One day [Jesus] was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting around. People had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem; and the power of God was with him to heal the sick.
Some men appeared carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They tried to bring him in to set him down before Jesus; but finding no way to do so because of the crowd, they went up onto the roof and let him down through the tiling, bed and all, into the middle of the company in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you!"
The lawyers and the Pharisees began saying to themselves, "Who is this fellow with his blasphemous talk? Who but God can forgive sins?"
But Jesus knew their thoughts and answered them: "Why do you harbor thoughts like these? Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you?'-- or to say, 'Stand up and walk'? But to convince you that a son of man has the right on Earth to forgive sins"-- He turned to the paralyzed man-- "I say to you, stand up, take your bed and go home."
At once he rose to his feet before their eyes, took up the bed he'd been lying on, and went home praising God. They were all lost in amazement and praised God, filled with awe. "You would never believe the things we saw today!"
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