17 Yeshua was teaching one day, and some from the Pharisee party and some religious teachers were sitting there listening. They had come from villages all around Galilee and Yudea, and also from Yerushalem, and the power of Yahweh was there enabling Yeshua to heal people. 18 Then, look, some men turned up carrying a paralysed man on a stretcher, and they tried to bring him inside and place him in front of Yeshua 19 but because of the crowd they couldn’t find a way in. So instead, they went up the stairs to the flat roof and removed some tiles in order to let the stretcher down right in front of Yeshua. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins have been forgiven.”

21 “Who’s this guy who’s insulting God?” the teachers and Pharisees started to say among themselves. “Only God is able to forgive sins.”

22 But Yeshua knew what they were thinking and saying, and answered them, “Why are you reasoning about this in your minds? 23 Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins have been forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 But I’ll demonstrate to you that humanity’s child does have the authority to forgive sins here on earth.” Then he turned to the paralysed man and told him, “Listen to me. Stand up and pick up your stretcher, then go home.”

25 Immediately the man stood up, right there in front of them all, picked up what he’d been lying on, and headed off to his home praising God. 26 Everyone was astounded and they too praised God. But there was also a feeling of fear and they said, “We’ve witnessed something out-of-the-normal today!”