Hope Helps Others

¹⁷Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸Just then some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus. ¹⁹But since they found no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the roof tiles right in front of Jesus. ²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” ²¹Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²²When Jesus perceived their hostile thoughts, he said to them, “Why are you raising objections within yourselves? ²³Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? ²⁴But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man—“I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵Immediately he stood up before them, picked up the stretcher he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶Then astonishment seized them all, and they glorified God. They were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.”