“And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.”
Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them — the four unnamed bearers are among the most theologically significant unnamed characters in Mark's Gospel. They bring the paralyzed man; they are unable to get him through the crowd; they go to extraordinary lengths to reach Jesus. Their persistence is the story's engine. The paralyzed man is entirely passive — he is carried throughout the entire narrative. He does not ask, does not speak, does not choose. Everything that happens to him happens through the initiative of others: his friends who carry him and Jesus who heals him. His complete helplessness makes the faith of his friends the active element.
Church Fathers on Mark 2:3
Because the compassion of God deserts not even carnal persons, He accords to them the grace of His presence, by which even they may be made spiritual. After the desert, the Lord returns into the city.
But Matthew writes this miracle as if it were done in the city of the Lord, whilst Mark places it in Capernaum, which would be more difficult of solution, if Matthew had also named Nazareth. But seeing that Galilee itself might be called the city of the Lord, who can doubt but that the Lord did these things in His own city, since He did them in Capernaum, a city of Galilee; particularly as Capernaum was of such importance in Galilee as to be called its metropolis?
He saw the faith of the sick man himself, since he would not have allowed himself to be carried, unless he’d had faith to be healed.