evil in your hearts?
Whether or no his sins were forgiven He alone could know who forgave; but whether he could rise and walk, not only himself but they that looked on could judge of; but the power that heals, whether soul or body, is the same. And as there is a great difference between saying and doing, the outward sign is given that the spiritual effect may be proved; But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.
Figuratively; the soul sick in the body, its powers palsied, is brought by the perfect doctor to the Lord to be healed. For every one when sick, ought to engage some to pray for his recovery, through whom the halting footsteps of our acts may be reformed by the healing power of the heavenly word. These are mental monitors, who raise the soul of the hearer to higher things, although sick and weak in the outward body.
(De Cons. Ev. ii. 25.) That Matthew here speaks of his own city, and Mark calls it Capharnaum, would be more difficult to be reconciled if Matthew had expressed it Nazareth. But as it is, all Galilee might be called Christ's city, because Nazareth was in Galilee; just as all the Roman empire, divided into many states, was still called the Roman city1. Who can doubt then that the Lord in coming to Galilee is rightly said to come into his own city, whatever was the town in which He abode, especially since Capharnaum was exalted into the metropolis of Galilee?
(ubi sup.) And if we adopt this supposition, we must say that Matthew has omitted all that was done from the time that Jesus entered into His own city till He came to Capharnaum, and has proceeded on at once to the healing of the paralytic; as in many other places they pass over things that intervened, and carry on the thread of the narrative, without noticing any interval of time, to something else; so here, And, lo, they bring unto him a paralytic laying on a bed.
(Serm. 50.) The Creator of all things, the Lord of the world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of Judæa, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that affection might attach those whom fear had separated.
(ubi sup.) Of how great power with God must a man's own faith be, when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without. The paralytic hears his pardon pronounced, in silence uttering no thanks, for he was more anxious for the cure of his body than his soul. Christ therefore with good reason accepts the faith of those that bare him, rather than his own hardness of heart.
(ubi sup.) That that which had been proof of his sickness, should now become proof of his recovered health. And go to thy house, that having been healed by Christian faith, you may not die in the faithlessness of the Jews.
(ubi sup.) Christ has no need of the vessel, but the vessel of Christ; for without heavenly pilotage the bark of the Church cannot pass over the sea of the world to the heavenly harbour.
(ubi sup.) The Lord requires not in this world the will of those who are without understanding, but looks to the faith of others; as the physician does not consult the wishes of the patient, when his malady requires other things.
(Mor. xxiii. 24.) Or by the bed is denoted the pleasure of the body. He is commanded now he is made whole to bear that on which he had lain when sick, because every man who still takes pleasure in vice is laid as sick in carnal delights; but when made whole he bears this because he now endures the wantonness of that flesh in whose desires he had before reposed.
His rising up is the drawing off the soul from carnal lusts; his taking up his bed is the raising the flesh from earthly desires to spiritual pleasures; his going to his house is his returning to Paradise, or to internal watchfulness of himself against sin.
(ap. Anselm.) These words That ye may know, may be either Christ's words, or the Evangelist's words. As though the Evangelist had said, They doubted whether He could remit sins, But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath the power to remit sins, he saith to the paralytic. If they are the words of Christ, the connection will be as follows; You doubt that I have power to remit sins, But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to remit sins—the sentence is imperfect, but the action supplies the place of the consequent clause, he saith to the paralytic, Rise, take up thy bed.
Only God could know what is in another’s mind. That Jesus has this knowledge is attested from many evidences. Jesus shows here that he is truly God and equal to the One by whom he is begotten. He does this by revealing and making clear to them what they were thinking. Indeed, some were debating within themselves the very issue of whether Jesus is nothing less than God. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they did not dare to bring their opinion out into the open. He revealed their thoughts while showing great restraint when he said, “Why do you ponder evil thoughts in your hearts?”And surely if there was any cause to be annoyed it would have been felt by the suffering paralytic, because it seemed that he had been almost completely bypassed. Imagine him complaining, as if he were thinking: “I came to receive healing, but now you are talking about my sins being forgiven. How do you know this? Why do you change the subject?” But in fact the paralytic now says nothing of the sort. Rather, he gives himself over to the authority of the One who heals.
But those who are malicious and all too full of themselves are always plotting against the good works of others. Therefore he chides them but does so in all fairness, as if to say, “For if you disbelieved in my first statement and thought that it was boasting, consider that I am adding something else to it: the revelation of your secrets.”
We read in the prophet the words of God: “It is I who cleanse you from all your iniquities.” Consequently the scribes, because they were judgmental in construing the words of God, accused him of blasphemy. But the Lord, reading their thoughts, shows himself to be God who knows the hidden things of the heart. He breaks his silence: “With the same majesty and power by which I perceive your thoughts, I am able to forgive their sins; see for yourselves what the paralytic has received.”
(Verses 3, 4.) And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves: He blasphemes. And when Jesus saw their thoughts, he said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? We read in the Prophet, saying God: I am the one who blots out your iniquities (Isaiah 43:25). Therefore, the scribes, because they thought he was a man and did not understand the words of God, accuse him of blasphemy. But the Lord, seeing their thoughts, shows himself to be God, who can know the hidden things of the heart, and speaks in a silent manner: With the same majesty and power with which I behold your thoughts, I can also forgive sins to men. Understand what the paralytic suffers from among you.
For, when one reads of God as being "the searcher and witness of the heart; " when His prophet is reproved by His discovering to him the secrets of the heart; when God Himself anticipates in His people the thoughts of their heart, "Why think ye evil in your hearts? " when David prays "Create in me a clean heart, O God," and Paul declares, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and John says, "By his own heart is each man condemned; " when, lastly, "he who looketh on a woman so as to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart," -then both points are cleared fully up, that there is a directing faculty of the soul, with which the purpose of God may agree; in other words, a supreme principle of intelligence and vitality (for where there is intelligence, there must be vitality), and that it resides in that most precious part of our body to which God especially looks: so that you must not suppose, with Heraclitus, that this sovereign faculty of which we are treating is moved by some external force; nor with Moschion, that it floats about through the whole body; nor with Plato, that it is enclosed in the head; nor with Zenophanes, that it culminates in the crown of the head; nor that it reposes in the brain, according to the opinion of Hippocrates; nor around the basis of the brain, as Herophilus thought; nor in the membranes thereof, as Strato and Erasistratus said; nor in the space between the eyebrows, as Strato the physician held; nor within the enclosure of the breast, according to Epicurus: but rather, as the Egyptians have always taught, especially such of them as were accounted the expounders of sacred truths; in accordance, too, with that verse of Orpheus or Empedocles:
The Lord Himself, in short, when rebuking our thoughts, includes in His censures this aspect of the flesh, (man's heart), the citadel of the soul: "Why think ye evil in your hearts? " and again: "Whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Implying therefore that He is God, equal to Him that begot Him; what things they were reasoning in themselves (for through fear of the multitude, they dared not utter their mind), this their opinion He unveils and makes manifest, evincing herein also His great gentleness.
And yet if there were cause for displeasure, it was the sick man who should have been displeased, as being altogether deceived, and should have said One thing I came to have healed, and amendest Thou another? Why, whence is it manifest that my sins are forgiven?
But now he for his part utters no such word, but gives himself up to the power of the healer; but these being curious and envious, plot against the good deeds of others. Wherefore He rebukes them indeed, but with all gentleness. Why, if you disbelieve, says He, what went before, and account my saying a boast; behold I add to it also another, the uncovering of your secrets; and after that again another. What then is this? The giving tone to the body of the paralyzed.
And whereas, when He spoke unto the sick of the palsy, He spoke without clearly manifesting His own authority: for He said not, I forgive you your sins, but, your sins be forgiven you: upon their constraining, He discloses His authority more clearly, saying, But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
Do you see, how far He was from unwillingness to be thought equal to the Father? For He said not at all, The Son of Man has need of another; or, He has given Him authority, but, He has authority. Neither does He say it for love of honor, but to convince you, so He speaks, that I do not blaspheme in making myself equal with God.
[Daniel 2:28] "But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." Therefore it is only in vain that thou inquirest (other MSS have: "that he inquire") of men as to something which is known only to God in heaven. Also, by indirectly drawing Nebuchadnezzar away from the worship of many gods, Daniel directs him to the knowledge of the one (true) God.
"Who hath shown thee, King Nebuchadnezzar, what is going to take place (the Vulg. reads: "the things which are going to take place") in the last times." Avoiding the blemish of adulation but cleaving to the truth, he courteously suggests that it is to the king, for it was to him that God had revealed secrets concerning what was to occur in the last times. Now either these "last days" are to be reckoned from the time when the dream was revealed to Daniel until the end of the world, or else at least this inference is to be drawn, that the over-all interpretation of the dream applies to that final end when the image and statue beheld is to be ground to powder.
"Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed were as follows." He does not say, "The visions of thine eyes," lest we should think it was something physical, but rather: "of thy head." "For the eyes of a wise man are in his head" (Ecclesiastes 2:14), that is to say in the princely organ of the heart, just as we read in the Gospel: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they are ones who shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Again: "What are ye meditating in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4). To be sure, other authorities in treating of this chapter, conjecture that the authoritative part of the soul (to hegemonikon) lies not in the heart but, as Plato says, in the brain.
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Matthew 9:1-8
In this paralytic the whole Gentile world is offered for healing, he is therefore brought by the ministration of Angels; he is called Son, because he is God's work; the sins of his soul which the Law could not remit are remitted him; for faith only justifies. Lastly, he shows the power of the resurrection, by taking up his bed, teaching that all sickness shall then be no more found in the body.
It is a very fearful thing to be seized by death while the sins are yet unforgiven by Christ; for there is no way to the heavenly house for him whose sins have not been forgiven. But when this fear is removed, honour is rendered to God, who by His word has in this way given power to men, of forgiveness of sins, of resurrection of the body, and of return to Heaven.