This healing is singled out because of the remarkable lengths to which some were ready to go to reach Christ, and for the lessons about forgiveness which Christ taught through it. Luke says that many Pharisees and teachers of the law were present on this occasion.
The Pharisees were ‘sitting by’ – a pregnant phrase – out of sympathy with the general excitement. They looked as if didn’t belong there. More and more the crowds felt he was the Messiah, but the Pharisees were cynical, critical. They thought they kept the law and so were better, superior. They objected to Christ’s command to come to God. How many who hear the gospel are ‘sitting by’, cool about this message? You listen because someone wants you to hear. You are perfectly well-behaved, but at a distance. You want to sit by and say, this has nothing to offer me.
Christ’s power was ‘present to heal’, and yet that power was not operating on all. Why? Because many of the Pharisees didn’t see their need. Often it happens that one here or there is converted, but others look on unaffected by the message because they cannot accept they are sinners. Many were healed but the cynical went untouched. ‘I am not that sinner; I am not interested in heaven.’ People around us can be converted and we are untouched because we are disconnected.
The healing of the paralytic took place before the visit to Decapolis, and, as Hendriksen argues, the chronology of events is better established by Mark’s Gospel. Matthew’s material is often arranged topically rather than in chronological order. Although Matthew’s previous verse has brought us back to Capernaum where this healing took place, this is not the same entry to Capernaum as is recorded in Marks’s parallel account (Mark 2:1). Mark is recording a return to Capernaum after being in the desert places, while Matthew has the ship return to Capernaum after being in Decapolis.