While Jesus is teaching the crowd, four men bring to the house a paralyzed man on a cot. They want Jesus to heal their friend, but because of the crowd they cannot get inside. How disappointing! Yet they do not give up. They climb up on the flat roof, make a hole in it by removing the tiles, and lower the cot with the paralyzed man on it right next to Jesus.

Is Jesus angry because of the interruption? Not at all! Rather, he is deeply impressed by their faith. He says to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven.” But can Jesus actually forgive sins?

[Full-page picture on page 8]