De paralytico misso per tectum, et a Domino curato
The Paralytic Brought Through the Roof
A paralytic is carried by friends through a crowd and lowered through the roof to reach Jesus.
In the city of Capernaum mentioned earlier, when the Lord Jesus was teaching in a certain house, and Pharisees and many teachers of the law had gathered there from every town of Judaea and Jerusalem, some people came wanting to bring a paralytic into the house.✦ , VIII, 3 et XV. the paralytic they were carrying, so that the Lord might heal him.✦ And when they couldn't get through because of the crowd, they went up onto the roof of the house and brought him in from there, placing him before Jesus.✦
Forgiveness and the Murmuring of the Scribes
Jesus forgives the paralytic's sins, provoking the scribes to accuse him of blasphemy.
The Lord Jesus, seeing their faith, said, 'Your sins are forgiven you.'✦ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law, however, watching him out of malice, were saying among themselves that he had blasphemed God, because God alone can forgive sins; and he himself was attributing this to one whom they believed to be merely a pure man.✦
Christ Reads the Heart and Claims His Authority
Jesus exposes the hidden thoughts of his critics and declares his divine authority to forgive sins.
Therefore the kind and humble Lord, who searches the hearts and minds of humankind, said, 'Why do you think evil things in your hearts?'✦ He added, 'So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,' etc.✦
Meditations on Christ's Knowledge, Sin, and Intercessory Faith
The devotional commentary draws out four points: Christ's penetrating knowledge, the link between sin and infirmity, the power of one person's faith for another, and its application to infant baptism.
Here there are four things to meditate on: first, the keenness of Christ's understanding, who saw into their thoughts; second, because infirmities come on account of sins, and from absolution from sins the deliverance of infirmities sometimes follows.✦ So also you have below, concerning the man healed at the pool, to whom the Lord said, 'Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.'✦ Third: consider how great is the merit of faith, for one person's faith benefits another, just as you recently had above in the case of the centurion's servant; so also you will have below in the case of the Canaanite woman, whose daughter was healed by her faith.✦✦ This happens daily in the case of children who are baptized: if they die before the age of discretion, they receive the pledge through another's faith, by which they are saved through the merit of Christ — which is against certain accursed heretics.
Christ's Gentleness and the Call to Return
The fourth meditation on Christ's gentle response to the wicked directs the reader back to an earlier general consideration.
Regarding the fourth point to be meditated on — about Christ himself sitting among them, responding kindly to the wicked, and working a miracle — turn back above to the general consideration that I gave you.
Read the original Latin
In civitate praedicta Capharnaum, cum Dominus Jesum doceret in quadam domo, et essent ibi congregati Pharisaei, et legis doctores multi ex omni castello JudaecB et Hierusalem, venerunt quidam, volentes ingredi domum cum pa' iiatth. , VIII, 3 et XU. ralyfico", quem portabant, ut a Domino sanaretur. Cumque propter multitudinem non possent, ascenderunt super lectum domus, et inde intromiserunt eum, et posuerunt eum ante Jesum. Dominus vero Jesus videns fidem eorum dixit: Dimiituntur tibi peccata tua. Ipsi autem Pharisaei et legis doctores observantes eum ex mahtia, intra se dicebant, ipsum blasphemasse Deum; quia solus Deus potest dimittere peccata, et ipse hoc attribuebat sibi, quem purum horamem esse credebant. Ait ergo henignus et humihs Dominus, scrutans corda et renes hominum: Quid cogitatis mala in cordibus vestris? Etaddidit; Ut sciatis, quia filius hominis habet potestatem in terra dimittendi peccata, etc.
Hic quatuor sunt meditanda: primum, per- Quatuor spicacitas intellectus Christi, qui cogitationcs vidit; secundum, quia propter peccata veniunt infirmitates, et ex absolufione a peccatis aliquando contigit liberatio infirmitatum. Sic etiam habetis infra de curato apud piscinam, oui dicitur a Domino *, ne amplius peccet, ne deterius sibi contingat. Tertium; considera quam magnum sit meritum fidei, nam etiam alterius fides alteri prodest, sicut supra proxime habuisti in servo centurionis: sic et infra habebis in Chananaea % in cujus fide fiha fuit sanata. Hoc quotidie contingit in pueris qui baptizantur; quod si ante annos discretionis moriantur, in alterius fide suscipiunt arrham, propter quam in raerito Christi salvantur, quod est contra quosdam hcereticos maledictos. Circa quartum meditandum de ipso inter illos sedente, et benigne malignis respondente, et miraculum faciente, recurre supra ad generalem considerafionem, quam tibi dedi
Scripture echoes
- ↩Mark.2.1-Mark.2.4;Matt.9.2-Matt.9.8;Luke.5.18-Luke.5.20 — And when he had entered again into Capernaum, after some days it was reported that he was at home. Mark.2.2 — And many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door. And he was speaking the word to them. Mark.2.3 — And they came, carrying a paralytic to him, being carried by four men. Mark.2.4 — And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was; and after breaking it open, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic lay. Matt.9.2 — And behold, they were bringing to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.' Matt.9.3 — And some of the scribes said among themselves, 'This man is blaspheming.' Matt.9.4 — And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Matt.9.5 — For which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? Matt.9.6 — But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins — then he says to the paralytic, 'Get up, take your mat, and go home.' Matt.9.7 — And having risen, he went to his own house. Matt.9.8 — When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. Luke.5.18 — And behold, men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and to place him before him. Luke.5.19 — And not finding by what way they might bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his mat into the middle before Jesus. Luke.5.20 — And seeing their faith, he said, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you.'
- ↩Mark.2.3-Mark.2.5 — And they came, carrying a paralytic to him, being carried by four men. Mark.2.4 — And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was; and after breaking it open, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic lay. Mark.2.5 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'
- ↩Mark.2.4 — And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was; and after breaking it open, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic lay.
- ↩Mark.2.5;Matt.9.2;Luke.5.20 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.' Matt.9.2 — And behold, they were bringing to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.' Luke.5.20 — And seeing their faith, he said, 'Man, your sins are forgiven you.'
- ↩Mark.2.6-Mark.2.7;Matt.9.3;Luke.5.21 — But some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, Mark.2.7 — Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Matt.9.3 — And some of the scribes said among themselves, 'This man is blaspheming.' Luke.5.21 — And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
- ↩Mark.2.8;Matt.9.4;Luke.5.22 — And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning thus within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?" Matt.9.4 — And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Luke.5.22 — But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?"
- ↩Mark.2.10;Matt.9.6;Luke.5.24 — But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he says to the paralytic— Matt.9.6 — But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins — then he says to the paralytic, 'Get up, take your mat, and go home.' Luke.5.24 — But 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, get up, take your mat, and go home.'
- ↩Mark.2.5-Mark.2.8 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.' Mark.2.6 — But some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, Mark.2.7 — Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Mark.2.8 — And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning thus within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?"
- ↩John.5.14 — After these things, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have become well. Sin no longer, so that nothing worse happens to you."
- ↩Matt.8.13 — And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And his servant was healed at that hour.
- ↩Matt.15.28 — Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour.
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
A scene a day, for life
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